Two-way traffic needs to return

Occasionally, the definitive answer to a thorny question arrives suddenly and surprisingly, with a degree of clarity that can’t be denied.

That happened Thursday night in the downstairs space at Showplace theatre during the first night of a two-day event organized by local cycling enthusiasts, Safe Streets for Everyone.

The revelation — which is maybe a little too strong a word, but in the context of Peterborough’s downtown planning, only a little — was that George and Water streets need to be turned back in to two-way streets.

The proof was a series of before-and-after photographs featured in a presentation by Ian Lockwood, a livable transportation engineer.

Lockwood, a Canadian who made his name in the U.S., is one of the leading advocates for, and designers of, the Complete Streets approach to transportation planning.

Complete Streets design guidelines are built into legislation and policy documents in more than 50 U.S. states and municipalities. The U.S. Department of Transportation pushes their use for all federally funded projects.

The goals is to make streets safer and more user friendly. It is based on fewer traffic lanes, slower speeds, wider sidewalks, cycling lanes, more and safer pedestrian crossings and medians, lots of trees and landscaping, fewer parking spaces.

The promised outcomes are comprehensive. Safer, more attractive streets that draw crowds. Higher sales for retail stores and fewer vacant buildings. Less pollution from vehicles, so better public health.

Statistics support the contention that Complete Streets delivers on its promise in cities big and small.

After the guidelines were applied to 9th Avenue and Union Square in Manhattan in 2008, a New York City transportation department review found retails sales increased by 50 per cent and vacancies were cut in half.

But visual evidence is more compelling, and Lockwood’s series of photos show barren downtowns in cities roughly the size of Peterborough transformed into busy, vibrant community centres. One makeover took place in South Bend, Ind.

Most famously known as the home of Notre Dame University, South Bend’s core suffered the decline that hit many U.S. urban areas beginning in the 1970s as manufacturing died and the local economy crashed.

The company Lockwood works for, Toole Design, was hired to do a remake. One of the first things to go was the one-way street pattern downtown, along with nearly a dozen other one-way pairs around the city.

Two-way streets, along with a host of the other Complete Streets changes, revived downtown South Bend.

An even more graphic illustration is in photos from West Palm Beach, Fla., where Lockwood was the city transportation planner in the 1990s.

West Palm Beach was a wasteland, the focus of an Academy Award nominated documentary on how drugs, crime and economic collapse was killing smaller urban cities.

Remade in the Complete Streets model, downtown West Palm Beach is now one of the jewels of South Florida.

Lockwood noted that Peterborough’s downtown doesn’t need nearly as much help, but would still benefit greatly and reverting George and Water to their original two-way configuration should be a first, relatively simple step.

The block of Hunter Street known as the restaurant district already has some of the Complete Streets design features. It should be the template for all downtown streets, but with even more pedestrian and cycling friendly features.

The design guidelines also work outside downtowns. Peterborough has invested hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 20 years making its major streets wider and more vehicle oriented — not just Lansdowne Street but Chemong Road, Ashburnham Drive, and Parkhill Road.

We’ll look at how Complete Streets could apply outside the downtown in a future editorial.