By Michael Hammond
Thirty-seven of 50 Centre-town residents surveyed say they don’t want one-way streets in the downtown switched to two-way traffic, an informal Centretown News survey suggests.
Fifty residents living on Florence, Gilmour, James, Lisgar, McLeod and MacLaren streets were selected at random for the survey.
Residents were asked if they were aware of a plan proposed at a downtown revitalization summit Jan. 29 that called for the conversion of residential one-way streets into two-way streets as a traffic-calming measure.
All one-way streets running east or west in the area would be switched under the plan, but not regionally controlled one-way streets such as O’Connor and Kent.
Of the 50 residents polled, 42 said they weren’t aware of the proposal.
When asked if they would support such a plan, 37 people said they wouldn’t support it, eight said they would and five said they were uncertain.
There were many common concerns expressed when residents were asked why they opposed the plan.
Twenty people said they fear two-way traffic will increase the amount of traffic on their street.
McLeod Street resident Kathryn Owen says downtown residential streets are busy enough now.
“I don’t think I want it any busier than it is,” she says.
MacLaren Street resident Debby Kerr agrees. She says two-way traffic is a good idea in theory, but she opposes the plan because she worries about the possible increase in traffic volume.
“I would be in favour of it if it was going to benefit the community,” she says. “But it’s going to make our street a lot busier.”
John Braaksma, a professor of civil engineering at Carleton University and a transportation consultant, has said two-way traffic on residential streets would not result in increased traffic volume.
He added congestion in the downtown is primarily caused by motorists having to drive around the block to get to their destination due to the numerous one-way streets in the area.
Another concern expressed by residents opposed to the plan was the question of parking. Thirteen people said they opposed two-way traffic on residential streets because it would eliminate parking which is already scarce in the core.
“(A two-way street) is a good idea in principle if done right,” says Gilmour Street resident Hugh Ferguson.
“But I don’t see how they will put parking on those streets.”
Some residents say they opposed the plan because they think the residential one-way streets are just too narrow to handle two-way traffic. Others say they feel one-way traffic is safer for their children.
One of the concerns mentioned at the city’s January revitalization summit was speeding.
Survey respondents were divided on the issue of speeding on residential streets. Some said they saw no problem with speeding traffic on their street while other said speeding was a big concern.
McLeod Street resident Mike Kelly says speeding is a problem near his house, which is located close to the intersection of McLeod and Kent streets.
“People go down Kent at 100 km/h off the Queensway,” he says.
Kelly says he’s unsure about the two-way street proposal, but he adds it’s a better solution than speed humps and raised intersections, such as those on Lyon Street.
“I don’t like to see speed humps all over the city,” he says.
The proposal to convert one-way streets into two-ways will be discussed along with many others by Ottawa city council in April.
—With files from Mike Spelay