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It is looking like a 50/50 coin toss as to whether Lexington City Council will vote on whether to convert both pair of two way streets going downtown (Vine & Main, Limestone & Upper) back into their original two way form.
Terrible idea. They tried this in a few downtowns I've lived near and it consistently ended up hurting businesses. I know I don't like the one ways that are already there.
I would love it if they change the one way streets back to two way! This would be a tremendous boon to the businesses downtown and might even lure a grocery store downtown.
I don't have a horse in this race (bad pun) but Mrs. IRV and me spent three days there this summer. Like the one way streets here in my town, out-siders are always bewildered (and I was)...and locals seldom even think about it.
Right now, with High Street blocked at Limestone, it would be helpful to have more two-ways. Back in the day, Main Street was two way, but Vine, while two-way, was a very narrow street, as the railroad tracks took up much of the space in that area. Downtown has changed its character and some of its configuration since the streets were two-way (and even then, I think High Street was one-way as far back as about 1959 or so). It's certain that traffic would be terrible for several weeks initially, until people became accustomed to the change, and I expect fender-benders would also be on the rise for a while. But after people became familiar with the change, who knows?
Also, downtown was a major shopping destination until the mid 1960s. I can remember two-way traffic crawling along Main Street - but it provided time for window-shopping. While downtown is more interesting now than it was ten years ago (other than for the lost block/mudhole), it's no longer a shopping district as in the past. I would hope the studies being conducted will take all these factors into account, for it's not really possible to compare today's downtown with yesterday's. What brings people downtown now isn't shopping, that's certain.
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