Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, columnist, author of two books, and consultant on public policy. Smart City Memphis was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal wrote that “Smart City Memphis provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solves the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas. If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.
Colossal mistake. Never reduce street size, bad for traffic flow. And planters in the middle of the road? DUMB. You can make a street more pleasing without making it an art project. I give credit for the effort though.
Your comment would indeed be the conventional wisdom, but extensive research and the experiences in cities around the world say just the opposite..
I work in the area and believe me it looks terrible. Ugly colors and design. But at least it’s a contrast to the bland area. If only someone would pick up all the trash along the streets!
The bike/pedestrian project on Manassas Street makes sense because of the current traffic load and that there is an alternate for vehicular traffic Dunlap Street, which is a parallel street a block to the east. This location also makes sense because it has the ability to tie to educational and medical facilities together (St. Jude, UT, SW Tennessee CC, LeBonhuer, St. Jude, the Med) to each other. With the addition of new bike lanes on Jefferson Avenue the Medical Center will be tied to Downtown, Crosstown, and other bike facilities in Midtown. The design may need to be refreshed and repainted often as it may look interesting now but will fade and become stained by the debris and the weather over time. It can always be removed and sharrow lanes added to when vehicular traffic levels demand more lanes. The Marshall Street Project near Sun Studio, with the exception of the wonky 4-way misaligned stop where no one knows who’s turn it is to go, also makes sense and has made the Sun Studio frontage much safer.
What I have a problem with is when drive lanes are taken out of busy streets such as what occurred with a pilot project on Riverside Drive and the worthless seating that was placed in Peabody Place street. Bike and pedestrian projects make sense when there are are alternates, when Riverside was closed it caused congestion on Front Street. Both were either removed or scaled down as they were both barely used because there are safer and more inviting bike options nearby, such as the trails along the riverfront and Main Street. The bike lanes on North Parkway are worthless as well and the on-street parking dangerous near the zoo. The lanes should be on Overton Park Avenue tying into the trail system at Overton Park and to Broad Avenue and the Greenline instead; this route is much safer due to lower vehicular traffic counts and speed. The North Parkway lanes should be removed and a parking structure built for the zoo to keep the parking off the busy street and out of the Greensward.
We were proponents for reducing the lanes on Riverside Drive, but it was handled ineptly by city government with the final configuration different than the recommendation by the national traffic engineering company. However, it is interesting that with fewer lanes, traffic counts on Riverside Drive remained constant and there was no significant shifting of traffic volumes to parallel streets while traffic speeds on Riverside Drive reduced slightly but were still well above posted limit. (This is a common result in road diets in Memphis) It’s worth remembering that for many city streets – we think of Madison immediately – the lanes were determined for a time when densities were much higher and traffic counts much higher. Meanwhile, about 60% of Memphians said they prefer to reduce the lanes to increase safety by slowing traffic compared to 33% who wanted four lanes.