High St a little too narrow in the Short North? « Columbus Underground Messageboard

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High St a little too narrow in the Short North?

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Started 1 year ago by alove
Latest reply from KSquared

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alove
Downtown
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Does anyone else think it's strange High St (in certain parts of the Short North) only has one moving lane of traffic on one side of the street?

This area has grown up and it's time High St grows up too.

I understand parking on High is good for the businesses and all that jazz but seriously.... we are a CITY and maybe it's time to sacrifice some of our parking on High St for less congestion (for cars, bikes and busses)

In other parts of our country it's standard for all roads to have at least three moving lanes on each side of the road with a median.

Posted 1 year ago #
anillo
Marzipan City
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I wouldn't like to see it get bigger. The SN is a place where people live and walk around so it shouldn't be a huge road (as opposed to downtown where everyone is driving to go park somewhere and work, then driving to go out of downtown).
Also with Summit and 4th pretty fast alternates in the close vicinity, we should keep High Street nice and small and slow.

Posted 1 year ago #
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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I like to ride a block or two west of High for safety. On a day like today, if you were on/in a motorized vehicle on High St, I bet you were wishing for flying cars...

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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anillo wrote >>
I wouldn't like to see it get bigger. The SN is a place where people live and walk around so it shouldn't be a huge road (as opposed to downtown where everyone is driving to go park somewhere and work, then driving to go out of downtown).

A big +1 on your opinion. Keeping the on street parking slows down traffic which is a good thing. If you want to get around quicker take 4th/summit or a freeway.

Posted 1 year ago #
CalebR
Lincoln Village
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SN is great, High Street is suppose to be a small inviting street for business and residents in the SN and surrounding communities.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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alove wrote >>
it's time to sacrifice some of our parking on High St for less congestion

If you want wide roads, you should move to the Polaris area. They're pretty wide up there and there's practically no automobile congestion as a result, right?

(sigh)

There used to be on-street parking on High throughout Downtown. It was removed to make room for more street-congestion. One of the contributing factors to businesses moving out was their customers having no where to easily park. Is that really what you want to happen in the Short North?

We're currently talking about restoring on-street parking on High throughout the rest of Downtown so that it can be more pedestrian and customer friendly for business, similar to the Short North:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/downtown-2010-plan-idea-5-high-street

Posted 1 year ago #
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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futureman wrote >>

anillo wrote >>
I wouldn't like to see it get bigger. The SN is a place where people live and walk around so it shouldn't be a huge road (as opposed to downtown where everyone is driving to go park somewhere and work, then driving to go out of downtown).

A big +1 on your opinion. Keeping the on street parking slows down traffic which is a good thing. If you want to get around quicker take 4th/summit or a freeway.

Exactly. Keep the traffic slow though there. Faster isn't always better.

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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We could always make it one way from 5th avenue and eliminate street parking which would make it 5 lanes (eliminating the turn lane). We could really improve the congestion problem! Sigh...

Posted 1 year ago #
CalebR
Lincoln Village
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futureman wrote >>
We could always make it one way from 5th avenue and eliminate street parking which would make it 5 lanes (eliminating the turn lane). We could really improve the congestion problem! Sigh...

LOL sigh...... I feel your pain.

Posted 1 year ago #
anillo
Marzipan City
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Also (I remember this being brought up in some conversation about parking difficulties a while ago), the more traffic there is, the busier the street is. If no one went to the short north, traffic would be great =P I mean, it would be great if we could somehow keep it busy and keep traffic flowing smoothly, but at least you can get a silver lining out of the congestion.

Posted 1 year ago #
CalebR
Lincoln Village
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anillo wrote >>
Also (I remember this being brought up in some conversation about parking difficulties a while ago), the more traffic there is, the busier the street is. If no one went to the short north, traffic would be great =P

LOL very very true. we could just shut down the SN (joking of course) LOL

Posted 1 year ago #
cc

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I am all for making High St one way into the downtown ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
cbustransit

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yes...let's widen high, remove parking, make walking more difficult...cuz we need cars flying through the short north and not stopping in there...

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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anillo wrote >>
it would be great if we could somehow keep it busy and keep traffic flowing smoothly...

I've always thought traffic in the Short North flowed about as smoothly as anyone should expect it to. If you're trying to drive *through* the Short North, you either take Summit/Fourth to get to Campus or Clintonville or 71 if you're going further. There's already a variety of options.

Posted 1 year ago #
CheeseFoodie
Harrison West
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Oh dear... please go drive in Boston or Paris and then rethink.

Posted 1 year ago #
bman
New Albany
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Walker wrote >>

alove wrote >>
it's time to sacrifice some of our parking on High St for less congestion

If you want wide roads, you should move to the Polaris area. They're pretty wide up there and there's practically no automobile congestion as a result, right?
(sigh)
There used to be on-street parking on High throughout Downtown. It was removed to make room for more street-congestion. One of the contributing factors to businesses moving out was their customers having no where to easily park. Is that really what you want to happen in the Short North?
We're currently talking about restoring on-street parking on High throughout the rest of Downtown so that it can be more pedestrian and customer friendly for business, similar to the Short North:
http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/downtown-2010-plan-idea-5-high-street

So since there are wide roads in the Polaris area and there is congestion the answer to congestion is narrow roads? Pls Walker ...

I happen to agree with everyone here and High Street should remain as is.

Posted 1 year ago #
tree_sketcher
Columbus
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The answer that Walker is referring to is to make mixed-use walkable neighborhoods that encourage walking, biking and use of transit as well as reducing the distance a person needs to travel for daily trips. Building places like Polaris that mandate driving for every single trip is the biggest cause of the gridlock that is referred to here.

Posted 1 year ago #
kessler
Georgian Heights
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I always thought it would be a good idea to have a led sign that was installed permanently up near 5th or so. Saying short north local traffic only and pointing downtown/Arena/Park Street traffic detouring left and right at which ever street to summit/Neil. With a follow up sign at Chestnut/Summit3rd pointing out arena/park st exit.
As well as similar sign on the south end diverting OSU/south campus traffic right/left to Fourth/Neil.

ETA. to be turned on at only peak times.

and about removing the parking on the street, would be a good idea only after a parking garage or two are built somewhere within reason to short north.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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bman wrote >>
So since there are wide roads in the Polaris area and there is congestion the answer to congestion is narrow roads? Pls Walker ...

I didn't say anything remotely resembling that.

Posted 1 year ago #
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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I was only joking when I suggested this earlier. If anything N High in the SN provides the perfect argument for similar treatment on all other streets where there is an urban commercial corridor. The problem is too many dumb motorists insist on using High to go near Comfest and not find a spot and then have to head back up towards 4th or 5th Ave (where I saw traffic moving slower than pedestrians) and walk there. Another interesting occurrence was that motorists were much more willing to allow pedestrians to cross the street. I think it's important to point out that High only gets really crowded on special events and weekend nights to a lesser extent.

Posted 1 year ago #