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The ongoing development in the Riversouth portion of Downtown just reached another milestone as part of the reconfigured two-way layout of South Front Street opens to traffic tomorrow.
The stretch of Front Street between Broad and Town Streets will be open to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians beginning tomorrow, while the stretch between Town and and Rich Streets is scheduled to open mid-November.
“We continue to work with our partners in neighborhoods and downtown to make Columbus a more pedestrian and bike friendly city while living within our means,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “Quite simply, we could not do this project without the collaboration of the federal government and State of Ohio.”
The improvements to the streetscape also include upgraded sidewalks, streetlights, storm sewers, water lines, brick turn lanes, street trees, rain gardens, and ornamental street lights. The planned improvements helped to secure private investment in the area including the nearly completed 213-unit Annex at Riversouth residential development by Lifestyle Communities. The reconfigured street should also encourage new retail development along Front Street, especially in the recently renovated Lazarus building.
“Two-way streets help to slow traffic and improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors,” said Councilmember Eileen Y. Paley, chair of the Utilities Committee. “Restoring these streets to a two-way traffic pattern will also improve business opportunities in the area.”
Below is a rendering of a portion of South Front Street. (Click to enlarge)
Yummy!
Looks pretty nice. It will be cool when the (almost) whole street is.
Hooray! Sick of the construction fumes down there, and I hope it will make a big difference!
“…while living within our means.”
Haha…not an accident that that phrase got thrown in there.
So when does the entire thing go to two way?
I drove down Front St. yesterday and the street looks great. Paving is all done and its two way from the highway exit off 70 going north to Broad St.
I assume they couldn’t change the highway overpass to two way as the entrance and exit ramps are ODOTs. However, this may change with the split fix.
I’ll second lifeontwowheels there … it would be nice if they could figure out a way to handle traffic coming in from the split without blocking off the Brewery District from two way traffic all the way down S Front.
I’m also looking at the stretch going North into the AD and SN/VV. I imagine the AD would be better without a 4-5 lane freeway going through it AND (going back to another thread on here) having a 2 lane alternative, with no buses, to High would make things a bit easier for those commuting into downtown (or elsewhere).
No bike lanes? Columbus really needs to get with the program! I’m visiting Ft. Collins, Colorado right now, they have 280 miles of bike lanes on almost all of their city streets. Would it really be that hard to paint some lines and bike stencils on this wide road?
It’s wide, but how wide are the individual lanes themselves? I don’t have the numbers in front of me but if the lanes are about the same size as those throughout the area, it’s better off without bike lanes.
I’d rather see sharrows and the “bikes allowed full use of the lane” signs.
LoTW – I agree that this would be pretty well served running two-way north from Broad to the Marconi curve as well. Not sure why that stretch is remaining one way… unless they’re waiting to do the street and utility upgrades in sync with the old police building revamp at Gay & Front. Which could be pretty likely.
OK found something out of Chicago that may help with the bike lane thing.
Thinking about it further, though, given the small section that is going two ways it would be probably be a wash to throw a bike lane in. What happens when you hit the one way section?
Googled around and found one of the design manuals for Chicago. It’s a PDF file. On Google maps I got around 50 feet in total width for Front Street. Going to page 16 (on my reader if you type it in the box; the actual page on the bottom left of the document is 14) there is a design for a 50 ft wide street, with two lanes of travel in either direction and a 5 foot wide bike lane. No Parking. If we could be happy without on street parking through this stretch, a lane could potentially work and be a welcome alternative to High Street. Would the public accept no parking? Could the city work with the loss of revenue off the meters?
ETA
I think the only real issue along this stretch is the amount of intersections and conflict points with parking garages and lots. My preference would be the “full use of lane” signage and sharrows, giving a far greater buffer for cyclists to be in control.
I actually enjoyed it where Front was 4 lanes one way and the street along the river one way. Made for a qucik commute to work and back. Two lanes would be fine if they kept them clear. But there always seems to be someone stopped or delivering something that blocks one lane cutting the north bound traffic to one lane.
True. If you use this route for work, you might have to leave the house 2 minutes earlier. I guess if you really need to complain about something, then there’s your stretch.
Reminds me of when I used to be able to race down Gay Street at 40 miles an hour. Ah… the good ol’ days.
Bike lane shmike lane. Bike lanes are only there to push cyclists off to the edge of the road while appearing to welcome them at the same time, even though they imply you better stay out of “their” (motorists’) lanes. Front St is looking good and I’ve ridden it already southbound. These four lanes are just fine for bikes.
Not sure how this helps business opportunities as quoted by councilwoman Paley. What is she talking about? Front is lined with government office buildings and parking garages, not empty retail spaces like High. I do agree that two-way streets do help slow traffic, improve residents’ quality of life, are better for visitors, especially those not familiar with Downtown like a local is, and are better for businesses. That’s what urban planners seem to agree on from all I’ve read. Now, if slowing two-ways are an integral part of the equation (and it is), then why isn’t there a master plan to implement this sort of treatment all throughout Downtown? And why aren’t similar measures being implemented outside of Downtown?
“I’d rather see sharrows and the “bikes allowed full use of the lane†signs.”
Ditto.
Summit and 4th next please.
[quote]“True. If you use this route for work, you might have to leave the house 2 minutes earlier.”[/quote]
Hey now, thats a 40% increase in my commute time!
It seems silly to go two way, one way, then two way for a few blocks then one way for a few blocks, then two way for a couple of blocks, then one way, then back to two way.
(I think I counted that right from brewery town to past Goodale park)
It’s like the street is bi-polar
Make it all two way or all one way.
As for the way it looks, Nice Job! Columbus’ use of brick for medians and cross walks is good engineering and achitectural use. More than any city I’ve been to, Columbus does roads right.
The city has no money for converting Summit or 4th (a city official was quoted saying that in a Dispatch article). That money is for adding three more lanes on both Hilliard-Rome Rd and Hard Rd. Shows you this city’s #1 priority: cars, not pedestrians and cyclists.