Comment 106614

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted December 05, 2014 at 14:41:58 in reply to Comment 106613

There have been multiple articles here referring to the mass conversion of one way streets downtown, complete with links to an original Spec article from 1956 describing the effect of the network conversion and the Wibur Smith and associates plan.

Here is one: http://raisethehammer.org/blog/1758/down...

and here is another with the plan: http://raisethehammer.org/article/2330

which shows the initial set of converted streets (although the one way conversions of upper James and W5th were never done).

and from the Spec:

"1956: One-way streets introduced downtown to ease traffic congestion." http://www.thespec.com/news-story/224106...

and also from the Spec:

"Swayed by the sweet promises of Wilbur Smith, the pioneering traffic engineer from South Carolina who was busy promoting one-way conversions all across North America, Hamilton’s aldermen went all-in and switched the lower city streets to one-way literally overnight." http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/224...

Last night the traffic engineers also referred to the fact that downtown streets were converted overnight to one-way back in 1956.

Not all the current one way streets were converted initially; the system was later gradually expanded through until the late 60s. But it is true that the downtown core was converted all at once in 1956.

I'm not sure I understand why two-way to one way would be so much cheaper than one-way to two-way. Why the huge difference in price? The only real difference is the need for two way traffic lights at those intersections which are signalized (mostly on arterials), which would add a bit but not a huge amount.

Remember that the two-way conversion of about 12 blocks of Caroline and Hess cost only $72k back in 2003.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2014-12-05 14:57:00

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