southslider wrote:Traffic really only back up east of 7th street, so I don't see how on-street parking west of here would impede traffic flow. At the very least, parking could be added with reduced lanes west of 9th street, if ultimately worried about the convention center. But its cab/shuttle loading bay (curved drive in front) appears to easily handles its needs.
As for why traffic backs up east of 7th, the problem isn't Washington but other streets.
The Federal Reserve made the City vacate Locust between 4th and Broadway, such that numerous buses now turn left onto Washington from 4th, only to turn left again onto Broadway, on a short block with minimal turning bays for left-turning traffic.
The development of superblocks with St. Louis Centre, the Convention Center, and the Dome have restricted the capacity of a grid by limiting the number of through-streets between I-70 and 9th.
Then, you have the problem of I-70 itself. You have the only through north-south arterials of 4th/Broadway in close proximity to the Memorial Drive outer-roads and MLK and Eads bridge all right there.
So, it's not Washington that's the problem, but other streets being changed such that Washington, east of 9th, is used as the only remaining east-west arterial for much of the non-PSB bound Illinois rush-hour commute leaving the CBD.
Wow, great summary of the problem! I completely agree. I think changing many of our streets on the grid (what grid is left) back to two-way traffic could help. As it is many people have to go 2-3 more blocks simply due to the one-way streets. I think two-way streets would also be more friendly as a cyclist and pedestrian.
