Councilman Michael Nowakowski
The Arizona Republic September 2008
It's time to make a U-turn on reversible lanes
Recently, The Arizona Republic has published several stories on reversible lanes, on Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street. This issue is on the forefront of my agenda at City Hall, and I believe the lanes pose a danger that is all-too-present in the daily lives of many residents of my district.
The reversible lanes were a novel idea at the time of their creation, and provided north/south commuters with an alternative to the Interstate-17, at the time our only highway that ran in that direction. However, now we have State Route 51, an additional resource for north/south commuters that, in turn, makes the reversible lanes on Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street more of a liability than a benefit to the residents of our city.
The reversible lanes cause a myriad of problems. First and foremost, cut-through traffic is something that downtown neighborhoods, including all of the historic districts in the area that I represent, live with daily due to reversible lanes. Imagine hundreds of cars every day speeding past your house for the sake of getting to another street where they can make a left turn. This is a fact of life for everyone in Phoenix who makes their home in one of the downtown neighborhoods that borders Seventh Avenue or Seventh Street. That’s almost all of them. As you can imagine, this is incredibly dangerous for children playing with their families or coming home from school, not to mention incredibly bothersome to downtown residents trying to sit down for dinner or relax before or after work.
Second, drivers’ inability to make a left turn renders many businesses along Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street nearly inaccessible, causing fewer individuals to patronize these mostly family and small-business establishments. I do not need to outline the benefits of having local, family owned, businesses in the downtown core, but I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure these establishments stay open for all of us to use and enjoy. The reversible lanes on Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street might take them away from us, if we do not act soon to fix the problem.
It is apparent in all of this that the burden of these reversible lanes is borne by downtown residents and business owners. Why are we punishing people who are investing in our city by living and working in our revitalizing downtown core at a time when all know that our economy is on a downhill slide, some say a recession?
If reversible lanes are indeed a benefit to our city, why are they only on Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street, and not a citywide feature? They represent a complete lack of consistency in planning for traffic issues, and are an antiquated, dangerous feature of downtown. To not permanently remove these reversible lanes would be irresponsible of the city and detrimental to our community.
I am committed, along with some of my colleagues on the City Council, to making our city safer by getting rid of them for good. To make your voice heard, contact my office at 602-262-7492 or via e-mail at council.district.7@phoenix.gov.
Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski represents District 7. He can be reached at 602-262-7492 or council.district.7@phoenix.gov.