Jacksonville has a history of implementing simple concepts poorly in its quest to revitalize downtown. In the rush to convert downtown’s one-way streets into two-ways, Jacksonville needs to avoid the familiar trend of outright going the wrong way.

Narrow Lane Width

King Street in Charleston, SC

Charleston’s King Street is one of the most vibrant urban retail streets in the region. It’s also a slow moving one-way street with narrow lanes. Most complaints associated with one-way streets boil down to traffic being too fast. Narrowing travel lane widths are a low-cost strategy to slow vehicular speeds in areas with significant pedestrian travel. When vehicular speeds are manageable, retailers enjoy increased visibility and the chances of pedestrians being struck are significantly reduced. Recently, the Florida Department of Transportation has embraced this notion, updating its design criteria to allow lane widths as narrow as ten feet in areas such as Downtown Jacksonville.

Improved Crosswalk Markings

A right-sized one-way street with improved crosswalks in Downtown Miami

Largely driven by young professionals, Downtown Miami’s population is up 150% since 2000. While the common eye may focus on the number of cranes in the skyline, a change in how pedestrians and cyclists interact and cross streets has enhanced livability. Crosswalk markings are commonly used to guide pedestrians and alert other road users of pedestrians at signalized locations. That’s assuming they’re easily visible to the driver. According to a recent North Central Texas Council of Governments report on designing for pedestrian safety, regardless of the direction of vehicle travel, textured crosswalks or those with longitudinal markings are more visible to drivers from afar. While they are limited in today’s Downtown Jacksonville, crosswalks with texture or longitudinal markings are common in central business districts that have made significant strides enhancing their streets.

Rightsizing Streets

Cass Street is an example of a former one-way street right-sized to include a cycle track.

Formerly a three-lane one-way street, Tampa’s Cass Street is now a narrow two-way street with a cycle track and parallel parking. No one would argue that the needs of a community evolve over time. With this in mind, street design should as well. While the Jacksonville of yesteryear may have needed streets with multiple lanes, today’s downtown would operate just fine with low traffic streets being reduced to single lanes. This means space currently dedicated to moving cars out of downtown could be repurposed for other uses and modes of travel.

Downtown’s real problem with one-way streets is that they work best in pairs and the Northbank’s street network is not designed to operate in that manner, leading to confusion and frustration among drivers. This problem can be eliminated in a cost effective manner that doesn’t require spending upwards of $3 million in modifying traffic signal equipment to convert streets into two-way. However, when it comes to enhancing livability and vibrancy, less focus should be placed on travel direction and more attention should go towards traffic calming. When it’s all said and done, the surrounding context and traffic calming of the street make or break the environment, not the direction that cars travel in.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP originally published by the Florida Times-Union. Davis is a certified senior planner and graduate of Florida A&M University. He is the author of the award winning books “Reclaiming Jacksonville,” “Cohen Brothers: The Big Store” and “Images of Modern America: Jacksonville.” Davis has served with various organizations committed to improving urban communities, including the American Planning Association and the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. A 2013 Next City Vanguard, Davis is the co-founder of Metro Jacksonville.com and ModernCities.com — two websites dedicated to promoting fiscally sustainable communities — and Transform Jax, a tactical urbanist group. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com