Re: Downtown Sidney Traffic Study.
In your article on the above topic you quote Councillor Lougher-Goodey as saying, in relation to returning Beacon Avenue to two-way traffic, “If there’s no good reason to change it then don’t do it.”
As a professional retail planner with 40-plus years experience in advising municipalities and BIAs across Canada on how best to revitalise their downtowns, I have evolved six Golden Rules:
1: Eliminate all one way streets.
2: Eliminate all restrictive turns.
3: Maximise on-street parking.
4: Provide off-site employee parking.
5: Eliminate all pedestrian malls.
6: Implement “Naked Streets” (i.e. reduce “street signage clutter”).
If Councillor Lougher-Goodey reads the Sidney traffic study carefully he will see the consultants touch on items one to four and strongly recommend further study be made of returning Beacon Avenue to two-way after consulting both businesses and residents.
I, like Denis Paquette and many others, am therefore puzzled by council’s decision to bury this item and hope that the town will invite the consultants to review their study at a public information meeting, instead of shelving it.
In answer to Councillor Lougher-Goodey’s question I would simply reply that, based on my experience, successful downtowns have slow two-way traffic (thus providing safety to shoppers, especially moms with toddlers and seniors) whereas one-way downtown traffic is not shopper friendly since it is designed to speed commuter traffic.
I would therefore respectfully suggest one-way systems are not relevant or appropriate in downtown Sidney and that this matter needs to be publically discussed and further studied.
Richard D. B. Talbot
Sidney