On The Drawing Board
Plans are in the works to change Wick Avenue from two lanes in each direction. The new arrangement would be one single north bound lane and one single south bound lane. A center lane would be a turning lane.
Probably not a bad idea, since going south the inner lane is always bloked up in the morning with students turning into the Wick Avenue deck. The lanes as they are now are mighty narrow, probably less than the current regulations require.
It would be nice if they could restore the northern island that used to be at the square.
There is a North Island.
Oops, I forgot that is still there, just smaller than it used to be.
Quote from: Rick Rowlands on January 15, 2014, 08:55:28 PM
Probably not a bad idea, since going south the inner lane is always bloked up in the morning with students turning into the Wick Avenue deck. The lanes as they are now are mighty narrow, probably less than the current regulations require.
I agree with Rick. I try to refrain from driving on Wick Avenue because the lanes are so narrow. I've actually been sideswiped twice by cars driving too close.
I heard someone complain that traffic will be backed up all the time. I seriously doubt they would be backed up any more than they are already in certain areas.
Mahoning Avenue is one lane in each direction and it's a mess at times. When cars leave a traffic light, instead of proceeding side by side, they are strung out like a train. It is very hard to pull out from a side street when a long string of cars is coming from the west and another long string of cars is coming from the east. The same problem exists when trying to turn left. The oncoming string of cars is often two to three blocks long.
My street is just two lanes ... a bus route, and a gateway to YSU yet we have no problems with traffic.
I thought that they widened Mahoning Avenue some years ago.
The problem is that there are minimum widths for travel lanes and there simply is not enough room between the curbs to meet the standards. The biggest problem with Wick Avenue are the YSU students darting out between traffic because they are too lazy to use the crosswalks at Spring and Lincoln or use the pedestrian bridge.
Quote from: jay on January 21, 2014, 08:12:49 PM
Mahoning Avenue is one lane in each direction and it's a mess at times. When cars leave a traffic light, instead of proceeding side by side, they are strung out like a train. It is very hard to pull out from a side street when a long string of cars is coming from the west and another long string of cars is coming from the east. The same problem exists when trying to turn left. The oncoming string of cars is often two to three blocks long.
This could be addressed by having the right number of traffic lights, in the right locations along Mahoning
Avenue, with timers setup to change duration of red lights according to time of day and flow of traffic.
I don't know what morning and afternoon rush hours are like in Youngstown, but on Connecticut Ave from
Washington DC to the suburbs, there is one lane that becomes an extra inbound lane during the morning
and then changes direction in the afternoon to alleviate some of the congestion for both rush hours.