Quote:
Originally Posted by kidboise
AADT numbers for Front between 11th and 13th street signals are at or above 40,000. This figure is relatively high, especially for a small city; wait times westbound during rush hour (even with the couplet's considerable lane count) are accordingly long--and that's coming from someone who currently lives and commutes in a city much larger than Boise. In my mind, there's no question that the current setup needs to change. But given that current setup, and the reality of high wait times, I don't think discussion questioning the necessity of high lane count is constructive.
Downtown generates a significant amount, but not the majority of this traffic. That might be where your confusion arises from. Front and Myrtle Streets constitute a one-way couplet stage of US Highway 20/26, and are important thoroughfares for a significant number of people who live west of downtown, and work east of it (several large business campuses actually lie past downtown to the east). Front's (westbound) AADT figure shrinks by only 14,000 on the opposing side of downtown between Broadway and 3rd street signals, meaning downtown destination traffic probably accounts for under a third of total traffic.
In their current, surface-level form, IMO there's nothing frivolous about the design of these two streets. But that design is not conducive to a downtown environment many here would like to see. That's why I agree with you about a through-traffic bypass. I am personally fond of a tunneled solution, which is the basis for much of the related discussion in above posts.
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Keep in mind I live in a city much,
much larger than Boise. I'm not about to question your traffic counts, but the underlying issue is that very wide one-way pairs are not usually very conducive to urban development. Manhattan avenues are the exception, not the norm.
The worst offenders in Boise are the Front-Myrtle and 9th-Capitol pairs. 9th-Capitol has two lanes on Capitol (with space for four) and three marked lanes on 9th (very wide lanes, too). Meanwhile, Front and Myrtle are 5 (!!!) lanes wide. At these widths, what you're looking at are less "streets" and more "highways that people have to cross ... somehow".
Even off those streets, even less-important streets for regional traffic flow, like Main or Jefferson, are often three-lane one-way affairs. This is not healthy for urban development. If your street must be one-way, it should not be more than two lanes wide -- this way, parking lanes have a frictional effect on both of the drive lanes. Greater care must be taken, so you drive more slowly, and this is better for other users of the street. Incidentally, you also get free space for a parking-protected bike lane when you do this!
As far as Front and Myrtle are concerned, the fact each direction has an odd number of lanes is worrying, as is the fact that the pair is essentially an extended I-184 exit. It is no surprise that drivers treat this pair as a highway, particularly Myrtle -- there is no clear transition to "city street". Worse, its natural end is
another one-way pair. Optimally, a well-designed roundabout forms a street-road boundary, but there might not be a good place to put it.
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