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The Scoop - Downtown and one-way streets
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There were 199 people who commented on the Southern Standard's Tuesday night Facebook post about the possibility of turning Main Street in front of Hardee's into a two-way street.

I enjoyed reading the comments and always appreciate hearing feedback from folks who are outside my immediate circle. One person even posted a gif of a car wreck which I found humorous.

A number of readers made comments along the lines of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." That's sentiment I fully agree with and government is often guilty of trying to fix things which aren't broken.

In the case of the one-way section of Main Street in front of Hardee's, it might not be broken, but it is limping. The recently installed reboundable delineators seem to be causing some degree of confusion too.

I think redesigning that portion of Main Street deserves consideration. I'd at least like to see what kind of plan TDOT can create because I don't think many people would say traffic flows wonderfully in that part of town.

One of the main problems, which was prominently pointed out in a Tuesday city meeting, is motorists continue to use the Super Rama parking lot as a cut-thru street. Speaking for myself, I absolutely, positively use it.

This is not ideal because the parking lot of Super Rama is not a city street. One lady called me Thursday morning and said she wanted to make a comment that the city should pay for upkeep of the Super Rama parking lot as much as it's used by motorists who are not grocery store customers.

One thing I've always wondered is why Main Street and Morford Street are both one way in the downtown area. When I asked this before I was told that Main Street used to be a two-way street in downtown McMinnville, which is not really an answer as to why the street is one way now.

I'd like to see how it would work in the mind of a TDOT traffic engineer if both Main Street and Morford Street were converted back into two-way streets for their entirety. If you think about how traffic would flow, it's a plan which seems like it would work just fine.

Probably the biggest problem I've encountered with downtown traffic, outside of trucks getting stuck on those red bollards, is motorists driving the wrong way. I've come upon motorists who keep going straight at Hardee's and drive right down Morford Street the wrong way. This also happened to me on Main Street just the other day when someone turned the wrong way onto Main Street at the library.

It seems to me since most streets in McMinnville are in fact two-way streets, that is the most effective way to move traffic. If that's the case, why deviate from that philosophy in our fabulous downtown?

It's not something which is broken, but I think reconfiguring downtown traffic flow is something which could be a benefit. I like the idea of eliminating one-way streets and would like to learn more.

Standard editor James Clark can be reached at 473-2191.