I had heard that the city was planning on turning perennial area one-ways like Lawrence and Curtis into two-way streets to enhance the "neighborhood" ambiance as well as cut down on the ubiquitous speeding on these streets. Well, as of Friday, as I was returning from a bike ride, I headed down the newly two-way Lawrence Street.
My thoughts? I applaud the city for turning it into a two-way street. Since we moved to Denver back in 2001, it Lawrence always struck me as a street with symbolic importance. As the primary street for someone to utilize to get from downtown denver to our picturesque and urbane Cole Neighborhood, I have found myself each and every time spent driving its length contemplating what message it sends commuters.
First, even the most liberal Denver resident should agree that while necessary, the Denver Rescue Mission that greets drivers as they immediately exit downtown presents a siren-like indicator that they're "not in Kansas anymore". As a Curtis Park resident stated in one neighborhood association meeting as yet another organization was announcing yet another transitional living housing complex that was coming to the Curtis Park/Five Points/Whittier/Cole area, "We're glad to do our part, but when do neighborhoods like Capital Hill and Highlands start receiving their fair shair?" I continue to feel that Cole Neighborhood is and oft-overlooked gem in Denver urban living. But why look any farther for the reason why it is oft-overlooked than the first thing that greets people when they inevitably radiate from Denver's downtown to the NoDo neighborhoods like Cole?
Second, symbolically, Lawrence has always struck me as some sort of high-speed escape route for Rockies fans and LoDo revellers seeking least encumbered route out of downtown to I-70. What better than to provide these people with a one-way, two-lane street with no significant traffic lights or furniture, and heading through a forgotten wasteland of mixed industrial-residential Denver like Cole? Lawrence has historically been as much expressway as street.
So what does the new two-way configuration mean to Lawrence, and to Cole and its surrounding neighborhoods? Well, in a big-picture sense, it is a very positive change. The street does now have a very "neighborhood" feel to it, a lot like our old home's major street Zuni's path as it heads north from downtown and 32nd Avenue. It will certainly not be as appealing to "The Fast And The Furious" type juvenile hot-rodders as the previous iteration of Lawrence. (At least after they T-bone a car crossing one of the numerous cross-streets that now have the right of way, which is my next and final point).
So my only question is this--What dim-witted urban planner decided on the current configuration off the "new" Lawrence Street? In particular, who thought it was a good idea to take what used to be an urban speedway with no interruptions to its traffic to making it a street impeded by at least 4 cross-streets now with the right-of-way?
I may not be explaining this well--Basically now, there are several side streets that cross Lawrence that USED to have stop signs as they crossed this major street, but now have none (while Lawrence is now sporting a stop at each of these intersections). And not ALL of these streets now have the right of way, it's almost like they through darts at a dartboard to decide which ones were going to be changed.
Already, I've witnessed total chaos when two cars come to meet one another at one of these intersections. First, the person on Lawrence often barely stops in time for the stop sign. Second, the person on the side street, not having to stop by law, is still stopping (it's as if they're wondering if they are dreaming, or if they actually have the right of way). So, you end up with two confused motorists staring at each other in what is basically a four-way stop. Which I think it should be in the first place!
Mark my words--A bigger problem than the inefficiencies of people adjusting to this new configuration will be several gnarly accidents, as someone on Lawrence, drunk or just stupid, flies through one of those stops and tags someone on one of those side streets.
It's not if, it's just when, unfortunately.
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