Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

by Ken Mayer

I read with some dismay recently that MAT buses can’t yet go eastbound on the now two-way Farnam Street at Midtown Crossing. Seems they can’t make the turn to go south onto Turner Boulevard.

This isn’t the only weird thing about one of the city’s main streets. From Heartland Park to 10th Street, Farnam is two-way, from 10th to Park Avenue one-way, then two-way to 36th, one-way to 42nd, then two-way to Saddle Creek, then one-way going east to Happy Hollow on weekdays from 7 to 9am, or one-way on weekdays westbound from 4 to 6pm, otherwise two-way.

In fact, the whole one-way two-way street arrangement in the eastern part of town seems to have evolved into a crazy quilt. Most of the Old Market is two-way, but many of those streets become one-way past 13th Street. Thirteenth switches from two-way to one-way at Jackson.

As we plan for the future of Omaha’s oldest and largest mixed use district, I think it’s time to rethink these arrangements.

This was one of the earliest discussions at Omaha by Design because it directly relates to the way pedestrians view a public space. Fast moving traffic on one-way streets with parallel or no parking creates a pedestrian hostile environment. Despite the 25 mile per hour speed limit, irresponsible drivers know they can “make the lights” going 50.

Let’s return to two-way streets and diagonal parking through downtown.

Here’s why:

• Flextime. Most employers no longer demand that employees be at their desks ready to work at 8 am. This spreads out the rush hour, reducing the need to move large volumes of traffic at specific times.

• Traffic calming. Pedestrians will face much less stressful streets. Traffic will move at a more leisurely pace, and sidewalks will become a safe zone because of the buffer created by cars parked diagonally.

• Increased parking. Converting from parallel to diagonal will increase parking capacity. In fact, this seems to be occurring in a here and there fashion on converted one-way streets.

• Economic development. Slower traffic and more parking will improve the consumer’s willingness to stop and shop in the district rather than outside it.

• Less driver confusion. Making all streets two-way will allow drivers to focus on the other drivers and pedestrians rather than which way they can go on the street.

• Commutes and construction. Journey to work times for Omaha have always been well below the national average, and street construction in downtown has not caused the sort of snarls like work on 72nd and other western thoroughfares has.

• It’s time we had a comprehensive plan for both traffic flow and parking.

Furthermore, if we really want to take a bold step to make the area pedestrian friendly, let’s also ban the right turn on red. Crossing the street in downtown, with the light, still means not stepping off the curb until “you see the whites of their eyes,” because drivers often look toward their left for oncoming cross traffic, rather than checking for somebody stepping off the curb to their right.

One-way streets served a purpose in an earlier time when the central business district was a different place, but they seem somehow inappropriate today. We may still need their ability to move lots of traffic quickly on occasion in the vicinity of the Qwest Center and the TD Ameritrade Ballpark, but for most of downtown Omaha, they are simply an anachronism.