St. Helens Going One Way Next Week
Ahhh … do you remember that old discussion about St. Helens Avenue becoming a one way street? Well, the time is now.
Next Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008, St. Helens Avenue will be redirected to one-way southbound into downtown Tacoma. This is the first step to making St. Helens one-way indefinitely. This traffic flow redirect is necessary for work to continue on schedule with the Broadway Local Improvement District project.
Flaggers and signs will be in place to direct vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Be cautious.
For all you bicyclists out there … work on those hill sprinting legs.
More information at www.cityoftacoma.org/broadwaylid
Filed under: General
4 comments
A Andrew Becherer August 29, 2008
“Flaggers and signs will be in place to direct vehicle and pedestrian traffic.”
LOL. I read that as pedestrian traffic will also be one way.
As a cyclist I have found Stadium Way an acceptable alternative to St. Helens. There are more, and faster, cars but no parked cars to back out in front of you.
C Carla A. Gramlich September 3, 2008
I confirmed with my contact at the city that bicyclists will have a north bound lane, up St. Helens when construction is completed. I haven’t seen, what has been done already, I am assuming that bicyclists(peds) are being diverted during construction.
Some bicyclists, use to bicycle up Stadium, but then the city put in a turn lane and squeezed bicyclists off that street. I complained to the City Council when those turn lanes were added, along with the ones on Sixth Ave. (this was years ago and my complaints fell on deaf ears)
Maybe it is time to revisit that issue. I think Stadium is too busy with traffic coming off the freeway. A bicycle lane up the hill would help with that issue.
E Elliot September 3, 2008
I second the note that Stadium is too busy to be safe for cyclists. St Helens is/was an important leg of my daily commute and by far the safest way to get out of downtown. This is bad planning that clearly shows no regard for cyclists.
In other bike news, anyone else notice the grating that they stuck in Sixth ave just west of MLK? Not off to the side by the parked cars, not in the middle of the street, but EXACTLY where bicycles ride. I hope the first cyclist to get shot off their bike there sues the pants off this silly city.
Remember when the city hosted that bike night at the hub a few months back? Lot of good that did. It’s pretty clear to me that the city likes to give lip service to these issues, but in the end doesn’t care one bit.
C Carla A. Gramlich September 3, 2008
I am hearing that Stadium is going to get a bicycle lane, just not sure when.
I will check out the grate situation on my ride this afternoon.
I have been following bike/ped issues in this city for about 20 years. They are starting to listen and do the right thing but it still takes time and for the city to find money.
Glad to hear others are so on top of these issues.