Right now I live 4 blocks from Lake Street and, while I don't often drive a car, when I do I avoid Lake. It's not hard. Except for the stretch between Cedar & Hiawatha, and the stretch where Lake & Lagoon are separate one-way streets, there's really no reason to be driving on Lake for more than a block or two. 28th & 26th streets are fast 3-lane one-ways with fewer pedestrians and cars parking or turning (I actually ride my bike down 26th when I'm in a hurry, despite the bike-tire-sized potholes, because it is much, much faster - more space between lights and the lights seem to match traffic flow better, plus you don't have to dodge random noncar obstacles.)
The short stretch between Cedar and Hiawatha (how long is that, 10 blocks? I have to admit I ride on 34th street - which I don't recommend to car drivers at all, btw - from Bloomington to the Midtown Y at least once a week and have never counted the blocks) would be helped tremendously by arrow lights and possibly some offstreet parking on the cross streets - the businesses there are growing and the real hazard driving through there is traffic weaving between cars stopped waiting for a left turn opportunity and other cars parking or pulling out of parking spaces. The school, YWCA, and farmer's market could use protective traffic lights, too, for when the traffic at the 55/LRT/Lake intersection is backed up. But adding more lanes doesn't seem like it would help at all - the slowdowns are all at traffic lights, not from having too many cars in each lane. Well, traffic lights and the occasional delivery truck, though that seems to not happen during evening rush hour, at least.
The other big traffic slowdown is the 21 bus - is the idea of putting trolleys along the greenway going anywhere? I think overall it would be bad for business, by making the Lake Street businesses lose the eye-time they get as people wait for the bus or ride by on it, but it would be great for traffic.
Jennifer Pedersen Powderhorn
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