Conversion of a pair of high-speed one-way streets

Conversion of a pair of high-speed one-way streets to slower two-way operation has proven a boon to the Historic Old Northeast neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida, according to Michael Frederick, manager of neighborhood transportation in St. Petersburg. Eighth and Ninth Avenues were returned to two-way operation after decades of one-way traffic. Neighborhood resident Kenneth A. Guckenberger recently told Frederick that “taking out the one-ways has really made people stop speeding and to some degree has discouraged cut-through commuters.” Two years after the change, the streets where the conversion took place are “seeing lots of nice renovation and redevelopment activity,” part of which, Guckenberger said, “can be attributed to taking the ‘one-way’ stigma off of the streets.”