Above: Exchange Street, to the right, forks off from Duke Street between King and Queen streets.
I send this to share that not everyone has had a good experience with the new Main Street “Take It Outside” on Sundays initiative. While I certainly wish to support our local businesses and the community, it does not come without a price to the residents of the Harbour District especially Duke Street between King and Queen streets. On Sunday, I had great difficulty getting to my home on Duke Street due to traffic jammed up as people could not pass each other on Duke. This led to tempers flaring, backups, and residents’ cars parked on the side of the road put in jeopardy of being damaged due to the lack of passing room and very close quarters.
I would like to offer a solution:
Would it be possible to make Duke Street ONE WAY southbound and Exchange Street ONE WAY northbound during the time of Take It Outside – Sunday? It would create a much better traffic flow with this minor detour and could be easily managed with simple signage.
I offer that Duke Street (from King to the fork at Exchange Street) really should be a ONE-WAY street southbound as it is only a little over two car widths wide and resident parking takes up that second potential lane. I hope this could be considered in the future to be changed permanently? Let’s see how it goes on Sundays this fall.
We can’t control the loud vehicle exhausts and blaring stereos but at least we can make the traffic flow safer for everyone, especially the residents who have to deal with it.
– Elizabeth Isdale
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That makes perfect sense and just south of the fork where Queen intersects, the street is wide enough to accommodate both southbound (Duke) and northbound (Exchange) from and to the split
Instead of sending traffic down to crowded Below The Hill on these “special days”, send traffic up Division, down Kenyon and over to First Avenue ( and the reverse. They are better equipped to handle such a flow and it gives motorists other options off those streets.
Duke Street from King Street to the split near The Oaks Tavern should be one way southbound and Exchange Street should be one way northbound year round. With cars parked on one side it is impossible for cars going in the opposite direction to pass.
One could even make the argument of Pierce St (already a One Way) be the southbound route and Duke ( or another st) be the northbound option. This would split up the traffic