EDITORIAL: 1-way traffic on Oval ill advised

June 04, 2008 04:00 am

— Generally speaking, most sensible people would be in favor of letting residents of a neighborhood decide how elements of that neighborhood are run. That is, unless there are elements that require so much traffic from outside that a substantial proportion of the outside population would be greatly inconvenienced by internal decisions.
That is the case with the proposal before the Common Council to limit traffic on the Base Oval to one way. Some -- but most certainly not all -- residents who live around the Oval have asked the council to change the traffic pattern to one-way, as a safety feature and to accommodate exercise walkers in the street. If the great majority of the traffic on the Oval comprised local drivers, we would see it as worth considering, even though one-way traffic has been tried over and over in some parts of the city and determined to not work as well as two-way.
Plattsburgh has never been able to figure out what to do with downtown traffic. For decades, various administrations have debated whether it should be one-way or two-. Both have been tried. The city even widened the thoroughfare on Margaret Street to allow two-way traffic, which is in effect now is and seems to working better than one-way ever did.
However, Margaret Street may not be comparable to the Oval, in that out-of-town drivers had to wend their way through tricky one- and two-way streets to get where they were going, being faced with a maze to negotiate. The Oval has no such puzzles.
However, it does have many destinations other than the homes of people who live there. The drivers to those destinations ought to be considered. Should drivers have to drive all the way around the Oval to reach a destination only a few addresses away?
As many critics of the proposal have stated -- or will state when the matter reaches the council floor this Thursday evening -- safety will not be enhanced by having traffic going in only one direction. In fact, safety has never been an issue at the Oval.
Ease of entrance, exit and parking are. Assemblywoman Janet Duprey's office is there. So are One Work Source, City Court, the Child Coordinating Council, the Recreation Department and a host of other agencies and businesses. One-way access would be more difficult for all of them.
Proponents of the change say people want to walk around the Oval and are fearful of the two-lane traffic. The neighborhood already has access to two superb walking paths, one on the west side of the Old Base along Route 9 and the other on the east side, along the lake. Inconveniencing motorists and visitors to provide a third seems excessive.
The issue promises to be passionately argued. The council must remember, though, that it has to take the interests of the entire community into consideration. Since so much goes on at the Oval in addition to the residential traffic, this is far from a parochial matter.