MONTEVIDEO -- Starting Thursday night, there will be two ways to get to your favorite downtown Montevideo business.
City Council members voted 3-2 Monday to switch traffic on the community's Main Street from one-way to two-way. Most of the downtown has been restricted to one-way traffic since a downtown redevelopment project in the late 1960s.
The council decision came after about 2½ hours of discussion by both opponents and proponents of the change, said City Manager Steve Jones. Council members Sandy Hodge, Mike Diggins and Karen Nieuwbeerta voted to make the switch, while Pat Schmidt and Bryce Curtiss cast the no votes.
City Council members had voted two years ago to switch traffic on the downtown portion of First Street to two-way but rescinded the action before it could be implemented.
Their action this time calls for the city to begin re-striping the downtown area and installing new signs on Thursday. The work should be completed for a switch over to two-way traffic by evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Montevideo, the debate over downtown traffic has been like the argument over whether Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron was the best slugger in baseball history, and nearly as long-standing. The community and downtown business owners have been nearly evenly split over the issue, said Jones.
Proponents of the change said that the restriction to one-way traffic discourages some people from driving downtown and consequently hurts business.
Supporters of the one-way traffic claim that it makes for a safer flow of traffic, which should encourage more people to come downtown.
Jones said the council members adopted the switch to two-way traffic as a "trial'' but set no time limit on it. They can reverse their decision at any time, he said.
