1700 South Main Street Roundabout (A Hypothetical Discussion)
I’m just bringing this up as a topic of conversation in a time of slow development news. Will it ever happen? Of course not! But I think it opens up a discussion that's more about the future of the area.
Anyway, I bike commute into downtown and use Main Street as my north-south corridor. The traffic is low, the speeds are low, the bike lanes are wide, and the street parking provides a good buffer.
But there’s this one intersection I always encounter and hate with a passion: 1700 South Main Street. The north-south light lasts forever, and I’m always sitting there watching very sparse traffic traveling east-west.
I’m a very good boy and wait, but I’d argue at least 75% of the cyclists I encounter at the intersection will look in both directions and then ride through the red light.
It’s such a comically huge intersection, but there’s a lot of potential in the area, especially with all the street side infill housing that’s popping up nearby. You’ve got Big Willies and Beast From The East there, but also a 7-11 with a parking lot WAY bigger than it needs.
Again… potential.
But as I sit there at the light, I always think to myself how much more efficient it would be if the intersection was a roundabout. Not even efficient, but safer, and would add an element of walkability for pedestrians in the area.
Imagine taking this, and turning it into this.
I think this would also integrate nicely with the master plan the city has for Main Street to make it less… fugly.
You’re also removing the maintenance costs of the traffic lights, plus all the roads are already one lane in each direction, so you’re not road-dieting anything per UDOT’s dumb traffic calming power reach.
Am I being selfish because, mostly, I just want to keep moving? Yes! But everyone wins. Me, the motorists, pedestrians, businesses, all of 'em. That said... I really do think that whole area has got the possibility to become something much more engaging for people, a la 900 South.