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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1949)
The Stat man, Salony Oru. Wednesday, January 23, 18431 2Lane System of One-Way Streets Also Proposed as Possible Answer to (Story also 9r n The long-awaited report of the state highway department giving An Analysis of Chances and Mod ifications In the Present Location of the State tiignwayi into ana through the City of Salem in Order to Alleviate Congestion, Decrease Hazard and Expedite Traffic Flow was completed two weeks ago and submitted to the highway commis sion which released it Tuesday. The report is the culmination f studies lasting two and one-half years, made at the request of the Salem Long Range Planning com mission. Added pressure for action was felt in recent months tnrougn protests of residents along 99E over the noisy truck traffic, and through the requests to the city council for relief from congestion on norm r'anltol street. The report by Chief Highway Engineer R. H. Baldock embraces tmtr narta; Part I, the Pacific highway 99E); Part II. the Salem bridge: Part III the North Santiam high way! Part IV, the one-way street grid system. ' Keating Paelfie Highway The opening paragraphs of Part I note the problem of handling two classes of traffic the estimat ed 75 per cent of users of 99E who rant to come into saiem ana me S per cent who want to go through Without stopping. Both problems were studied: An express way through the city and a circumfer ential highway around the city. Through City (See Map I on this page) Rente I: 12th Street rente, t7.812.eee. eest Route H: the 19th Street rente. eat UJJI.OH. Keate HI: the 24th Street rente, eat S7.4I3.000'. The report says: "The extremely high total costs on these routes-are flue primarily to the high costs, of the rights-of-way and the need tor exoensive overpasses to. effect Eade separations with the east d-west streets. The expenditure ef between $7, (,999 and $9,500,99 far an ex- Irew highway Into and through alem at this time Is not recom mended." "There is a possibility that at some time in the future the South ern Pacific railroad might, in the public Interest, be required to Abandon its 12th Street location be cause of the growing hazard and inconvenience resulting from the 8 Deration of a main-line railroad trough a rapidly growing city. If gnd when 12th Street is aban doned as location for rail traffic ft may be feasible to utilize such location for an express highway at a reasonable cost." ClreomferentUl Highway (See Map I on this page) Three routes were studied for a bypass road east of Salem: Keate IV: starts at a point on 99E near Hayesville school, goes south to a point south of Center street, bout one-half - mile east of the state hospital, swings sharply southwesterly across the Mill creek flat southeast of the penitentiary, turns south to parallel market road 15 and Joins the Pacific Highway south near Baxter road. Cost $3,- TS7.000. Rente T: same as Route IV to the Eint south of Center street, where swings southeasterly ralong the nch overlooking Mill creek, then curves to cross . Paradise Islands farm and southwesterly to connect With Pacific highway about four and one-half miles south of the 12th Street Y. Cost $4,460,000. Rente VI: Follows route V to the undercrossinr of Turner (airport) road, where it swings right to join the Pacific highway at the crossing f Battle creek, about three and one-half miles south of the 12th Street Y. Cost $3,277,000. Rente VI Preferable "Of the three alternatives. Route VI appears to be. preferable. By conformance with the following Elan, this route can be constructed i stages, thus spreading the cost ever a period of several years: "1. Use existing market road No. J, Lancaster drive, from its con nection with the present highway near Hayesville school to a point Immediately south of Four Corners : As the expected traffic would not exceed 3,000 cars, a two-lane fa- S'lity would suffice for the present, eeded strengthening of the ex isting surfacing would cost an es timated $140,000. t. Construct two lanes of the four lanes ultimately to be provid ed from Four Corners south to a intersection with present US 99E approximately 3.75 miles south of Salem at an estimated cost of $910,- 000. "2. Purchase right of way for a four-lane facility over the entire length of the route at an estimated cost of $430,000. "Under the above described plan, the total Initial expenditure would be $1,500,000, or a little less than half of the total ultimate expendi ture. The right of way throughout should be purchased in the immed iate future in order to avoid a high er cost later by reason of building development which is rapidly ex panding eastward from Salem. This circumferential route (Route VI) Is 10.35 miles in length. The short est of the suggested xores routes through Salem would have a length of 10.44 miles and the existing route of the .Pacific highway a length of 11.6 miles." One-Way Street System Considering an expressway through Salem too cot!y, the high way engineers turn to the expedi ent of carrying 99E through Salem by means of a one-way street sys tem. (The recommended routing is 11- Bridge at Marion, My -Pass Highway 99E Recommended Traffic Problem Recommendations At a Glance . . B RIDGES A new two-lane bridge at Marlon street for one way westbound travel; use of present Center street bridge for east bound one-way. BY -PASS 99K HIGHWAY New highway west of Lancaster drive and south to Pacific high way 3H miles south of i present 12th street Y; proposed ? tempo rary expedient using Lancaster drive to a point south of Four Corners where new road would start. 99E THROUGH SALEM Sys tem of one-way streets. HIGHWAY OREGON 222 Consider new location for North Santiam highway. lustra ted in Map II on this page). By tnls system southbound trai fic on 99E would use Summer street, Chemeketa street and Com' mercial street. Northbound traffic would enter on Commercial street. swing to Liberty at Superior street, north Court street, east on Court to Capitol and north on Capitol. Truck traffic would be diverted from Summer and North Capitol by using Norway street Inbound from the north to Commercial street and northbound Shipping street from Liberty to North Cap itol. This ene-way system weald re quire approval ef the Salem city council and a contract between the city and the state highway commis sion. Argument for One-Way Streets The report states: "More and more cities through out the United States are adopting one-way-street plans to solve their traffic problems. One-ways streets separated by a block are. in effect. X divided highways. Two two-lane highways become a four-lane facil ity capable of carrying about three times the traffic without conges tion and in such a manner as to re duce hazard and expedite traffic movement. ... "Objection may be made to the introduction of a one-way street system in Salem because of the wide streets. It is the view of some people that the merging movements would be hazardous, under one way street operation, turning movements can be made only to the right or to the left, as the case may be. Both right- and left-turns can not be made at the same intersec tion. When signals are installed on the one-way street grid system, the traffic is held by lights when turn ing movements are made, and the street is relatively free for the movement. In any case, the oper ator has two blocks in which to weave in anticipation of a left-turn or right-turn movement. "Some merchants are fearful that a one-way street plan will discour age customers from patronizing their stores. The contrary is true, and the relief from congestion will do more to prevent dispersal of business areas than any other plan yet tried." Street Widening Reqaired To expedite flow of traffic through Salem if the one-way street plan is adopted by the high way commission and the city coun cil widening arteries would be re quired, and would be done by the state as follows: Highway 99E from Hayesville school to Fairgrounds road, cost $825,000. By deferring widening from Lana avenue toil Fairgrounds road for a few years the initial outlay would be only $340,000. South Commercial from Superior street to city limits Xo four-lane width, right-of-way and widening1 including making connection to Liberty street, $450,000. Liberty street, widening from! Superior to Oak street, $100,000. Norway and Shipping streets, $50,000. I Recommended Plctn for Bridges Across Willamette 'sm- rr - warn -mr r w -i sv t x i n i- s a af sr. Oregon State highway engineers recommend a second bridge at Marlon street, with both Center street and Marion street bridges overpass ing Front street and coming to grade at Commercial street. Center street span would be for eastbound traffic: Marlon street for west ' bound. At West Saiem a new road above flood level would be built between Edgewater street and river. Wallace rood coiwectieu would also bo above flood level. 2-Lane Spans, 1-Way Traffic, Held Adequate (See Illustrations) The engineers of the state high way department conducted sur veys and made extensive studies on engineering and costs to arrive at conclusions respecting the cross ing of the Willamette, to provide for increased traffic. Traffic surveys showed that the "optimum" crossing would be at Chemeketa street "however, stu dies of the structure and economic considerations of this site indicate that it is not feasible." The location recommended Is at Marion street, overpassing from Front street to land at Commercial. The recommendation of the Salem Long Range Planning commission had been Division street. Costs of four-lane bridges start ing at Liberty street: Center Street location f4.509.599 Marion Street location 4.606,3ft Division Street location 3,825,00ft "It appears, however,-that there is an alternate solution to the prob lem, which is more feasible and economical than the construction of any of the proposed four-lane brid ges: a solution which will handle a greater volume of traffic. That solution involves the building of a two - lana bridge structure at the end of Marion street to carry westbound traffic and the reconstruction of the pres ent Center street span to carry eastbound traffic. It would of course be necessary to replace the timber superstructure on the west side of; the Center Street bridge with permanent-type construction and to . extend the east approach over the Oregon Electric tracks on Front -Street, ending the bridge at Commercial Street. Incidentally rumor has started that the 1 present Center Street bridge is not structurally sound. This is not true. The Marion Street bridge would likewise overpass the railroad tracks on Front Street. On the West Salem side this plan con templates the building of a four lane highway in front of Edgewa- ter Street above high water and overpassing the Southern Pacific tracks west of West Salem. Con nections would be made with Edge- water Street and with the Wallace road. Wallace road would also be raised above high water for the portion west of the railroad track where the present road is below high water." The cos of this Marion-Center street bridge combination, with the new road and connections with existing roads would be $2,900,000. Immediate cost, leaving the new West Salem road for the future, would be $1,867,000. Estimated cost of a four -lane bridge at Division street starting at Commercial and carrying the high way around the foot of West Sa lem hills to the Dallas highway would be $3,200,000. To this should be added $150,000 needed to re place the timber approach to Cen ter street bridge on west side with concrete. If the Division street bridge is carried to Liberty street overall cost would be $3,825,000. Bridge Traffic Dispersal The Marion-Center Street one way bridge combination contem plates that Salem connecting streets would also be one-way: Center street eastbound and Mar ion street westbound. By using this method of routing traffic the state engineers argue that the two two 1 lane bridges, each used one way, will handle more traffic than a four-lane bridge at Division and a two-lane at Center. "The amount of traffic carried by the proposed Division Street four-lane bridge is determined not by the capacity of the bridge it self but by the capacity of the approaches. Two-way traffic on Division street and two-way traf fic on Commercial and Liberty streets complicate the situation ma terially." A chart is published which shows that by 1970 the two one way bridges will still have excess capacity,' while the two-way struc tures at Division and Center streets would encounter a traffic deficien cy prior to 1970. j yi T.g ii nji r x i ivp m Expressway Route From North Will Be West of SP (Ultimate Rente to Portland) The report says that present sur veys indicate that when the bridge at Wilsonville is built and an ex pressway from Portland to Salem authorized the rout will follow west of the Southern Pacific rail way to a point near the Hayesville school. An underpass would, be needed to connect with the circum ferential route. A road entering Salem would be built paralleling the Oregon Electric tracks, to con nect with Commercial and Liberty streets. The report gives its endorsement of the county-city plan of making Broadway a north-south arterial to connect with North River road. 20rraa .. W F?nin Mnnnnnnm NJJ 31 mrit iZZi .. r-i. X1 1 ):7C, .1UL0.LPLBJI )U1 XX recommended rente threach the city see Map II.) Rentes IT. T and - - - - - - - ' ' - - fa mifi a ---- state nix n way engineers feeemmena ajstnonuon or trarne tnrougn streets. Senta bound traffic would ns Summer Street, Chemeketa and ComnaerclaL Northbound traf fic weald use Liberty, Court and North CapltoL Trucks weald use Norway inbound from north and Shipping outbound from south. A more complete ene-way grid for downtown Salem is also recommended. 'in a w n - k. .. . Further Study Santiam; 1-Way The highway engineers' report makes a recommendation that fur ther studies be made on the 'entry of the North Santiam highway, Oregon 222, into Salem. Then it presents further discus sion of intra -city street problems with a recommendation of a full one-way grid system of streets for downtown Salem. ' One specific recommendation made Is that the Southern Pacific railroad be moved to the east side of 12th street, and that a curbing be erected along its route to keep motor vehicles off the railroad tracks. To accommodate motor traffic, 12th street would be widened by taking off land at the west. The I II Proposed 99E Routing in Salem . a r Wj - tr ' or i m - - m 7 e-neon , -. a. Suggested for Grid Discussed railroad could be left as a ballast section, except at cross streets, wnich would make its repair much easier. The state highway engineers fa vor extension of the one-way street system beyond the minimum nec essary to accommodate 99E through the city and serve the bridge con nections, as shown in Map II. They recommend In addition that Ferry and State streets be made ene-way between Front and Cottar streets; that High and l nuren streets be one - way be tween Trade and Union streets; Cottage, Winter and Summer streets ene-way between State and Union. The report offers this argument: saiem en sye by use or ene-way Division Street Bridge Plan 4 zLrf CS ! . - -J3 "t.-.eo I i jef - VV.-- -'v;s VJI 1 , - ' t 'Vv, t-At7 , -; A liT iiv iXtv. v ...... v rvv State highway engineers disapprove of proposed fear-lame bridge at Division street as reoenansenooa oy Salem Long Range Planning Commlesieei Sketch shews route swtnit: oroewd foot of sdlle to jaoeUoa with Dallas highway. ' "." ,' ' ' The one-way street principle ana tna advantage thereof has been shown in some detail in previous discussions in connection with pro posed highway routes. To recite briefly the advantages, it has been pointed out that intersections! cap acity is a controlling factor and that, in this connection, intersec tions under one-way street oper ation will handle an estimated 50 per cent more traffic than is the case with the two-way traffic now in effect on Salem streets. "Appreciable accident reduction is realized under one-way street operation. In the downtown busi Map I-Possible Rentes I, II and HI are express routes fJtreugh Salens stadia- by highway department and rejected recommended rente threngh the VI are cirenmferential rentes east ef Salens which the hixhway de partment has studied. The department recommends V-YI far the permanent bypass rente around Salem. For Immediate relief the highway engineers recommend using Lancaster drive to a petat Just south of Fear Corners and building a two-lane road to eenneet with present 99E seath ef Salem at the Battle Creek creasing. ness area one of the biggest prob lems is the high volume of pedes trian movement and the conflict thereof with vehicular flow, parti cularly right- and left-turn vehi cular movements through the cross walks." "In ths connection, it Is pointed : out that, at signalized intersections and under one-way street opera tion, in two of the four crosswalks . there is none of the pedestrian-vehicular conflict normally resulting from right- or left-turn vehicular movement through the cross- movement through the cross walks." Routes of 99E because of the high , cost, (For city see Map IT.) Rentes IV. T Rejected