Downtown Dayton Street Conversion Project
In 2003, MVRPC, in partnership with the City of Dayton and Downtown Dayton Partnership commissioned a feasibility study to assess the traffic-related effects of converting the existing one-way street grid system in downtown Dayton, Ohio, to a two-way street grid system. The proposed conversion to a two-way street grid system would coincide with the proposed improvements to I-75 and State Route (SR) 4. The traffic planning implications of the proposed conversion to a two-way street grid system are focused on the following issues:
- The ability of the proposed two-way street grid system to operate at acceptable Levels of Service during the daily AM and PM peak hours;
- The effects of converting to a two-way street grid system on the on-street parking supply; and
- The effects of converting to a two-way street grid system on pedestrians in downtown Dayton.
The final Feasibility Study is available for more information.
In the fall of 2005, MVRPC initiated a Phase II contract with TetraTech, Inc. for the preliminary engineering phase for this project. This work, the development of a functional plan to improve mobility throughout downtown Dayton, was completed in December 2007.
Stakeholder meeting summaries
The Summary and Schedule for the preliminary engineering has more information.
Four separate configurations of two-way service were developed, and each was analyzed for operations under future-year traffic demand. A one-way (no-build) scenario was also modeled for current and future years. By way of summary, the report concludes that the conversion of the existing one-way street grid system to the proposed two-way street grid system would operate at acceptable Levels of Service. There would be increases in congestion under each of the two-way systems, as well as varying degrees of loss of parking spaces, but the level of delay was found to be acceptable. Two-way operation could also enhance traffic flow between I-75 and downtown Dayton, and between US-35 and downtown Dayton.