U.S. cities are increasingly turning some one-way streets back into two-way roads, citing concerns that the designs can encourage excessive speeding and can make it harder for pedestrians and cyclists to navigate intersections safely.
In Indianapolis, for example, residents once referred to two parallel one-way routes—Michigan and New York streets—passing a major electronics plant as a “racetrack,” describing how drivers frequently sped along the corridor. The change marks a reversal of a streetscape decision made decades ago, after which the roads became more inviting to lead-footed drivers long after the original traffic purpose faded.
Originally, Michigan and New York streets had been two-way thoroughfares before the two roads switched to opposite one-way routes in the 1970s to help thousands of RCA workers travel to and from their shifts. When the RCA plant closed in 1995, the roads’ once-structured commute traffic became less frequent, and city officials later converted the streets back to two-way after “last year,” according to the reporting.
James Taylor, who runs a community center near the former RCA plant, said that converting the streets changed how the corridor feels to people. “The opening and conversion of those streets has just been transformative for how people think about that corridor,” Taylor said.
Across the country, transportation planners have described similar conversions as a straightforward step. The article notes that planners often invoke the oft-repeated slogan that “paint is cheap,” portraying the approach—particularly in midsize cities—as a relatively easy way to improve safety and make downtown areas more attractive to shoppers, restaurant customers, and potential residents.
Dave Amos, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at California Polytechnic State University, said one-way streets are engineered for moving cars quickly and efficiently, which tends to make people on foot or on bicycles more vulnerable. “One-way streets are designed for moving cars quickly and efficiently,” Amos said, adding that “So when you have that as your goal, pedestrians and cyclists almost by design are secondary, which makes them more vulnerable.”
Wade Walker, an engineer with Kittelson & Associates who has worked on street conversion projects in Lakeland, Florida; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, said one-way streets are also viewed as safer because pedestrians on foot “only have to look one direction to see the incoming traffic.” Walker said that can be misleading in a city grid that mixes one-way streets with two-way streets, where intersections can produce many possible traffic movements.
Walker said that at signalized intersections, pedestrians can face 16 potential sequences depending on how roads intersect and which directions they carry traffic. “It’s not the number of conflicts, it’s the way those conflicts occur,” Walker said.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the state is leading an ongoing effort to reconvert a stretch along Main Street, including landmarks such as the Louisville Slugger Museum and the KFC Yum! Center arena. The reporting described one of the biggest redesigns in Louisville happening this year in the city’s predominantly Black western neighborhoods, where many roads changed to one-way routes in the 1970s to feed a new interstate bridge over the Ohio River, and officials said it decimated neighborhoods and reduced access to downtown.
Michael King, the city’s assistant director of transportation planning, said that as connectivity changed, some local businesses faded over time. “All those mom-and-pop shops and local businesses over time kind of faded because that connectivity got taken away,” King said, adding: “It just feels more like, ‘This is a road to get me through here pretty quickly.’”
The reporting also described Chattanooga’s experience with street changes. Walker said that within three years after some of Chattanooga’s two-way streets became unidirectional, business vacancies rose and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga became “landlocked,” with the campus taking steps to prevent students from crossing what was described as a dangerous road. Walker said that in 2022 he returned to find the campus had expanded across the road and that business construction had surged.
While officials say many communities adjust after conversions, skepticism can surface during planning. In Lynchburg, Virginia, the article said Rodney Taylor voiced concerns that changing downtown Main Street back to two ways would hurt his restaurant by blocking delivery vehicles. After the city completed the section in 2021, Taylor acknowledged the fears were unfounded, saying: “An important thing to do is to admit when you’re wrong,” and “And I was just flat-out wrong.”
Similar reactions appeared in Austin, Texas, where Adam Greenfield, executive director of Safe Streets Austin, said people changed their views when the city reconverted some one-way streets in its urban core. “It just worked,” Greenfield said, adding that he is now lobbying Austin to do away with all its one-way streets and arguing that once conversions are completed, “instantly people will be like, ‘Why didn’t we do this 20 years ago?’”
Not every change has followed that pattern. The article said Chicago moved in the opposite direction last year by converting some two-way streets to one-way in the busy West Loop restaurant district, and that confusion followed for some residents. Alderman Bill Conway said constituents contacted him after the change and argued neighbors should have been asked for input. “Even if this was the right move to make these streets one-way, it certainly doesn’t make sense to not ask the opinion of the neighbors,” Conway said.
Back in Indianapolis, the city says it has finished the redesigns for Michigan and New York streets and is preparing additional work. Mark St. John, the chief engineer for the city’s Department of Public Works, said there are 10 other conversions planned next, with an estimated total cost of $60 million and about $25 million coming from a 2023 federal grant.
James Taylor said it is too early to fully measure the impact, but that some business owners have indicated construction plans along the redesigned streets. He said the neighborhood still feels familiar, but with a different flow of approach. “I’ve been driving around that neighborhood for 30 years,” Taylor said. “It’s all kind of familiar, but you’re coming at it from a whole different perspective.”