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Posted By: Marty Sixth Street Will Remain 1-Way - 04/16/14 11:03 AM
And while we had the opportunity, we asked Bradley about what's happening with 6th Street. Viewers may know that at the beginning of this month, the City Council turned that very busy business thoroughfare from a two-way street into a one-way access.

The businesses owners were complaining that the decision has cause them to lose some of their customers, and today, we asked Bradley about that. He said that despite the protests, they will keep Sixth Street as a 1-way:

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"We had put together a series of consultations with various stakeholders that used that are; people who shop on 6th Street; people who visit; people who lived there and also business who operate from 6th Street. The one way has been working, we had monitored that and I indicated that that was for a month's period. Councilor Elrington who had responsibility for traffic likewise indicated that to the media. We have continued it because it seems to be working. The difficulty that we have had is that people are not adhering to the one way. The reason why it was made one way is because we did an analysis in terms of the traffic situation there, the heavy congestion. there were other suggestions that were made as a result as our consultations including that you could make alternative parking, you could change it one way in the other direction or you could just do nothing and have it be a free flowing area. that was something that was not accepted by us because we think that it represents a risk to public safety. We recently started the road safety campaign to alert people about the safety in relation to driving on the road - this is one of them. There is a school that is there and we were made aware that the school will move. That will ease congestion, but there is still a substantial amount of businesses that are located there and there is a significant amount of traffic."

"Of note, I wish to emphasize that the business persons and the residents have entirely different views. If you would ask business persons, they object to making it one way, but of you ask people who live on that street, they are very happy with the new situation and those are the people that we consulted with and those are the people who we feel should get the upper because traditionally that was a residential area."

According to the Mayor, the area was a main source of traffic congestion, and that's why they made the decision.

Channel 7

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