Plans to address safety concerns on a pair of one-way streets in Wortley Village are getting mixed reviews from area residents.
The safety concerns are over wrong-way drivers on Elmwood and Bruce Streets, but a new plan doesn't call for changing them to two-way traffic as many had hoped.
Resident Samantha Rodgers says it happens a lot, "About four times a week I see a car when I'm about to turn in - a car driving towards me and it's one way."
Even with the common wrong way driving errors, opening both Bruce and Elmwood streets to two-way traffic is not part of a plan by city council to make the streets safer.
Instead, Councillor Denise Brown says they'll remain one-way, but have bike lanes built-in.
"We will put better signage. That's also part of the proposal that's coming forward - much better signage - on the pavement as well as on poles and that. That should help."
Both streets were originally two-way, but were changed in the 1980s when the Horton Street extension was built. They were just never changed back.
But that's exactly what the Old South Community Organization has lobbbied for the last 17 years to have happen.
Member Gary Brown says "It's strictly a safety issue. Two-way streets are much more safe. So rather than having all these contrived methods of attempting to slow cars down, why don't we just return them to the original configuration."
But while the streets will remain one-way and bike lanes added, residents on Elmwood and Bruce are also going to be surveyed on whether they want speed cushions installed to help slow traffic.
Work on the two streets is expected to be done over the summer.
