Jeff Speck wows Austin with a vision of two-way street conversions downtown

Until the 1970’s, Austin’s entire downtown used to consist of two-way streets. Then, like with hundreds of cities across the US, car-centric transportation planning led to many of downtown’s streets being converted to one-way streets. Wherever data are available, the picture is clear: Two-way streets are superior regarding safety, walking and bicycling levels, the local economy, and crime. Two-way streets even win out on congestion — a two-way street network can distribute traffic across the grid more effectively than a one-way system.

Nationally-renowned urban planner Jeff Speck has worked with cities across the US on reverting their one-way streets back to two-way and the results have been consistently positive. On February 12th, Jeff visited Austin to engage with the community and explain why Austin should seriously consider one-way to two-way street conversions.

Speaking to a packed house, Jeff explained how his work with two-way street conversions has revived downtowns across the US and that downtown Austin is potentially ripe for such conversions.

As we head into our second year pushing for two-way street conversions, Jeff’s visit has supercharged this campaign. We’re looking forward to moving ahead with even greater community backing toward a fully two-way downtown in the near future.