Commuters who travel the reverse lanes on 7th Street and 7th Avenue each day know that there is a downside that comes with the convenience of an extra lane—the downside often being the chance of getting into a very unpleasant car accident.

    The city streets department created the reverse lanes, which serve as one-way commuter lanes during rush hour in the morning and afternoon, and left-turn lanes during the remaining hours and on weekends, more than two decades ago. At the time, there was no Highway 51 for residents living in northeast Phoenix to travel to downtown, and I-17 had not yet been widened.

Since that time, there are more freeway lanes available—but there also are many more cars traveling upon them. So the reverse lanes continue to be used each day by those who live in Central Phoenix and work downtown.

    But with signs posted only at every lighted intersection, and new people moving to the Valley in a steady stream, the chance of a vehicle pulling into the reverse lane during rush-hour traffic thinking it’s a turn lane—and thus putting the driver and oncoming traffic into danger—happens on a fairly regular basis. Most of them move out of the way in time. Some do not.

    Another drawback to the reverse lanes is the direct impact they make on businesses adjacent to the two roadways. When you eliminate the ability for a car to turn into your business, you eliminate dollars coming into that business, owners point out.

    Discussion as to whether or not to eliminate the reverse lanes has taken place several times over the last decade, says Councilman Tom Simplot, who represents District 4. The difficulty, he explains, is that the engineers in the transportation department who helped to create the lanes, and some of the council members who supported them, still were a part of the city government.

Those two situations have now changed. “We now have three new members on the City Council, so we don’t have that historic resistance that we had before—and those engineering guys who created those lanes retired in December,” Simplot says.

    The real impetus to re-examine the lanes, however, came two years ago when a zoning case came before the city. The plans were for a mixed-use condominium project, dubbed Melrose Point, to be built on 4.54 acres located at 6th Drive and Glenrosa Avenue. Access to the site was a big issue for the city and developers, and tentative plans called for the developer, California Condominiums, to help fund the installation of a new traffic light at 7th and Glenrosa avenues.

Even with a traffic signal there, those traveling home from the north at the end of the work day would not be able to turn into Melrose Point, because commuter traffic from the south would be flowing through that lane. Residents living adjacent to the property expressed their concerns about increased cut-through traffic coming down their streets to get to the proposed 340 residential units.

“We knew that was to be a big issue, and we said why don’t we take this as the trigger for analyzing those lanes,” Simplot said. The focus, however, would be much broader than it had in the past.

“We set aside money to have experts come in and find out what effect these lanes have on the people component—how does it affect our neighborhoods, how does it affect our small businesses and pedestrians, and how does it affect our ability to redevelop our central core along these two roadways,” Simplot explained. “That’s what Arizona State University has been spending the last 6-8 months doing, gathering that information.”

That report has now been submitted to the City Council for review. Simplot believes the analysis will be favorable toward eliminating the reverse lanes. “I think we have a much more solid argument to say that now is the time to eliminate those lanes,” he said.

That’s music to the ears of Teresa Stickler, who owns Melrose Pharmacy at 7th Avenue and Montecito. Stickler has formed a group called Safety on Seventh (SOS) to support the removal of the reverse lanes. The group is a mix of both business owners and residents from the surrounding neighborhoods along 7th Avenue.

Stickler and her husband Kurt, an artist who also has a studio in the Melrose Center, live just north of the strip center, which they own.

“We live in the neighborhood to the east off of Minnezona, and we get the brunt of the cut-through traffic on my street,” Stickler said. “In the morning, it is crazy how many people turn down our street to get to the light at 3rd Street and Indian School Road, where they can turn left. I actually have to go to Campbell just to get out of my street.”

As a business owner herself, Stickler has felt the impact of customers fearful of coming after 4 p.m. on a weekday. “Most of them are scared to be driving in them,” she said. “People drive too fast, first of all, and where it’s legal for you to turn, people don’t want to because there’s someone behind them who’s going to ram them.”

Speed is definitely an issue, agreed Simplot. He believes that by removing the reverse lanes and putting more cars in the regular lanes, it will force traffic to slow down on streets that are posted 35 or 40 miles per hour—streets where people often drive 50 mph or above. “That is part of the danger issue,” he pointed out.

“I think the result of slower traffic is that it’s not only safer, it gives people a chance to look around and see it’s not a freeway, it’s a neighborhood with shops and restaurants and pedestrians.”

In anticipation of the protests by regular commuters of the reverse lanes, Stickler’s group is working with the city to propose that turn signals at the major intersections be upgraded to include turn arrows.

Stickler hopes to rally other supporters for removing the reverse lanes during 2-3 events planned for this month in anticipation of the City Council vote on July 2. SOS will hold a public information session on the reverse lanes issue 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Community Church of Hope, 4121 N. 7th Ave. The city will do a presentation of its own study and traffic counts, and Stickler is hopeful someone from ASU will be there as well to discuss the university study’s results. If not, city staff will summarize the ASU data.

    On June 19, the City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee will hold its regular meeting at 9 a.m. Stickler is encouraging people to attend to voice their opinions.

On June 26, SOS will host a Revoke the Reverse Lanes Rally, 6-9 a.m. in front of Alternatives Health & Wellness in the Melrose Center, 4314 N 7th Ave.

“We know it’s going to be a hard fight, and we’re trying to get all the support we can,” Stickler said.

The City Council, in anticipation of a lot of comment on the issue, will begin the public comment session at 1 p.m. on July 2 in the City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson, before closing it to start its regular meeting at 4 p.m. A printed copy of the agenda will be available the Friday before the meeting at the City Clerk’s Office on the fifteenth floor of the Phoenix City Hall, located at 200 W. Washington St.

An electronic copy of the City Council Formal Meeting agenda will be available under Public Meeting Notices/Agendas on www.phoenix.gov the Friday before the meeting.

If you are unable to attend the City Council meeting but would like to express your opinion either for against the removal of the reverse lanes, send an e-mail to council.district.4@phoenix.gov.