An end of the one-way street era?
OTTUMWA, IA -- At the last goal planning session, changing Main and 2nd Streets downtown into two-way streets was a topic of discussion.
Currently, it is just an idea and hasn’t made its way to city council yet. No actions have been made to put this into effect.
The city would first like to talk to downtown business owners whose businesses are located on the one-way streets. Their input is wanted to see how they think it would affect business.
“I don’t think they should fight it, I’m not going to fight it. I personally don’t have any problems with people coming the other way. You might see someone coming the other way that you didn’t see before,” says 2nd Act Comics and Games owner Peter Fintel.
He thinks that change in general is hard for people, but changing to two-way traffic would help businesses if anything.
“There are people that come from out of town and actually see a lot of people go both ways anyways. So in the interest of safety, I think that it’s a good idea,” says Lucky Rooster barista Kami Millikin.
For out-of-town visitors to Ottumwa, it may be easier for them to navigate downtown if Main and 2nd streets were to be made into two-way streets.
Some downtown business people thought the direction of the streets should remain as they are. With the differing of opinions, it should be interesting of what is to come of further discussion.