Motorists who use a portion of South Clinton Street in downtown Syracuse may have noticed they can now use the same roadway to head north.
Cars and trucks were navigating both directions of South Clinton Street as city officials Tuesday announced the completion of the street on downtown’s western edge to a two-way road between Jefferson and Taylor Streets. Mayor Ben Walsh says it’s part of an ongoing focus on the city’s corridors.
“What seemingly at first just looks like some new stripes down the road you can see as part of a much broader intentional effort to knit the fabric of our urban core together, extend the investment out beyond the city center, into our neighborhoods.”
Merike Treier is Executive Director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse.
“We actually did a survey of the neighborhood and wanted to understand what is the vision for our Southern Downtown neighborhood," Treier said. “This is a burgeoning area and a major part of that was wanting to be more well connected to the activity that we're seeing throughout the downtown area.”
The conversion was years in the making. The Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council first presented the idea several years ago, and the common council approved the funding for restriping and new pavement in 2020. Director of Special Projects for the Department of Public Works Neil Burke says it’s a reversal of what was done in the past.
“Many decades ago, it was all about getting cars in as fast as possible and getting cars out as fast as possible," Burke said. "So what you're seeing now is a little bit more place making a little bit more sense of place where folks aren't just coming in and out, they're staying, they're parking, they're getting out, they're riding their bike, they're walking."
Burke says they’ll monitor how the street is used, as well as any feedback as they consider conversions of other one way corridors.
