Upcoming traffic and parking changes in downtown Nelson, part 1
By Bill Metcalfe
City council has decided to change the traffic patterns at the five-way intersection of Cedar, Vernon, and High Streets (click on the map below).
Cedar will become one-way uphill from Edgewood to Vernon. (Edgewood is the one-block street that runs east off Cedar, across from the Scout Hall.)
High street will become one-way heading out of town (but only one-way as far as Park Street). So cars will not be entering the five-way intersection from High St.
There will be a turn-lane added to the Front-Cedar intersection so westbound Front St. traffic can easily turn left up onto Cedar. The goal is to turn Cedar into a more viable way for traffic to get up into the downtown from Front Street.
Cedar Street becoming more of an entry to downtown will be completed by reversing the current one-way on the east end of Baker and the top block of Cedar.
As a result of these changes, traffic will be able to turn off Front Street onto Cedar, drive up Cedar without worrying about oncoming traffic at that narrow spot just below Vernon because now it will be one-way uphill there, and then continue across Vernon and up around onto Baker and into downtown.
Council has agreed to these changes as suggested by the MMM Group, the consultants working on the changes to Hall Street. These traffic issues are a spin-off from the upcoming changes to Hall Street, which will affect traffic flow in the likely eventuality that the city will turn the 300 block Hall Street (the steep block just below Vernon) into a one-way downhill.
A city news release states that these changes will be made this summer. Click on the map below to enlarge it.
Upcoming In Part 2: how the city intends to increase the number of parking spaces downtown and why some critics think parking should instead be decreased.
