Grid Control, Vol. 26: The 2-Pocalyptic contagion claims another victim as Market Street capitulates to modernity.

I walked the length of the Market Street reversion, and the first day of two-way traffic appears to have been smooth, with nothing near the agitated (and unwarranted) hair-pulling that accompanied Spring Street's changeover two weeks ago.

We begin at the intersection of Vincennes and East Market with the familiar symbol of municipal surrender to auto-centrism, the sharrow (above). I predict you'l be seeing lots of these on Market, which as yet has not been completely striped from about 10th to Vincennes. Below, very deep angled parking spaces await striping near the unsightly mess borne of the Lancaster/Market Boy duggins-lition.

Will these be bikes lanes without buffers?

This would be a candidate for the caption contest. The vehicle in the middle might have been there a while, anyway.

The nest view is the closest I saw to an accident, from long-distance. I'll diagram it.

The driver northbound on 11th wanted to turn left (westbound) on Market, but had to wait until the driver traveling eastbound in what is now the wrong lane (on Market) got out of the way. Fortunately the northbound driver saw what was happening and paused. The eastbound driver finally took stock of the situation in front of the funeral home and observed the proper lane.

On both sides of the memorial island are strips of, well, what?

The 7th Street intersection was fine.

In was a rainy afternoon with little traffic. Of course, Market always has been lightly traveled. The intersection with Bank Street was deserted. In spite of the angled spaces as yet unstriped, drivers looked to be making the right choices.

Market and Pearl.

The two-way stretch of Market Street begins/ends at State Street. Officer Haub waited by the fork to correct the errant.

There's not enough time at present, but a thought was prompted for a future installment of Grid Control: why wasn't the two-way reversion extended all the way into the West End?

My immediate guesses would be (a) the state of Indiana's control of the grid adjacent to the interstate ramps, and/or (b) access to the parking garage and the obstruction of the needless median between State and W. 1st.

Jeff Speck addressed this; when there's time, I'll dig out his (ignored) recommendation. Until then, let me know what you're thinking about a future two-way Market Street between State and W. 5th.

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Previously:

Grid Control, Volume 25: If Breakwater's overflow parking has been "donated" by AT&T, why weren't crosswalks installed for residents to access it?

Grid Control, Vol. 24: Deliver me this.

Grid Control, Vol. 23: City's fuddy-duddies losing their minds as the debut for a two-way Spring Street is pegged at August 29.

Grid Control, Vol. 22: City engineer Larry Summers answers our questions about intersection striping errors and the "No Trucks" sign removal.

Grid Control, Vol. 21: Murderous intersection at Spring & 10th to be repaved and restriped -- and, the hocus-pocus with a disappearing "No Trucks" sign at Spring & Vincennes.

Grid Control, Vol. 20: As Team Gahan dawdles, another bicyclist is crushed into mincemeat at 10th & Spring's dangerous dogleg.

Grid Control, Vol. 19: In a positive move, HWC begins righting the wrong cross hatching on Spring Street.

Grid Control, Vol. 18: Finally a few BoW street grid project answers, almost all of them citing "contractor error."

Grid Control, Vol. 17: Judging by the misdirection of this "CROSS TRAFFIC DOES NOT STOP" sign, we now reside in the British Empire.

Grid Control, Vol. 16: What about HWC's cross hatching correction? Will this be finished before or after Team Gahan declares victory?

Grid Control, Vol. 15: Dooring enhancement perfectly epitomizes Deaf Gahan's "biking last" approach to grid modernization.

Grid Control, Vol. 14: Yes, you can still park on the south side of Spring Street during the stalled two-way grid project.

Grid Control, Vol. 13: "Dear Deaf Gahan and minions: FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, STOP TRYING TO BE COOL AND DESIGNER-ISH. YOU'RE NOT, AND IT'S EMBARRASSING ALL OF US."

Grid Control, Vol. 12: Meet the artistic crosswalk design equivalent of dogs playing poker.

Grid Control, Vol. 11: HWC Engineering meets with St. Marks, city officials nowhere to be found.

Grid Control, Vol. 10: City officials predictably AWOL as HWC Engineering falls on its sword over striping errors.

Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?

Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.

Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?

Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?

Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.

Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.

Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

Toto, we're not on Spring Street any more -- and other 2-pocalypse fallout shelters.

In which a mayor previously unwilling to utter a coherent public statement about street grid modernization stuns the planet with this, referring to the intersection at Spring and Vincennes (my italics):

“There should be some congestion there, When you're coming into a city, you need to slow down.”

Excerpting the Christian Chronicle's coverage, let's focus on Jeff Gahan's uncharacteristically forward and factual comments.

Here's how the first few days of two-way street conversion went in New Albany, by Danielle Grady (Hanson Pew & Proselytize)

Public waiting to make judgement on changes

 ... In Gahan's eyes, most everything has gone smoothly since the roads opened.

“Especially if you're a resident like me, a life-long resident, it's going to feel weird,” he said. But, he continued, once you've driven the streets a few times and you've had the freedom to turn right or left, he believes that you'll find a safer city within the new traffic configuration.

“My take on it is, if you're used to driving very fast in New Albany, you're not going to like it,” he said. “But if you're a business owner in New Albany, if you're a resident of New Albany, if you're a pedestrian or bicyclist in New Albany — New Albany's your home. I think you're really going to like your new combinations and possible routes and the reduction in speed.”

Then, in an interesting preview of Campaign 2019 (kudos to Grady for this juxtaposition), Gahan's probable GOP opponent finds himself prone to exaggeration.

Now, now Mark -- four? You could walk faster than that, and perhaps should.

But slower traffic on New Albany streets means more congestion. That's one thing Mark Seabrook, the owner of Seabrook Dieckmann Naville Funeral Homes on Market St., isn't too happy about. At the intersection of Vincennes and Spring streets, its taken him four light changes to make it through.

Still, he said, "I'm not going to give you a verdict on whether I like it or dislike it until I see what the total piece is. It could either get worse or it could get better.

Stunningly, as though genuinely adept at debating, the mayor scores points against Seabrook, who has not ever showed even a slight grasp of street grid modernity.

Gahan admits that there is some “modest” congestion on the newly converted streets, particularly at Spring and Vincennes, but it's intentional.

“There should be some congestion there,” he said. “When you're coming into a city, you need to slow down.”

Gahan 1, Seabrook 0 ... but it's early yet.

D-Day for Two-Way: The newspaper's Morris inches toward the reversion bandwagon.

Somehow they didn't crash.

Chris Morris does a good job with his column, especially considering his previously stated opposition to two-way streets.

Moris seems to be developing a belated appreciation that vehicular speed kills, which should be axiomatic for a runner, as with someone like me walking and biking. But we've all observed for years that automobile-centrism has a corrosive effect on sensibility, and I'm happy to see him in recovery. Been there, done that.

I can help him with this point:

Let’s face it, none of us has ever had to look in both directions of Spring before crossing the street. So we all are going to have to get used to that. To me, only having to look in one direction for oncoming traffic seems easier and safer. But with vehicles traveling at a slower rate of speed, maybe it won’t be too difficult to get used to.

When I see comments like this, I try to find credible instances of a counter-argument, preferably based on research as opposed to opinion. Then again, I'm just a blogger -- not a journalist.

The explanation of why conventional wisdom is mistaken begins on page 10. Hint: it has to do with conflict sequences.

onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec019/Ec019_f2.pdf">Downtown Streets: Are We Strangling Ourselves on One-Way Networks?

The conventional wisdom has always assumed that one-way streets were safer and more comfortable for pedestrians to cross than two-way streets. Superficially, it would seem that crossing the single direction of traffic on a one-way street is always preferable to crossing a two-way street. As is often the case, the conventional wisdom is wrong. In fact, crossing a one-way street presents greater difficulties to the pedestrian than crossing a two-way street.

Make no mistake; it's a very good effort from Morris. If true, his summary, "I think the majority are more like me — we accept it and hope it works out for the best and takes New Albany to another level of success," works just fine for me. It is reminiscent of Kadar's Axiom: "If you're not against us, you're for us."

MORRIS: Buckle up — New Albany street conversion begins today, by Chris Morris (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — I have to admit I was never a huge fan of converting downtown streets in New Albany from one-way to two-way traffic. Maybe I am too stuck in the past, or just a little skeptical how it will benefit businesses.

I am still a little bit hesitant to jump on board the two-way street conversion bus. But I am open to it and hope it turns out to be all that it is supposed to be.

I do know one thing it will do — slow traffic. We all have gotten a taste of what Spring Street will be like in recent weeks with only one lane of traffic open to drivers heading west. And as someone who walks and jogs along Spring Street regularly, that is a good thing. Three lanes of traffic heading in one direction did resemble a speedway on occasion. Hopefully the traffic lights will keep traffic flowing and not cause congestion during rush hour. We don’t want people to avoid our downtown because of traffic issues.

D-Day for Two-Way 2017 is underway on Spring Street.

I'm happy to witness the end of the beginning on Spring Street. Ironically, the first object I saw moving eastbound was a bicyclist. There's something hopeful about that.

If I didn't have to drive to Indianapolis, I'd start drinking now.

Terrified populace braces for 2-way apocalypse, coming later today, only a decade too late.

I went immediately to New Albany City Hall to check today's streets plan. The last post was dated August 8.

Then, City of New Albany Government at Facebook. The last mention of streets came on August 22.

Maybe Develop New Albany could be of help. Needless to say, neither streets info nor repentance is to be found there.

However, we're told that today at some as yet undefined juncture, Spring Street will revert to two-way traffic after a half-century in captivity.

Pearl and Bank are to follow tomorrow, then Market, and finally Elm. September 30 is the deadline for erasing the city's damaging one-way mentality, albeit it with anchors symbolic of stasis marking every corner.

Imagery never was their strong point. As luck would have it, I'll be in Indianapolis the next two days. On social media, my co-conspirator Jeff Gillenwater (who is welcome to post in my absence) summarized the end of the beginning.

The gist of the arguments seems to go something like this: Spending money to redesign streets is a waste because it will have no positive effect. People driving cars will not slow down and pay more attention no matter what you do. However, if there are any problems on those streets in the future owing to those drivers not slowing down and not paying more attention, they can be attributed pretty much entirely to the redesign.

From the inception of the city's grandiloquently fashioned "Downtown Grid Modernization Project," I've tagged it with snark as a rumor. You would, too, had you spent more than a decade listening to barely cognizant local politicians assure you that progress was just around the corner, and when the corner proved to be as distant as free beer tomorrow.

All I have to say in closing is this: It's about goddammned time, laggards.