Seven Reasons Why Cushman Should Be Two-Way

1) The best downtowns have a concentration of local serving retail available to shoppers on a signature “Main Street.”

2) Fairbanks has very little retail left in the core area.

3) Cushman is the only street in the downtown that has the adjacent land area and redevelopment potential to accommodate a viable concentration of retail (150,000 SF).

4) Today Cushman serves through-traffic first and local traffic second.

• Wide traffic lanes and removal of on-street parking accommodate high traffic volumes and high speed traffic moving north/south through the downtown.
• Downtown contains the Boroughs’ only one-way streets.  This remnant confuses travelers and disrupts what would otherwise be two-way traffic from the Bentley Trust properties to South Cushman.

5) A pedestrian friendly street is a basic retail revitalization requirement.

• As a one-way street, Cushman is not pedestrian friendly. The narrow sidewalks, high speed traffic, and lack of on-street parking create a hostile pedestrian environment.

6) Cushman as a two-way street would benefit shoppers, sidewalk users.

• Traffic speeds would be reduced creating a comfortable street environment.
• Less out-of-direction travel would reduce driver frustration in getting to a destination.
• Widened sidewalks would be shopper- and user-friendly.
• On-street parking would serve shops along the street.
• Parking access would be improved.

7)  Why shouldn’t downtown have two-way streets? 

• at the Steese and Johansen, did all the box stores opt for one-way or two-way streets?  They opted for two-way streets because they are efficient and people know how to navigate them. 
• again, the only one-eay streets in the Borough are downtown, which is not something to be known for.