You gotta wonder given the city’s official policy of removing traffic lanes uptown. A right turn lane was removed on McDowell St. to make it easier for pedestrians to get across the street. Wouldn’t have been cheaper and more effective to just give the “walk” signal a few more seconds instead of removing an entire lane?
This, of course, assumes there will be anyone on the streets of uptown as traffic congestion is deliberately increased. Oh, wait we’re supposed to ride the choo-choo trolley train. Why can’t the city just come out and say “We are embarking on a policy of traffic-restriction efforts in order to force people from their cars and into mass transit” and be done with it?
And let’s not get sidetracked into Charlotte being somehow uniquely hostile to pedestrians. Every center city I’ve ever hit the pavement in — DC, San Fran, San Diego, Buffalo, for a few — has open season on anyone walking. The lone exception is Manhattan where sheer numbers demand that vehicles respectfully yield to hoofers — that and an informal policy of angry mobs stripping a car down to its frame for even inching into crosswalk space.
