Tyler one way

A plan to turn Tyler and Polk into two-way streets is becoming closer to reality.

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The change, which would cost $3.1 million, goes to City Council for a public hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14.

The plan calls for creating two lanes on Polk, one northbound and one southbound, plus 5-foot bike lanes on both sides, an 8-foot parallel parking lane on one side, and a 1.5-foot door buffer between the parking lane and the bike lane. Tyler would have two lanes each way with parallel parking on both sides.

It requires a roundabout where the two streets meet on Tyler between Canty and Winston. And there would be a stop light on the southern end, near Page.

Nearby property owners have backed the two-way plan, arguing that it will slow traffic, make the streets more walkable and give storefronts more visibility. Preservationists like it because it returns the neighborhood back to its original intention — the one-way couplets were created in the 1960s as a way for commuter traffic from the suburbs to zoom through our neighborhood.

But commuters in Wynnewood and other points south say it will cause more traffic and congestion.