Greatidea,
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Thank you for the link. If one follows it far enough and that is not easy, one finds that the Thoreau Institute, which is aligned with the Cato Institute, produces it. To follow most of their statements for documentation, one will find broken links.
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Because I had never heard of any documented studies that recommended one-way over two-way streets, I pursued the link. These Institutes are against everything that is government funded or supported, which is okay, if that is your preference. There is little of substance, except statements.
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The organizations are also against all high-speed rail in this country. Heck, we might as well eliminate air travel as most airports are heavily subsidized by the Federal, State, and local governments. Oh yes they do collect heavy fees from the public and the airlines who pass the fees onto their ticket holders.

Should Cities Convert One-Way Streets to Two Way?
Here is an interesting link about it.
http://www.ti.org/vaupdate30.html

NOT taking Court St DOWNHILL on snow makes sense and I imagine to city residents that would be the appropriate response...however, isn't the "mission" of changing the one-ways to two-ways to be to get visitors and people passing through to stop and shop downtown? How are these passing-through-towners going to know that they are approaching their death as they travel west/south on Court?

so basically, it's drive DOWN to downtown via Milwaukee Street and drive out of downtown by going UP Court Street...I get it...but wait...isn't that what we ALREADY do without spending a million dollars to do it???

whosays"All these arguments are the same as were presented when Franklin and Jackson were converted,"

I guess I missed the BIG hills on Jackson and Franklin.

I think the main argument here is the money and we do not feel it will bring in more business to downtown. FIRST they NEED more businesses and hours that are CONDUCIVE to shopping down there.
Carousel is busy but still limited hours.

The " safety aspect" is donkey dung if you ask me since we bring up the Court St hill issue in the winter and as mentioned a lot WHERE would you fit all of this in in Milwaukee St?

whosays, you are correct about taking Milwaukee Street intead of Court Street. I was still on the one-way street way of thinking...

Often times the facts gets beat up so badly that no one seems to understand the intent for wanting the change. people say the downtown is dead and just let it shrivel up and disappear. My friends,family and neighbors own stores downtown and make there living from the patrons (like myself) that go into their stores. What gives someone that knows nothing about downtown and the thousands of people that do business downtown day after day the right to say that their money does not count. I mean really, how much sense does it make to want them to fail so someone else can have more cookie cutter type business. Do you know who reaps the benefit of the cookie cutter type business? Someone else........................... Who wins with home town downtown business? "Our Community"

All these arguments are the same as were presented when Franklin and Jackson were converted, and now everyone is fine. I hope that all of the complainers went to the meeting at the M&I Bank Wednesday evening and presented your arguments, along with documentation, listened and discussed the presentation.
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It is like “if you did not bother to vote, why should you have the right to complain”. The same principal applies here.
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I hope that there will be another opportunity for everyone to discuss this further and not just make unsubstantiated statements. There is proof of positive results for conversions as near as Waukesha and Kenosha, with many more across the country. Progress comes in many forms for one to embrace, so listen, discuss, and then make a judgment. I know of one community that the conversion did not work and one where it was not feasible in the south because of cost (10’s of millions). There are places for one-way streets such as narrow streets, and beltlines built around the downtown areas.
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Many investors, property owners, and businesses have put millions in our downtown area. They pay enormous amounts of taxes that the whole city benefits from, so why can they not have the respect of the others when they ask for assistance.
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We would all benefit from a vigorous downtown area and if you envision a downtown that is the same that it was fifty years ago, you will never be satisfied because it will be different. Take a drive to Waukesha, Kenosha, and/or Racine among many cities, talk to the Police, Fire Departments, and city officials and private business people, and then make judgments.
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It sounds like we welcome the investment from investors, companies, and businesses to locate or expand here, take their tax money, but just say no to assist them. They are not asking for millions, as they have rejected all the costly scenarios, have, and continue to lower the cost of conversion. This you would know if you were at the meeting. What kind of a message are we sending to the other people who wish to invest and create jobs? The downtown area is creating many jobs from minimum wage to professionals, construction, and trades people.
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To those who have jumped on the slippery hill issue, if one thinks about the conversion, another way of movement to the eastside is being opened up. Surprise, Milwaukee Street will be two-way, it is only one block away, and one can use it more safely than those foolish people who will insist on using the Court Street Hill when it is icy and snowy.
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I cannot wait for the negativity to resume so potential investors will think otherwise before they devote any more money to our city. They will just take their tax money and jobs to communities that will welcome them.

NeoBartly brought up the valid point of the court house hill. Court Street has always been one-way up the hill for as long as I can remember. Many times cars cannot make it up the hill after a snow storm, but I am pretty sure they will be able to make it down the hill and slide right on through the intersection of Court and Main...without being able to stop. I don't think any of the proposed changes will bring the desired results. If they proceed, there will be the occasional "whoops! I am driving on the wrong side of the road" incidents and probably accidents for the same reason for a while; however, I think the Centerway hill heading West brings enough problems. Why would we want to add to it, by adding yet another dangerous hill for winter travel in Wisconsin. I understand there are probably only a handful of snow storms per season; but if safety is now the focus (as opposed to slowing traffic for shopping purposes), did they take into consideration the potential dangerous situations (such as traveling on a snow-covered Court Street hill with a major intersection at the bottom of the hill), when they devised the conversion options?

For crying out loud, just leave it alone. It's bad enough as it is.

I think Oreally is on to something. Good Post!

I suggest a monorail instead of street conversions.

I like SuperDave's logic. Leave the streets alone. Yes, there are places to shop downtown, you just need to park and get out and walk, which is hard for some, I know. As for the old buildings, they add character. We need to make the downtown area inviting. As frogger said, keep the stores open later on the weekends and include Sundays. Some people work all week and cannot get down there and even if they did, the stores are closed. JMO

LOL. Forgive me, but this sorry discussion reminds me of the Monty Python dead parrot sketch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8RIEQH7zA
"This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. . . . This is an ex-parrot." The downtown area as a viable business district died decades ago of natural causes. The traffic pattern has nothing to do with it, and Janesville can ill afford to waste money on a lost cause. The downtown area needs to be repurposed. Maybe a pedestrian mall with an emphasis on outdoor activities.

This is not the first time this has been discussed. The city could have paid for the changes to two way with the money that has been put out for studies and consultants.
This time around it's the same arguments by the same people and will meet with the same result... nothing.
A year or 2 from now the city will pay for another study and the cycle begins anew.

Milwaukee St. three lanes one way.
Court St. three lanes one way.
Both have extra turn lanes at some intersections.
To make them two way there would be two lanes total for traffic both ways, for two less lanes total. And there would be fewer places that an extra turn lane would be available.
Seems this would make people avoid the downtown and the traffic headache's it would create.

The problem is lack of stores. The area around Pine Tree Plaza is a stupid mess getting in and out, but no problem with not having shoppers, they will do whatever it takes to get to WHERE THEY WANT TO SHOP.

I think they should leave it alone. Making Milwaukee and Court Streets two way isn't going to help anything. We should save the money. If they really want to fix something, why don't they fix the corner of Ruger, Court and Garfield? That is a dangerous intersection and they have had many accidents to prove it.

Restore the original circuit and un-synchronize the lights and all objectives will be met at a low cost.
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I travel between Milton to the downtown area several times each day. Except for around 8AM, it seems I stop at every light on Milton Avenue, but when I get downtown, the lights zoom me right through when I need to be looking at signs and trying to park. And heaven help you if you don't get off Milwaukee Street before Five Points, because it's hell trying to get back. The situation is not friendly to new visitors or older people who are perhaps trying to find The Armory or The Speakeasy.
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The concept of being able to easily circle around in a downtown area works great. Think about Capital Square in Madison or the square in Brodhead. It's useful to be able to easily circle around a few times, find the places you want to go, and decide where to park. The original Circuit facilitated that.
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When the original Circuit was "disabled" to discourage kids from driving around downtown at night, it was very effective -- unfortunately it has the same discouraging effect on adults during the daytime.
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Just bring back "The Circuit" and change the timing of the stoplights and things will be fine.

How about making all streets that go into the downtown area one-way? They should all lead the driver into the downtown, and none would run away from downtown. That would quickly fill the area with people, who would have to spend money on food and lodging while working with a lawyer to get out of town. Those that dared go the other way could be ticketed big bucks, and voila - more money for the city :) win-win-win! (except for the people, as usual).

This is just a dopey notion. It serves nobody.

When department stores were downtown there was plenty of activity. The streets were one way then, and were not a problem. Two way streets that slow people down by hindering passage will not increase patronage to places that people do not want to shop at anyway. One way streets did not stop people from shopping at Sears, Bostwicks, or Saxers back then.

Speed bumps every 20 feet, (less than 20 feet would just be stupid). That should slow things down.

If they want to slow traffic down in the down town area have the police enforce the speed limits there. That's a hell of alot cheaper and makes more sense than waisting tax payers money on converting the streets back to 2 way traffic.

Driving down Milwaukee street I have cars passing me in excess of 40 miles per hour on a regular basis. I can't be the only one to expierience this. With that in mind, what better way to slow people down than to remove a lane or two and add some heads up traffic coming towards them.

Leave it alone! Good God! Quit trying to fix what isn't broken with money that no one has! It's not perfect by any means but it's not bad either!

If the DBA is so convinced that this will help their business...then perhaps they should put up a bond to repay the taxpayers in five or ten years if it turns out that the taxpayers took it in the end....

If it turns out as they suggest...then the taxpayers should give them a bonus.

Now THAT would be a win...win.

The speed limit down town is 25mph, if the convert Milwaukee and Court St to two ways, the speed limit is still going to be 25mph. The only thing I can see slowing down traffic will be people slowing down to see the accidents that this would bring during the winter. Someone here has already pointed out that there is plenty of parking available down town and if you have to park around the corner, its probably no farther a walk than it is to your car on a busy day at the Mall, Woodmans, or many other stores out off of the main shopping district here in Janesville, if anything parking now is closer being that you can park along the sidewalks down town and some of the shops are only feet away. Now quit trying to spend money that isn't there!!!

Turn the downtown into a roundabout...and put the city council chambers in the middle.

Waste of money

Except for the minor few, no one shops downtown. We see many a undesirables a stalking those streets. We see the younger crowd party-ing at the bars. WE see fishermen. We see those whom have appointments with lawyers, excersizers, and direct business patrons. But there is no reason to SHOP there.

Your not going to revitalize the downtown. Thats an idea gone to the PAST/ and has been retried, and retried over the past 3 decades. Not gonna happen, its dead now. Stop wasting money on a dead dawg. Invest it in what this city really needs. (We all know what this city really needs. Also what it doesn't want to throw away yet again for some nutty projects.)

By the way, gaud let me watch the Brain_Stormers' drive DOWN Court St. Hill, at midnight, before plows come out, with a good 6-8 inches of snow & ice on it. PLEASE CALL ME SO I CAN WATCH at Main St. This is beyond laughable, its totally stupid.

Plain and simple taxpayers cannot afford unnecessary spending. Snow's on the way we need streets taken care of not changed from one way to two way. One way traffic controls traffic more than two way. Leave it alone.

Again if the stores are NOT open like they are not open now after 5 or on Sundays WHAT is the point of this? Ever walk downtown on a Sunday-- you can WINDOW shop all you want to because the stores are NOT open.

Angryagain- there is PLENTY of parking - remember the new ramp- it is not far from anything downtown.

I think the DBA should team up with the hockey fund raising group and when enough money is raised...we can have a two way street to a new double sheet ice arena.

Wow! Between $385,000 to $1.8 million! Really?! To do what exactly? I sure would like to see a breakdown. $1 million just doesn't buy much anymore, does it? I wish projects like this could be bid on by other entities. I'm no expert, but I doubt that the pricing then would then be as high as it is.

The banning of the circuit sealed its fate. No one has any reason to go down there anymore....except for bars.

Why not leave Court Street one-way and turn Milwaukee steet into a two-way?
Sad that people think downtown is dead and an eye-sore. Many of the buildings have been remodeled and there is plenty of parking downtown now. Maybe you can't park in front of the store you want, so you have to walk a bit, didn't kill the old-timers back when, why should it now. Speaking of parking you have the new Parking garage, the lots on Parker and Wall St. There is the parking lot over by the Johnson Bank, the parking lot over the Rock River and the parking lot across from Riverfront. Also, parking is probably avail at the Chase Bank. Then there is parking up by the Speakeasy and the City Hall and Police station. But for some they may require a bit of exercise or carrying a package a little further. So, to those who see the downtown as dead, then most of you haven't really taken the time to get out and look around and see what is there. For those who seem to have a problem with the traffic in Janesville, take a bus and leave the driving to them and maybe the roads won't be so bad for you. Be part of the solution for a change.

Sigma40, you can't just have a traffic light anywhere you want one. If traffic falls below a certain level on one or both streets the light is no longer justified.
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The goal of the one-way streets predates the decline of downtown. They were instituted when there was no interstate or 11 bypass (or Veterans Memorial and Bellrichard Bridges, for that matter). The theory in those days was that simply moving traffic was always better. Transportation planning has come a long way since then.

Also...they want to slow traffic down... Why did they take out all the stop lights that were down there?

Anyone who thinks downtown Janesville is "dead" or only "falling apart eye sore old buildings" clearly isn't paying attention .... or just hasn't been able to see, experience, and enjoy all it has to offer because they're so intent on just racing past so fast on the one way streets that they miss it.

What needs to be done to bring life back to the downtown dead zone first and foremost is to tear down some of the falling apart eye sore old buildings and make some parking lots to allow easy parking downtown and maybe, just maybe people would be willing to go shop down there again. As long as the area is crammed with falling down old buildings in disrepair, and no where to park, downtown Janesville west of the river will remain a ghost town regardless of how traffic goes past.
In my opinion the downtown Traffic mess is no worse than the terrible Wildwood center or whatever they call that area by best buy or ANYWHERE on Milton avenue.

I had no idea it was so unsafe. Wasnt the idea to get more people down there and easier to navigate? Now the big marketing ploy is "safety"? Also why so high priced? Because its a city project and not someones personal project? Dont we have the ability to move a couple stoplights and paint lines on the ground??