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Could Ruston Way Be Car Free?

· Posted Wednesday July 5, 2006 by jamie

I have a dream.

We didn’t make the Freedom Fair this year, but have gone many times before, and I think it provides a great context for my personal vision for Ruston Way.

I think that Ruston Way is infinitely cooler when it has been closed to traffic. The walking trail is great, but something about the incessant line of cars going by sorta ruins it for me.

So I’m thinking we should just close the road completely. Put a big parking lot at either end. Maybe run a shuttle bus so people can get to the restaurants easily (or even a portion of a streetcar line). Encourage bicycle rickshaws and horse-carriage rides.

Everything down there is way more enjoyable from on foot or a bicycle than it is from a car, and there are plenty of other ways to get from here-to-there when driving…

So here’s my stake in the sand. I’d love to see this happen. Thoughts?


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Comments:

  1. Wow, pretty radical. Given some kind of transport to and fro it might not be too bad. Could put a cramp in the necks of folks that use it as a means to commute though.

    I’d propose lowering the train tracks below a raised highway/extension of 705 to allow people to zoom home while leaving the Ruston road to minimal shuttle/streetcar traffic.

    — KevinFreitas    Jul 5, 10:40 AM    #

  2. With public saftey in mind, I would go further to prohibit pretty-much everything from Ruston Way. No Cars, No Trains, No People, No Gang Members, No Fireworks. I would even install a special fault line that would cause Ruston Way to fall into the sea at next major earthquake event. Everybody Wins.

    — Richard Ryan Anderson    Jul 5, 11:21 AM    #

  3. My dream: Reroute the train tracks via tunnel just after the grain dock (hard left under town until it reaches the tracks along the narrows) to open up the waterfront even more. Convert the remaining tracks to bike/ pedestrian trails & expand parking and park features. Use dirt from tunnel to expand shoreline outward in the areas south of the Asarco site and south of the Reconciliation Park to make large open waterfront areas. Yeah.

    — Mike H    Jul 5, 09:02 PM    #

  4. Ruston Way has tons of unused space on the non-water (south) side of the street once you’re west of the fishing pier. We could do some traffic calming, put a few curves in the street, have park space on both sides of the street, have a dedicated bike only lanes for bike commuters and people who ride fast. Last time I rode my bike down there I was doing a steady 17MPH (not on the sidewalk!) and I got passed by other cyclists.

    The 5 mile drive is closed to cars every Saturday morning; I don’t see any reason Ruston couldn’t be closed off more often. Give business’s permits for their workers and let deliveries go though and let the rest of us enjoy the peace and space every now and again.

    — michael    Jul 9, 10:30 PM    #