A new plan would deliver a “safer, slower Riverside Drive” by introducing a number of traffic-calming interventions along the stretch bordering Tom Lee Park.
The new plan was unveiled Monday by the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP). Carol Coletta, MRPP president and CEO, said the design for the street meets the criteria set in mediation with Memphis In May International Festival and approved by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.
If you’ve been on Riverside Drive, you know it feels too much like an expressway.
Carol Coletta, president and CEO of the Memphis Parks Partnership
“If you’ve been on Riverside Drive, you know it feels too much like an expressway,” Coletta said during a presentation Monday. “A lot of people think it’s an expressway between I-55 and I-40 but it’s not.
“Expressways were never meant to he bet the shortest routes through a city. They were meant to be the fastest route through a city. The fastest route should not be Riverside Drive, the street that divides Downtown neighborhoods and those just beyond Downtown from its Riverfront.”
The new plan would focus on three crossings across Riverside: one at Vance, another at Huling, and one at Butler. At these would be pedestrian crossings to connect Tom Lee Park. These crossings would combine several elements to slow traffic and make crossing safer.
As motorists approach a crossing, they’d first encounter a speed hump, warning them of the crossing ahead. At the crossing, they’d find a speed table, a ramp larger than a speed hump. The tops of these speed tables would be level with sidewalks on both dies of the street. So, pedestrians would not have to step down as they crossed and the tables would be high enough to force slower speeds.
“You’ve got this combination of design mechanisms that force traffic to slow down,” Colletta said. “Otherwise, your car gets damaged and, maybe so do you because of the jolt you’ll feel.”
This combination is expected to slow traffic at the crossings to 15 miles per hour.
Spots for parallel parking along the street are also expected to slow traffic. Such parking will be available only in three “pods” along the western edge of Riverside. Together, these areas are expected to yield 60 parking spots along the street.
To the immediate west of the parallel parking pods will be a median to separate cars parked there and a straight path for bikes and scooters. Coletta said that path is hoped to keep that faster traffic out of the main part of the park for strolling pedestrians.
The new design also removes the decorative median strip from the center of Riverside Drive. Smaller medians will remain, though, closer to the three street crossings.
Coletta said rules enforcement and traffic signs will still be needed along Riverside but hoped the new plan will slow traffic more naturally.
“The more we rely on design to make streets safer, the better off we’ll be and the more likely we are to sustain the slow speeds that deliver safety,” she said.
Construction of the new Riverside Drive is slated to begin when construction of the new Tom Lee Park begins. Tha projects kicks off after MIM wraps up later this year.
MRPP is expected to unveil updated plans and new drawings for Tom Lee Park during a call next week.
