New Search
Chapter 5 <br />Transportation <br />Element <br />Transportation Goals <br />The key urban design goals for the project guided <br />the development of transportation alternatives. <br />Currently, the new courthouse area does not meet <br />any of the four urban design goals for this project, <br />primarily because of the isolation caused by the <br />existing transportation facilities. In order to achieve <br />the goals staff and consultants explored several <br />alternative transportation concepts which have as a <br />common feature some form of redistributing or <br />"upbraiding" the large volume of traffic that cur- <br />rentlyflows along Mill Street and East Broadway. <br />Existing Transportation <br />Conditions <br />The intersection of 8th and Mill is a critical point in <br />the City's transportation network. Local traffic going <br />north or south overlaps for several blocks with the <br />through east-west traffic from Highway 99. This <br />large flow of traffic represents the accumulation of <br />vehicles coming from the Ferry Street Bridge and 7th <br />Avenue, converging on Mill Street and continuing <br />south and east on Broadway to Patterson, or onto <br />Franklin Boulevard. The reverse flow takes the <br />Franklin and Hilyard traffic west and then north on <br />Mill Street to about 8th, where it separates into the <br />northbound bridge traffic and the westbound traffic <br />on 6t". The resulting flow of about 45,000 vehicles a <br />day on Mill Street at 8th creates a virtual wall be- <br />tween the current downtown and the emerging <br />courthouse district. <br />-~ r° ~ - <br />Page 25 <br />8th Avenue and Mill Street, looking south. <br />Broadway and Mill Street, looking north. <br />