17th Street Should Be Two-Way Again
Downtown St. Louis, and Downtown West to a lesser degree, has lots of one-way streets. This was done decades ago to facilitate driving in & out. A decade ago Locust St., which had been one-way Westbound, was reverted back to two-way West of 14th St. But there are some odd little one-way remnants that need to be reexamined. One is a very short stretch of 17th St between St. Charles St & Washington Ave.
![Looking South on 17th St from Washington Ave, this bit is one-way in the direction we are looking](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17th01.jpg)
![The opposite view, looking North toward Washington Ave](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17th02.jpg)
![This view looks at the intersection of St. Charles (1-way WB) and 17th toward Locust (2-way)](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17th03.jpg)
St. Charles Street, which is a glorified alley, runs parallel between Locust & Washington Ave. — it is one-way Westbound. Yes, 17th from St. Charles to Locust is two-way. From Locust to Olive it is one-way Southbound. Confused?
Typically one-ways are done in couplets — an opposite direction street a block away. Such is the case between St. Charles & Washington.
![The significantly narrower 16th St is one-way northbound -- the opposite of 17th](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/16th01.jpg)
Motorists routinely treat 17th as two-way — we should just make it official.
– Steve Patterson