Island’s One Way Street, French Lane, To Get New Signs
By Karen Gould

Island House driver Dwayne Miron guides his horses down French Lane in the proper one-way direction on their way to Main Street. The lane soon will have signage directing taxis and dray traffic. Bike and foot traffic is not restricted to the one-way direction.

One-way street violations and a permit for a special electric wheel chair-bicycle combination were issues addressed by the City Council’s Street Committee Friday, June 10 meeting.

The narrow French Lane soon will get three signs indicating its one-way status, action that is hoped address complaints that such status is being violated. Until now, the one-way traffic flow, though defined in a city ordinance, has remained unmarked, yet observed through a “gentlemen’s agreement,” said Mayor Margaret Doud. French Lane runs north and south connecting Huron Street and Market Street, and is just west of the Lake View Hotel on Main Street and the retail store London Square on Market Street.

The signs will be posted on the corners of French Lane and Market Street, and French Lane and Main Street. A third sign will be at the alleyway behind the Lake View Hotel, which would indicate a left turn only is allowable for those heading onto French Lane.

Mayor Doud, who attended the committee meeting, noted that the current non-posting of the street makes it difficult for police to issue tickets.

French Lane is the only designated one-way street for horse drawn carriages, shuttles, taxis, or drays because it is no more than 10 feet wide. The one-way designation does not apply to foot or bicycle traffic.

“That’s the problem with that whole Lane,” said committee member Mike Hart. “It was never designed for much more than foot traffic. It’s been that way probably since the 1800s. When you start adding carts and the shuttles, which are longer than taxis, it just gets to be a bigger and bigger problem.”

The city needs to go back to the agreement that was established several years ago, Mr. Hart said. “One way down, it is exclusively taxis, drays, and garbage drays. No carts attached.”

Kelly Bean, assistant to Mayor Doud, noted City Ordinance 403, which went into affect April 18, 2002, designates French Lane as a one-way street for southbound traffic only.

Jeff Shaffer, owner of London Square, said he has been having problems with taxis and drays traveling in the wrong direction. He has also noticed shuttles and taxis traveling in the right direction, but pulling carts, and told the committee that one person in an electric cart had to back out of the way and onto private property just to get out of the way of a taxi making the turn from Market Street onto the French Lane too fast. He noted the same thing had happened to a woman pushing a baby carriage, who was forced onto his property to get out of the way of a fast moving taxi.

Dick Rulison of Carriage Tours, who also attended the meeting, said if the committee would get French Lane’s restrictions in writing, he would present it to the cab and dray division at Carriage Tours. This was the first time he had heard of the problems and of the gentlemen’s agreement, and he also added he had no idea why any driver would be heading up French Lane, which would be against the one-way direction.

Responding to Smi Horn’s suggestion that maybe an alternative route down Benjamin Hill on Market Street to Main Street might solve the problem, Mr. Rulison said that would mean buggies would be taking a left onto Main, which is a blind corner to bike traffic.

“You can jump problems from one corner to the next, but there’s still going to be problems,” he said.

Mr. Hart noted that Benjamin Hill is wider than French Lane.

Ms. Bean will contact City Attorney Tom Evashevski regarding the wording for a permit for use of an electric tandem wheelchair bicycle for handicapped Islander Olivia Chambers. The bike is operated by one person and has a wheelchair attached in the front for the handicapped rider. The permit will require City Council approval and will be presented to Council at a future meeting.

The Street Committee meeting was attended by Mike Hart and Smi Horn. Armin Porter sat in for committee member Jason St. Onge, who was unable to make the meeting.

The next Street Committee meeting date has not been set.