As The Star-Herald went to press, Kosciusko resident and business owner Leisa Terrell was slated to appear before the Board of Aldermen Tuesday evening to ask the city to revert to the mid-2016 traffic pattern around court square.
Although the roads ringing the courthouse were always one-way, many of the feeder roads entering and exiting the square were not.
Terrell said businesses have suffered since the change.
“I’m just slowly seeing the square die,” she said, noting that numerous businesses have either relocated or closed since the change.
Terrell, who owns an interior decorating business on the square, said she has talked to as many as 30 other business people in the downtown area about the challenges they have faced since the change two years ago.
The 2016 proposal called for converting several roads to one-way, while adding bike lanes and more defined parking places. Streets that were to be changed included Washington, Jefferson, Natchez, Jackson and Madison streets. Also the outer limit streets of downtown, including Huntington, Wells, Monroe and Adams, would also all get crosswalks.
Terrell said reducing the parking on many of the roads from two sides to a single side — to accommodate bike paths cost local businesses customers who may not be willing or able to park a distance from their destination and walk.
Other businesses, depending on how their storefronts are situated, have become hard for customers to locate, she said.
Terrell noted that parking areas on Washington Street, one-way leading from the square, are inaccessible during community events when the roads around the square proper are closed.
“I have not talked to one person who likes it. Everybody has complained since the beginning… and a lot of business didn’t realize what the bike lanes would do to their customers, to the parking,” she said.
“Everyone is open to any kind of thing that is going to help the town, but no one has seen any positive results from the changes, only negative,” said Terrell.
Terrell said she was unsure how many other business owners would attend the meeting Tuesday evening, but that she distributed flyers to encourage participation.
