Piotr Roman, responding to councillors’ interpellations, expanded on the subject of one-way streets in Bolesławiec:
I have observed a small wave of various proposals to return to two-way traffic where we introduced one-way traffic. I would advise you to [mowa o radnych – przyp. „ii”] think deeply about this. These proposals often result simply from people wanting to save fuel.
The mayor added that the municipal authorities receive this type of feedback from residents of several streets. But that is not all. One of the county schools (“Elektronik”) also approached the City Hall, asking for a section of Górników Street to be “made a two-way street so that teachers could arrive from the direction of Tyrankiewiczów Street instead of driving all the way around.”
“These are some arguments,” P. Roman admitted. “The thing is, we actually make streets one-way for the convenience of residents. Opitza Street is an example: very often, a bus travelling along it encounters a car coming from the opposite direction, while vehicles are parked on both sides. Then either the bus or the car has to reverse. If it were a one-way street, this problem would not occur.
On the other hand, the mayor continued, residents of properties along Górników would like two-way traffic to be restored on that street.
Wprowadzenie większej liczby ulic jednokierunkowych usprawni przejazd przez miasto?
“We need to discuss this matter,” the mayor of the city stressed. “I am not claiming to know everything, but I can see that where we have created one-way streets (for example, Dzieci Wrześni), things are orderly. Parking is possible on both sides; one could say that we have increased the number of parking spaces by 100%. People have already got used to it, and there have been no dangerous incidents. The same applies to Górników Street.
The mayor also returned to the subject of Opitza Street: “I often drive that way and see what is happening there. If we made it a one-way street, traffic flow would improve significantly, while highly uncomfortable situations for drivers would no longer occur.
He also stressed that expanding the paid parking zone should be considered. “And this really is not about making money, because we actually add to the cost of running it. It is about vehicle mobility,” he said. Which specific streets are being considered? Among others, Asnyka, Sierpnia ’80 and Kaszubska.
“Please approach proposals to change one-way traffic into two-way traffic with great caution, because there is a conflict of interests here,” Piotr Roman concluded. “There is the interest of residents who want to reach their properties more quickly. But then we lose roughly half of the parking spaces. Generally, two-way traffic causes—almost every time—the removal of parking spaces, and Bolesławiec will not gain any more of them, even if we turned ourselves inside out.
We will return to this topic.