Downtown Driving Guide

If you drive often in downtown, you’re probably pretty familiar with obstacles. Weekend nights offer partying pedestrians jaywalking. Early mornings throw double-parked delivery trucks and garbage trucks in your way. And if you come into downtown off the 163 south onto 10th Avenue, odds are pretty good you will be stopping at a green light once reaching C Street. This happens regularly throughout the day because the length of the trolley surpasses that of the blocks between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue and 10th and 9th.

When the trolley begins its journey from the station at 11th Avenue and C Street, if it doesn’t make the light crossing 9th Avenue, its tail end blocks the entire right lane and almost the entire middle lane on 10th. Now, if the trolley doesn’t make it past 10th, well then you’ll be faced with the same problem should you be driving down 11th trying to get on the 163 North.

Trolleys coming from the opposite direction have the same effect in reverse. If you are extremely lucky, you might even be trying to get in or out of downtown via the 163 when both trolleys miss their lights. When this happens, all the lanes are blocked and you will sit through the green light until it changes red at which time the trolleys finally move forward leaving you to wait for the next green light. It is doubtful the length of the trolley will change, so be careful crossing C Street in downtown.