“To wrap it up, do you have any idea why we don’t have lane markings on these roads?”

“Dear PoPville,

As you probably know, Columbia Road and Harvard Street, between Park Place/Warder Street and 16th Street, are three-lane roads. Most of the time, the two curb lanes are used for parallel parking and the center lane is for moving traffic, unless it is during rush hour, during which one of the curb lanes becomes open and parking in it is prohibited.

As much as that helps move traffic during rush hour, we have a big problem. Most of the length of the two streets do not have any lane markings.

Take Harvard Street, for example. There are no lane markings as you head east on the road between 16th Street and 13th Street, but suddenly, lane markings appear on the road, but only for a block, as they disappear as you cross 11th street toward Sherman, and the street remains without markings until it merges with Michigan Avenue. That said, Harvard Street, between Sherman Avenue and Georgia Avenue, has a lane demarcating a parallel parking area on the left side of the street. Columbia Road heading west is quite similar.

The problem with the lack of lane markings is that drivers don’t understand that there are two lanes of traffic, so many just stick to driving in the middle between what would be two lanes, further restricting traffic flow during the busiest part of a commute.

To wrap it up, do you have any idea why we don’t have lane markings on these roads? The whole point of opening up a parallel parking lane is to double the number of vehicles that can move through. But if the lanes aren’t marked, and people don’t know that there are two lanes, the opening of the parallel parking serves no purpose.”