CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Its safe to say that some people are not fans of trying to drive around Downtown Corpus Christi.
“I don’t even drive downtown because of the confusion," manager at La Playa on the Bay restaurant Christopher Galvan said. "A lot of my coworkers — they’ve been working in this area for a long time — and even they sometimes get confused which way to go."
The restaurant is located on Lomax Street, one of five streets that the Downtown Management District plans to convert from one-way traffic to two-way traffic.
The first will be Starr Street from Shoreline Boulevard to Water Street beginning Monday.
"We found the one-way traffic really detracts the ability to access downtown and move within it," DMD Executive Director Alyssa Barrera Mason said. "Converting those streets back to two-way is a best practice right now across the country with downtown revitalization.”
She points to the success of a similar conversion two years ago.
“Chaparral (Street) conversion has been phenomenal," Barrera Mason said. "We had 11 businesses open up around that time as a result of the access."
Luis Lopez, a downtown resident, doesn't want the streets converted for the same reason the DMD is doing it -- the potential for more people driving around his neighborhood.
“It would be making it easier for the customers to come to (businesses)," Lopez said. "But in terms of community, I think it does go against the sense of community, because you do invite more cars. It’s not just people on the street.”
But if you ask Galvan, he's all for getting rid of some one-ways.
“If we were to have more accessible streets to kind of make it easier it would be a lot better for our clientele honestly," Galvan said.
