A group of central Phoenix residents along Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street have launched a petition drive to get rid of the reverse lanes on those streets.
Often called “suicide lanes," they were established to speed up traffic by turning the middle turning lane into normal traffic lanes during rush hour.
The lanes switch directions in the morning and evening. Community activist Stacey Champion made the petition.
“It’s dangerous. They are chaotic. I think that everyone who has ever driven in them is slightly terrified to do so," Champion said.
She also says it’s harder for people to reach businesses on that stretch.
The city released a study in 2021 that found that a partial or complete elimination of those lanes would increase travel delays, traffic congestion and associated crashes.
