The city of Phoenix will begin exploring options for the reversible lanes along Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue in central Phoenix.
The Phoenix Street Transportation Department is asking for public input as part of a midtown traffic study. The study, which is on the first of four phases, will evaluate current capacity, connectivity, lane utilization, crash patterns and identify congestion and bottlenecks.
“We'll start with corridor analysis, which includes an opportunity for the public to provide input early in the process to shape the study's purpose,” said Scott Beck, a third-party consultant from WSP USA, a firm hired by the city to help with the study. “Then we'll develop and evaluate potential scenarios based on what we learn, and then identify a preferred scenario and share it with the public through in-person and virtual meetings in the fall of this year.”
When completed, the study will include a recommendation for how the city should handle the reversible lanes.
A citizen petition with over 5,000 signatures asked the Phoenix City Council to end the rush hour reverse lanes.
Because of this petition, on May 21, 2025, the Phoenix City Council asked for a comprehensive traffic study for Midtown, including potential modifications, improvements, or the removal of the reversible lanes.
The study area covers a large chunk of central Phoenix between McDowell Road and Dunlap Avenue. The area covers the reversal lanes in near totality, with the southern terminus being McDowell Road.
Residents are asked to fill out a survey on how they currently travel in midtown, drop a pin on the community map to highlight specific areas of concern, or share comments at a public meeting.
After the corridor analysis and public comment has ended, the streets department will draft recommendations for the corridor. The draft will be subject to additional public review before the final recommendations are prepared before the end of the year.
The final recommendations will be presented to the City Council in December.
“Each of these recommendations involves trade offs, so this task will be about balancing safety, mobility, access and the community needs to develop practical, well-rounded solutions for the future,” Beck said.
The reversible lanes, commonly referred to as “suicide lanes” by residents, were installed nearly 50 years ago to reduce congestion for drivers traveling to and from downtown Phoenix during peak hours.
“That's not a term that we use around the street transportation department,” said Matt Wilson, the assistant director for street transportation in Phoenix. “We stick to reversible lanes in our references to it.”
This is not the first time Phoenix has studied the possibility of changing the reversible lanes.
In December 2021, the city of Phoenix published a study finding eliminating the reversible lanes, either partially or completely, increased travel times by more than 40% in some segments.
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