Not a bunch to just stare at their feet while waiting for completion of a $400,000 study that will take a global view of making a Des Moines a walkable, bikeable city where pedestrians and pedalists also become patrons of restaurants and bars and tony retail shops, traffic engineers want us to at least get a feel for the concept.

The City Council will be asked tonight to approve a $105,000 pilot program that will convert 12th Street to two-way traffic. It also will eliminate restricted parking hours on Seventh Street from Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to Interstate Highway 235; on Locust Street from Second Avenue to 18th Street; and on Mulberry Street from Fifth Avenue to 15th Street.

Jennifer McCoy, city traffic engineer, said the conversion of 12th Street to two-way traffic will require restriping of the roadway and the addition of signal indicators for southbound traffic at the intersections with Locust, Walnut and Mulberry.

Lifting traffic bans from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Seventh, Locust and Mulberry requires changes in signage and parking meter rate information.

Several streets were considered for conversion from one-way to two-way traffic. Twelfth Street was selected because it has parking garages with entrances and exits to the street, has on-street parking, and has circulation needs related to the Central Library and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.

Mayor Frank Cownie noted that 12th Street provides little exposure to retailers, which is considered an important element to provide a confluence for passers-by, whether walking or driving.

The pilot project is part of an urban design scheme presented by Jeff Speck, a Massachusetts-based consultant who argues that one-way traffic patterns might move motorists through downtown in a speedy manner, but they do so at the peril of pedestrians and bicycle riders. They also make it difficult for retail patrons to pull over and park.

Speck has told community planners that every downtown street with a one-way bearing should become a two-way street, and says that “every year of delay will make Des Moines less competitive as a city.”

He is an advocate of narrow drive lanes, with the addition of bicycle lanes and bump-outs that that shorten the distance across streets for pedestrians. Grand Avenue is an example of a street that has bump-outs, and the city has created bike lanes on several streets, including Grand.

Some council members said this morning that they were concerned that the city would pay for a $400,000 study that would beget more costly studies.

However, City Manager Scott Sanders argued that it was necessary to have one study that took a comprehensive look at the impact of proposed changes to the downtown network of streets.