A two way tram in a one way road

[Aya]

Hey,
I am a student in my last year studying urban design and I have a graduation project of revitalizing Alexandria's (in Egypt) city center. I just proposed converting two parallel (two way) streets to being one way to facilitate traffic flow and reduce the large congestion at intersections. My question is: There is a two way tram line passing in the middle of one of these roads, if I convert the road to be one way..how can the tram be treated (knowing that one of its tracks in this case will move opposite to the cars direction)..Do I..
1) Keep the tramway in the middle of the street as it is but provide a dedicated lane for the tram track that will be moving opposite to cars ??
The negative impacts of this solution: Cars will find it difficult to pass from one side of the road to another (to drive into a local street for example) providing that the tram passes in the middle
2) Move the tramway to one side of the road and the cars to the other
The negative impacts of this solution: there will be problems at the intersections with local street as cars willing to get in will have to stop if the tram is passing to get in..which will a sort of congestion

What can I do ??..Is there an appropriate solution
Thanks in advance

[DetroitPlanner]

I would suggest getting the input of a civil/transportation engineer. We don't have enough information based upon your post or do we know much about your specific project.

Transit typically has a great impact on mobility, but much less of an impact on congestion. I am not quite sure why a tram would ease congestion at intersections. If anything it could be argued that having public transport stopping near an intersection would make congestion worse.

[Aya]

Thank you Sir so much. I just meant the intersection of that main road having the tram with the numerous feeders (local streets) at both sides, if the tram passes slowly in front of such intersections I think this will make it difficult for cars to get into those local streets as they will stop for some time until the tram passes.
I really asked a transportation engineer about the streets directions and I received a satisfying feedback but I would be so grateful if anyone could tell me about some case studies or relevant situations of streets where there was a two way tram passing through a one way road. Case studies will be very helpful.
Thank you sir in advance

[Yane]

i am guessing that you do no havehigher flow in one direction than on the other and for this reason you are considering converting two ways in one way. considering that the case for the cars that have to gor to the side street you could
1- make sure the trans is not a long car or a series of cars to minimize waiting time on the raodway vehicles
2- you can provide a separatebay similar to the left turn bays for the cars that have to cross the tracks whithout interupting thru flow in the main roadway.
3- make the roadway one direction and reduce the number of lanes and shift it away from the transit system that way you can provide perpendicular connections from main roadway to intersecting street that serve the prupose of storing vehicles while the trans bus goes thru.
4-you can also get rid of the transit system if not used
5- can do an elevated track for th transit bus (extremtly expenssive solution)

[JusticeZero]

Well, just take into account that the tram is, by traffic counts, most likely going to be the primary user of that section of roadway. The cars are unlikely to have anywhere near enough traffic volume to be able to compete with the capacity the tram is servicing, and as such should not be treated as primary users.

[mgk920]

I will assume here that both the tram, often referred to as Light Rail Transit - 'LRT' - or streetcars in the USA, is heavily used by passengers (many are in major cities outside of the USA) and that the street is heavily used by cars and other vehicles (trucks, bicycles, etc). Howabout moving the 'contraflow' tram track as close to the curb as possible and building a low barrier wall of some sort to separate it from automobile traffic, while leaving the other track where it is?

Mike

[Aya]

Thank you all. Your replies really helped. About moving the contraflow tram to near the curb with a separated lane was what I really thought about. However, this will create another problem which is closing all the streets that act as feeders to that side of that road. How will cars enter those streets or get out of them if the wall separating the tram lane is preventing that??
I am thinking of another solution which is creating that small wall which separates the contraflow tram while leaving the tram in its current position.
P.S: Alexandria has a gridiron urban fabric where every street has many feeders (local streets that open to it) acting as several ways of access so I don't think it will be possible blocking that feeders.

[mgk920]

Well, I would allow breaks in the low wall separating the contraflow tram from street traffic at the cross-street intersections.

Mike