A busy stretch of Maryland Avenue in St. Paul’s East Side will remain three lanes through the winter, officials said this week.

After the winter? They’re not sure.

The stretch of road between Payne Avenue and Johnson Parkway in the city’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood was reduced from four lanes in June as an experiment by Ramsey County officials hoping to make the area safer following several traffic deaths. The new configuration has one lane of traffic in each direction and a center turn lane.

The logic is this: One lane of traffic each way eliminates a slew of “multiple-threat crash” scenarios where drivers, cyclists and pedestrians can’t see approaching traffic.

That part worked: Crashes have been fewer and less severe than before, according to data compiled by officials with the county, city and police.

But there have been complaints about the new configuration.

While pedestrians and cycling advocates have widely praised the project, a portion of residents near the roughly 1.25-mile stretch have complained that Maryland has become more congested and traffic has increased in otherwise quiet neighborhood side streets where children play.

Turns out, critics are right, too.

BEFORE AND AFTER

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Maryland is more congested. Traffic counts increased on Maryland, which now has less capacity for cars. Which has meant cars move more slowly — but closer to the 30-mph speed limit. It takes longer to drive the stretch, but we’re talking a minute or so, not half an hour. For example, the biggest increase in driving time is a 29 percent longer drive from Edgerton Street to Johnson Parkway during evening rush hour. The pain: 1 minute and 6 seconds extra. Traffic engineers suspect the vehicle counts might be inflated because various parts of Wheelock Parkway have been closed for sewer work. This is one reason why officials want to keep collecting data through the winter, after the Wheelock work is done.

Side streets are busier — and cars are driving a little faster there. Side streets parallel to Maryland — Geranium, Hawthorne and Rose avenues — all saw more traffic, ranging from about 200 vehicles a day on Geranium between Walsh and Greenbrier streets, to a few dozen or so on Hawthorne between Ear and Frank streets. As far as speed, we’re talking 1 mph or 2 mph faster. Deborah Carter McCoy, a spokeswoman for Ramsey County, said the traffic numbers are well within the capacities for neighborhood streets. “However, for the person living there, 100 more cars does feel like a lot more, especially if your children are playing outside,” she said.

It takes longer to turn left onto Maryland from most side streets. Worst case: It now takes an average of 41 seconds to turn left onto Maryland from northbound Mendota Street, more than double the 19-second average when Maryland was four lanes. But it takes nearly 4 seconds less time now to get left onto Maryland from southbound Walsh Street.

Buses are not delayed. Stopped buses might cause backups, but Metro Transit said the buses are still running on schedule.

Arcade is a problem. Despite a number of tweaks to turning lanes, the biggest choke point is the intersection of Maryland and Arcade Street, where at times there are simply too many vehicles for the existing pavement, Carter McCoy said. Engineers are hoping for relief when Wheelock reopens.

Pedestrians are safer. By and large, public comments have shown that pedestrians feel safer crossing Maryland now, and there have been no pedestrians hit since the experiment started. The county, which controls the stretch of Maryland, started the experiment after calls for change that were underscored by the May 2016 death of pedestrian Erin Durham.

Drivers are safer. There have been fewer crashes on Maryland, compared with last year, when it was four lanes. Between June 1 and Sept. 5 of this year, there were 22 crashes, four of which led to injuries. During the same time in 2016, there were 27 crashes with four injuries, according to county data. The number of crashes involving left turns fell as well, from nine to two.

RELATED: They’re called multiple-threat crashes. Now, how do we prevent them?

WHAT’S NEXT?

County officials will use the winter to gather more data and see how snowplows and school buses affect everything.

A planned resurfacing of Maryland for the fall will be delayed until 2018 while the experiment continues.

Carter McCoy said “there’s a lot of interest” in looking into whether the experiment could be expanded to include parts of Maryland west of Payne that would similarly shrink to three lanes, but no decision has been made.

NO BIKE LANES

Carter McCoy emphasized that, while bicycle safety is a goal of the three-lane experiment, there are no plans to create a bicycle lane along Maryland. “There have been some myths out there about that,” she said.