More Input on Columbia's Streetscape Project

City staff once again presented an overview of the proposed Main St. Streetscape Project--this time to the Columbia Rotary Club--and answered more questions from members of the business community:

1. Why not make Main St. one-way and Rapp one-way (suggesting that this would create traffic circulation around a “town square” and would allow angle parking)? The current project scope does not include this re-routing of traffic--which would be a major project in its own right--but the team will take the idea under consideration.
2. How will this project maintain available parking along Main St. and how will it allow for future growth of businesses in the district? The Civic Progress Committee raised this concern during its review of the project last March, and the project team has reviewed the design accordingly--further study may be required to address the long-term parking needs of Main Street merchants.
3. Will the sidewalk expansion and bump-outs choke traffic lanes? The current roadway is extremely wide, so narrowing the overall roadway will tend to slow down traffic, but the proposed sidewalk changes (two feet added to all sidewalks and eight-foot bump-outs at some corners) will not reduce the lane width for moving traffic.
4. Downtown Belleville’s decorative light standards look very similar to those proposed for Columbia’s project, and they appear (to the casual viewer) to be placed too close together in Belleville—how will Columbia’s be different? While the light standards in both cities come from the same manufacturer, Columbia's will be five feet taller and will be spaced further apart in keeping with Illinois Department of Transportation requirements (Belleville's Main Street is owned by the city while Columbia's roadway is owned by IDOT).
5. Columbia’s light standards will support banners and other decorations throughout the year courtesy of the Columbia Chamber—how will the project orient the hanging equipment so as to prevent damage from passing vehicles? Banners currently in place hang over the street and have not suffered damage, but the team will consider turning the hanging brackets so that decorations are internal (over the sidewalk) rather than external (over the street).
6. How will the street trees be maintained (observing that this could be a major undertaking)? Lewisites (the landscape architects for the project) is selecting trees that will look good, grow at an appropriate rate and to an appropriate height, and reduce required maintenance.
7. How will the City and its partners minimize disruption to Main St. merchants—and help them keep their doors open? That's the purpose of the outreach effort--to communicate throughout the process, helping merchants and others to know what's coming and develop an action plan collectively and in advance!