Good for traffic, bad for pedestrians

The consultant who drafted the city’s

Downtown Master Plan sharply criticized an early design for the

Second Street improvement project slated for construction starting

this fall.

The project calls for new Baker,

Central and Spokane avenue intersections, as well as replacing

underground utilities and rebuilding the roadway. A $3.5 million

federal TIGER grant is expected to cover the costs, but the project

already shows signs of being over budget.

Portland-based urban planner George

Crandall e-mailed Whitefish public works director John Wilson and

members of the Heart of Whitefish downtown merchants association

about his concerns on April 4.

“It is obvious to me that there has

been some confusion about the design priorities for downtown

Whitefish,” he said.

Crandall noted three problems with the

Baker and Spokane avenue intersections in the latest design —

longer pedestrian-crossing distances, larger turning radii that

created “out-of-direction pedestrian travel,” and unsafe pedestrian

conditions.

“The result is pedestrian-hostile

intersections at Baker and Spokane and an erosion of the downtown

economy,” he said.

The city had three choices, Crandall

said — accept the design, build only the Central and Second

intersection, which has bulbouts and raised pedestrian-crossings

like other intersections on Central Avenue, or “take a moment to

explore a fix.”

Delaying a decision on the project

design is one of Wilson’s biggest concerns. The design work is on

an accelerated schedule. The Montana Department of Transportation

supports the accelerated schedule and has shown flexibility in

approving pedestrian-friendly ideas on its highway.

Responding to Crandall and the Heart of

Whitefish, Wilson noted that the larger intersections are not just

for trucks but also for “increasing traffic capacity and relieving

traffic congestion.”

“I believe most people agree with the

goal to relieve congestion,” Wilson said, adding that “we’ve added

left-turn lanes at every leg of those intersections.”

As for Crandall’s suggestion that the

Baker and Spokane intersections be left as they are today, Wilson

said he appreciated “the rhetorical point,” but “a literal

interpretation overlooks our problems with congestion at these

intersections.

Wilson told the Whitefish City Council

on April 4 that MDT had accepted smaller turning radii on Baker but

modeled the Spokane intersection for a “full 18-wheeler” because

the south and west legs are part of U.S. Highway 93.

Wilson also said the project could be

about $283,000 over budget at the current 30-40 percent design

phase. That included a 10 percent contingency and $85,000 for

additional sewer work under City Hall that would enable future use

of the site.

He provided the council with seven

options that could reduce the cost of the project by about

$237,000, including roadway, concrete crosswalks, decorative

lighting, green traffic signal poles, landscaping, irrigation and

$62,900 for street furniture that matches what’s been used

elsewhere downtown.

Wilson also noted that additional

funding sources could be found to supplement the TIGER grant,

including tax-increment financing (TIF) money and resort tax

funds.

Whitefish senior project engineer Karin

Hilding described the loss of parking spaces along Second Street,

noting that MDT “has bent a lot of their rules already on parking.”

She also pointed out that the sidewalks along Second Street will

not be widened.

Five Heart of Whitefish members

addressed the council. Ian Collins pointed out that the $3.5

million TIGER grant provided a unique opportunity for Whitefish to

complete the Downtown Master Plan, but he questioned design changes

for 18-wheelers that account for only 1 percent of the traffic.

Rhonda Fitzgerald warned that each lost

parking space represented $285,000 a year in spending at downtown

businesses.

The council unanimously approved

spending up to $2,000 to bring Crandall to Whitefish for a workshop

on the project. The Heart of Whitefish agreed to pay half of

Crandall’s travel costs. The council also reached a consensus on

using TIF money for decorative street lights, just like they had

for the U.S. 93 West project from Lupfer to Karrow avenues, and to

pay for the sewer work under City Hall.

The council, however, rejected the

Heart of Whitefish’s suggestion that the City Hall awnings be taken

down. Wilson had noted that the current City Hall “isn’t much to

look at” and “would look even worse with the canopy removed.”