[ad_1]
The Aspen City Council endorsed downtown pedestrian and intersection improvements at the site of the recently completed Galena Cooper Living Lab experiment during a work session Tuesday.
City staff presented the results of Living Lab’s community engagement process and also asked the council to provide guidance for future safety improvements in the downtown area. Staff presented comments and thoughts from visitors who stayed in Aspen between June and October, as well as focus groups, local businesses, callers and individuals who corresponded with the city via email.
“The Galena Cooper Living Lab was a test case to test measures to improve safety in the Galena Corridor. It was a way to test these concepts in a way without installing these permanent improvements,” said City Engineer Trish Aragon. “We heard a lot from the community during the lab, and now is the time to present the data that was collected.”
The city reported 198 comments recorded from in-person interviews and online comments, where 56.5% of cyclists surveyed said they thought the Living Lab had a negative impact on safety and mobility, and 9.9% said they thought it had positive impact. Likewise, 75.6% of drivers and 67.6% of pedestrians had negative feedback about the lab. These respondents cited parking difficulties, lack of circulation improvements, and negative interactions with other passengers as reasons they received negative feedback.
The report also showed that the number of daily negative interactions between pedestrians and drivers was highest around the time the lab was installed in late June and early July, but decreased by the time construction began on the Castle Creek Bridge in the beginning of September. Kathleen Vanatowicz, a PR Studio consultant, recommended that the city regularly appoint a downtown employee to communicate with the public about safety and mobility. She also said more safety training is needed in Aspen.
“I think having someone here on a regular basis will help with other programs in the future,” she said.
Overall, staff found a need for more space for pedestrians and that the number of negative interactions between drivers and pedestrians decreased significantly with the installation of the lab. Staff also found that there was no relationship between the number of bicycles and the total number of negative interactions, but that the majority of negative interactions occurred between drivers and pedestrians.
The data showed that intersection safety improved with the lab, and the intersection changes improved bicyclist behavior — and improved it beyond what was found at the Monarch Street and Hopkins Avenue control site. Staff also found that in 2022 there were fewer traffic accidents reported in the Living Lab blocks than in 2020 or 2021 during the summer months. Ultimately, Aragon said, the city found the lab improved safety.
Council supported changes to the core to improve pedestrian safety. Council members Rachel Richards and Ward Hauenstein supported widening Galena’s sidewalks to provide more outdoor seating and walking space. Mayor Torre said he would prefer that discussion later.
“When you see people going out in the bike lane, there’s a reason, it’s because they’re passing slow people in front of them or there’s people,” Richards said. “We widened the sidewalks around the Wheeler block decades ago. This allowed enough room for some outdoor seating or tables and such, even next to Wheeler’s opera house.
Hauenstein also said he would like to see a permanent stop sign installed at Galena and Hyman.
The council also discussed turning movements at the intersection of Galena Street and Hyman Avenue and whether to keep the street one-way at Hyman or return to pre-lab conditions. After being directed by the council to install a stop sign at the Galena intersection, officials are in the process of doing that installation, Aragon said.
Torre maintained his support for two-way traffic along Hyman, while Richards and Hauenstein said they were leaning toward one-way flow. Council members Skippy Messirow and John Doyle said they would go either way as long as pedestrian improvements are made on Hyman.
“I continue to think this has to be a two-way street because of the ability to get out of that corridor,” Torre said. “If there are improvements that you come back with that delineate this as more pedestrian-friendly and safer for pedestrians, then two-way makes sense for other reasons. Without it, probably not. And then the other caveat would be if it impedes any future ability to expand sidewalks in some of those areas, then again, it’s probably not favorable.
Staff will return to council at a later date to discuss further changes to the Living Lab area.
[ad_2]
Source link