Around 60 people attended a 90-minute meeting of the Decorah Streets Committee Tuesday night, during which options for the reconstruction of Short Street were spelled out.
Numerous people questioned the proposed plan for the road as "overkill," but the discussion remained polite and respectful.
City Engineer Lindsay Erdman told the group that an estimated 8,300 vehicles use the road each day. And while Erdman had earlier drawn up a plan that would add a center turning lane, two sidewalks and two bicycle paths, on Tuesday night he said "several variations" would be possible that wouldn't require as much property.
Much of the discussion at the meeting involved pedestrian and bicycle traffic on Short Street and whether such traffic was heavy enough to justify the original Short Street reconstruction proposal.
Trails of Winneshiek member Kirk Johnson said bicycle traffic from Trout Run Trail would increase the bike traffic on Short Street. He urged the committee to "build it (the road) to specs."
Decorah resident Robin Hanson--a frequent walker along Short Street--disagreed. She said she had rarely seen other pedestrians or bicyclists along Short Street while she was walking and concluded "bike paths and sidewalks on both sides is ridiculous."
Some in the audience lobbied for building an 8-foot wide sidewalk that would accommodate both pedestrians and bicyclists. City council member Rachel Vagts didn't like that idea, saying she had heard many requests from the public to replace a similar sidewalk along College Drive, so bicyclists would have a bike lane in the street. Erdman agreed, saying having bicyclists use the sidewalk actually created more traffic problems than having them use the road, where motorists expected them to be.
By the end of the meeting, several city council members gave indications that they would prefer a narrower new street than the one proposed by Erdman. Randy Schissel asked Erdman to draw up cost estimates for a narrower project. The original project proposed by Erdman carries a price tag of $2 to $3 million, depending on a number of design criteria.
But the Decorah City Council will be asked next Monday to authorize the beginning of the assessment process for the project. Erdman says the assessments would be "worst case scenarios," since the assessment laws allow the city to decrease the assessments, but not to increase them without starting over again.