City of Decorah is eyeing Claiborne Drive improvements

The City of Decorah's engineering consultant, Lindsay Erdman of Erdman Engineering, is proposing a plan for the streets in front of Decorah High School that would turn State Street and Claiborne Drive into a T intersection.  Erdman has been meeting with Decorah School District officials to discuss traffic changes in the high school area.

Decorah Police Chief Bill Nixon is excited about the proposed changes.  "This will go a long way to making this area safer," Nixon told Decorah City Council members on Monday night.  "There's too much happening (there)," Nixon told the city council members.  He's especially hoping to find some way to ease the congestion caused by parked cars waiting at 3:00 p.m. to pick up their kids from John Cline School.

Decorah City Council member Carolyn Corbin said she's interested in making sure there are adequate sidewalks in the area to encourage kids to walk to school.  "It's a tricky location to do well," said Corbin. City council member Gary Rustad says city planners have always looked towards more bike lanes and sidewalks when planning projects the last several years.