Juneau’s Docks and Harbors has plans to improve the process of getting around while in the cruise terminal area downtown.
City and Borough of Juneau Port Director Carl Uchytil spoke Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce lunch lecture series.
Uchytil said a CBJ construction project that plans to segregate different sized vehicles at the cruise terminal staging area is expected to begin fall of next year. The staging area is located near the Mt. Roberts Tram.
“If you go down to [cruise passenger] docks, right now it is kind of a free-for-all,” Uchytil said. “We have the big coaches competing with … 18-passenger buses, with privately owned vehicles.”
The idea behind the uplands redo is to separate the vehicle user groups into specific parking and turnaround areas and improve the safety and efficiency of the staging area.
“It is a vast improvement over what we have down there right now,” Uchytil said.
CBJ also plans to adjust pedestrian activity in the cruise terminal uplands staging area.
Currently the crosswalk near the Archie Van Winkle memorial is the most used in the area, Uchytil said.
“If you went down here any time during the summer when there are three ships in town, you will see people crossing, just willy-nilly,” Uchytil said.
The plan is to remove a section of sidewalk on the ocean side of Franklin Street.
“We’re trying to push people to use the sea walk,” Uchytil said. “Pedestrians coming up from South Franklin Street … will have to decide whether to come down to the tram, come down to the vendor sales booths or whether they want to cross the street.”
As part of the first phase of the Cruise Ship Terminal Staging Area project, CBJ is currently contracting a project to deck over the area behind the Mt. Roberts tram that will allow a continuous sea walk from the Franklin Dock to Marine Park.
If CBJ’s 16B cruise ship dock project, which is currently under appeal, breaks ground in 2014 as expected, customs can do away with the yellow security fencing that currently blocks pedestrians from a continuous path along the waterfront boardwalk.
The next Docks and Harbor’s board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 17.
For more information on CBJ docks and harbor projects visit www.juneau.org/harbors/hot_issues.php.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Cruise Terminal Uplands Staging Area Plan
www.juneau.org/harbors/documents/PROPOSEDDEVELOPMENTPLAN_Rev12-15-11_000...
Cruise Ship Terminal Staging Area - Phase I
Comments (16)
Add commentCruiseship area needs an
Cruiseship area needs an upgrade it gets done ASAP. Understaffed schools and public venues falling apart we have to actually VOTE to see if the city wants to spend the money. Yes. We want you as the city to take care of our buildings and stop halfassing funding themost important part of a community, schools.
Stu...
Check the funding stream for this project. If it is the industry tax that is paying for this work then it is appropriate. If it is city tax that is being appropriated, over other city priorities, then your question has validity.
seawalk
I think the seawalk is great and it'll be nice for it to go all the way down. But you'd also have to remove all the shops on the opposite side of the street to keep them from crossing "willy-nilly".
Really good point 30year.
Really good point 30year. Didn't even dawn on me, reading articles before coffee gets me Everytime :)
And the dump?I thought
And the dump?
I thought fixing the incinerator was next on the list.
Lets do a vast improvement on the incinerator first. This is over the top.
Time for a new Port Director.
All for the cruise lines, none for the locals
Lots of bus parking spaces in that plan, but only 2 taxi parking spaces for the 35-40 taxis that are on the street every day. Yep. Lots of space for cruise line busses, but no space for locally owned businesses that actually remit sales taxes to the city, unlike the cruise lines which don't pay sales tax for trips sold on the ships.
Pat gets jail for not paying sales taxes, the cruise lines get more parking spaces. Go figure.
In the good old tourist season.
Before the hoards come down the ramp it would make it easier for all to give them a 10 minute orientation letting them know:
Being our guests doesn't mean they can ignore their responsibilities.
Show some respect. This isn't Disneyland people live here.
Cross in the crosswalks after you look both ways.
Cross don't stop and gawk. The crosswalk is not a place to stop and take pictures.
The sidewalks are narrow. Don't stop and block them except in a medical emergency.
When walking just like when driving a car please check behind you every so often.
Locals have business to take care of and could be in a hurry such as rushing to the Red Dog to cover a shift on short notice. You want them there for you ready to pour in a good mood. Tripping over indecisive visitors doesn't help accomplish either of those goals.
Due to the crowed sidewalks please limit your use of cellphones and other electronic gear.
Those of you driving vehicles used by tourist need to real this not Disneyland. Don't block traffic dawdling down the street. Keep up with traffic.
How on earth...
... is removing the sidewalk going to improve conjestion? We need more pedestrian space not less! Many times during tourist season, I see people walking / running / biking in the road because the sidewalks are full. Hate to say, but I think the unintended consequence will be MORE people in the road, and an even greater chance for a terrible accident.
Sidewalk removal
I have to agree with downtowndude about the traffic. Removal of an existing sidewalk would be a big mistake. Sign it for "resident use only" but leave it there,. That should keep the tourists off of it.......
The seawalk will be nice for the tourists in the summertime but a cold and windy route when the Taku winds blow in the wintertime.
Too bad the city doesn't have as much consideration for the residents that live here the year around as they do for the tourists that are only here part of a day.
Mickeypico is right on with his comments......
Chainlink fence between crosswalks...
...works for all other livestock.
Oh, wait!
So does barbed wire and electric fence! Electric Barbed wire! What a concept!
Summertime sidewalks
Thanks to Taku2 for their very perceptive comment.
skirtkz's posts are completely out of line. Comments like this desensitise us to others. much like cartoon violence makes violence seem like harmless fun.
From my unique vantage point at Front and Seward from '82 - '93 I saw the number of visitors grow. They seemed to be increasingly tense as time went own. My theory was that they were stressed from being over crowded. There were times when I was trying to take an order and half a dozen visitors one after another would push in front of my customer to ask directions. It was frustrating and difficult to handle.
There were solutions like what to see, do and where it is orientations for the passengers and making sure they had simple easy-to-read maps. But at the time for many reasons I was burned out on being Mickey's Bagels and it was easier just to pack it in. At no time did I suggest or feel like things such as cattle prods, were appropriate to suggest even in jest.
In the mid-'80's we wore "Ask me I live here" buttons. The relatively few tourists were fun to deal with. When their numbers increased they stopped being fun and the ASK ME buttons disappeared. Why? If you wore one you wouldn't have been able to survive. There would have been lines stretching for blocks!
The tourists didn't create the situation. I have a feeling it is worst for them then us. And to suggest things like barbed wire doesn't help solve it.
Twenty years ago on the Empire's editorial page the was a column called, "Word of mouth." People could call in and say whatever they wanted and were not required to leave their name. It got very nasty and people began asking the Empire to do something. So names were required, and in a couple of months "Word of mouth" was gone. The Empire needs to come up with a system that has posters use their name, and verify that it is truly that person.
For the record the question asked the most over my 12 years at Front & Seward, by the boat people was: "HOW DO WE OR WHICH WAY BACK TO THE SHIPS?"
don't
like my driving? Stay off the sidewalk!
What about???
I'm sure the business owners on the mountain side of Franklin St. are going to be unhappy that your trying to push people to the sea walk. Then they won't even get to take advantage of the great location they have?? The tourists will be walking far from their storefronts. There goes more city sales tax???????? Who is in charge of making these decisions??? Don't they think it through first??
Cute design over common sense
This whole redesign is the idea of frustrated architect Gary Gillette, who is a nice guy but favors cute designs over common sense. People will take the shortest route, sidewalk or not. Just stand in the library level elevator lobby some day in the summer and watch the several hundred idiots per hour walking across the Red Dog traffic circle with its busses and semis. They will still walk up Franklin on the water side even if there is not a sidewalk.
I've never understood this whole business about spending your vacation shopping, but the fact is that many of these folks want to go shopping and no street design or heavy traffic will prevent it. They will continue jaywalking unless the city installs physical barriers to prevent it.
As for Mickey's ideas to provide a little talk about behavior, that would be useless. Many of them are totally thoughtless about anyone but themselves, because that's what has happened to our society over the past 30 years. Children are no longer brought up by parents who teach good manners, or taught in school about the virtues of community and working together for the common good.
I agree with Mickey's insight about tension due to overcrowding. Another source of tension is the limited time they have here. After spending so much money, they believe that they need to see as much as possible in that short time, and many of them will try to cram as many activities in as they can, instead of relaxing and enjoying their vacation.
.
Those pesky sidewalks
My dear curmudgeon,
First of please come out of the closet so the world can see you in all your glory.
As for my idea of a little talk things always change, but the tourists were overwhelmed to be here. To them it was some kind of wonderful better then Disneyland experience to walk down Front St. My daughter was born here. And at times we'd go down to the library, and OK I have to admit it, she'd drag her dotin' dad into some of the tourist traps er shops. My weird, wacky, wonderful so called sense of humor would kick in. At times I would call out what we have here is a real Alaskan. That's right she was born here. A actual 574! There eyes would get big as they stopped and gawked. You'd have thought she was the 8th wonder of the world! OK she was, is and will always be #1 for me.
So it is worth a try. Can't hurt, and if it don't work I will not jump off the JD bridge in shame.
Mickey
aka
Mickey's Bagels and more.
Does anyone know how I can add my picture to that little square at the top of my comments, left side. If you do I will tell you the story about Vern Medcalf was going to take a bullet he was sure was looking for me.