The Alaska Department of Transportation Tuesday told the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission its current plans to upgrade the downtown leg of Egan Drive with bike lanes and pedestrian amenities.
While the plan still requires public input, in its draft for it was presented to the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission Tuesday night.
From Tenth Street to Main Street along Egan Drive DOT plans to create a transition from the higher-speed vehicle-centered portion of Egan Drive coming into the downtown area to the slower-speed pedestrian-oriented downtown area around Main Street.
Starting at Whittier Street, and leading past Willoughby Avenue to Main Street, DOT would resurface and re-crown the roadway and install 6-foot bike lanes and 8-foot sidewalks on both sides.
At Willoughby Avenue the current speed limit of 30 mph would drop to 20mph. Between Willoughby Avenue and Main Street, Egan Drive would narrow down to one lane at the Main Street light. The single lane is necessary to make room for the bike lane and larger sidewalk.
City Engineering Director Rory Watt said DOT’s Egan Drive project fits with the city’s waterfront plan.
“Taking the streetscape to the next level,” Watt said.
Watt said the city’s proposed Bridge Park with its life-sized bronze whale sculpture will draw lots of foot and vehicular traffic. He said the park would be connected by a sea walk to the cruise visitor area. He said the sea walk would probably be similar to the 16-foot wood plank path used in other sections.
The park and sea walk project is expected to be completed in stages to save money.
“It is not a cheap idea,” Watt said. “We are into millions of dollars.”
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276, or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (28)
Add commentGood move
This will transform that part of our downtown to be 'people' vs 'automobile' centric. The impacts on transportation will be minor.
Now make Franklin Street pedestrian-only (except for freight deliveries) and rein in the public inebriation there and you'll really have a special downtown.
Unfortunately, mentioning the bronze whale in the article will completely derail the discussion in this forum, and the far more important topic of traffic flow will be entirely drowned out by the shouting heads.
Another reason to avoid down
Another reason to avoid down town.
Need
to slow down the 10 and 20 yard haul trucks to 50 mile per hour and stay in the slow lane on Egan express. That would help. Downtown, useless.
Over and over and over again!
How many times are you going to visit that Whale!!
Anyone else notice the pot holes in town?
Juneau's roads are in really poor condition, but I am so glad DOT and CBJ engineering department is focused on taking the street-scape to the next level. OMG get your priorities right and fix the roads!
Head tax?
The millions that Rorie Watt mentions....where's it coming from? Anyone know? As far as having a big bike path and wide sidewalk, sounds like a cluster at the base of Main street to me. Since Juneau doesn't have a spending problem( just a funding source problem apparently) let's build a roundabout at Main and Egan, one at 10th and Egan and a pedestrian/bike overpass from the bridge to the tram??
After all, millions more are going to flock to Juneau just to view the whale right???
Contradiction
Quoting:
"The park and sea walk project is expected to be completed in stages to save money."
“It is not a cheap idea,” Watt said. “We are into millions of dollars.”
Typical.
Governments cannot operate efficiently.
Period.
Brad, you are so right. I
Brad, you are so right. I drive a big truck and half the roads practically beat me to death. My tire is about the size of half the cars in town, so those bumps must just about rip the suspension right out of them.
Also, has anyone else noticed that the street crew seems to have forgotten you can put plows on the trucks? All they are doing is spraying urea, which works great to keep ice off the road, but does not clear 6 inches of snow off the road. You just end up with 4 inches of brown slush...
The downtown project? Just
The downtown project? Just putting lipstick on the pig...
.One new aspect of Disney of the North
Lower speed limits?
during majority of year no one is around this area. Let the bicyclists pay for it instead of using federal highway construction funds that could fix real problems.
What is the purpose of the sea walk if it is not going to transfer some of the foot traffic to it and off of the existing sidewalks?
Thanks, DOT & CBJ
Great idea. Drivers actually increase speed as they pass the bridge toward town, and end up cruising past Willoughby at 40-50 mph. Slowing traffic will be a big plus for both residents and tourists. More ship passengers will be walking to the new state museum soon, and for many years to come. At least $1.5 million of state head tax was allocated for this Egan upgrade project about 5 years ago.
Great idea
I walk and run that section of narrow sidewalk all the time and wonder how safe it is to be that close to speeding traffic. This will be a big improvement in access around a heavily used part of town.
Big Dan
Drop the speed limit on all of Egan to 45, there is no reason for anyone in Juneau to have to travel any faster than that. I can't tell you how many times I have been passed on Egan by some moron driving like he or she is in the Daytona 500, only to pull up beside them at the next red light.
dan
everyones going to pass you if you're going 45, so please stay in the right lane.
If you want to clean up downtown...
The first thing you should do is move the Glory Hole to a location in the valley not surrounded by bars. It's embarrassing the number of drunken stumble bums and homeless that hang around downtown directly where nearly all tourist and foot traffic is.
Make the bums choose between being drunk and starving, or being fed and happy.
If you don't want to do that, it's time to start dressing our bums up like prospectors as part of my "Homeless Help Out" plan. Make downtown like a theme park, with drunken prospectors wandering the streets celebrating their big score, or begging for money when they strike out completely.
My plan makes about as much sense as this and that stupid GD whale.
Well, Lat is correct - that
Well, Lat is correct - that stupid whale project is the death of this article. Residents voted against it, so the city goes right ahead with the plan - thanks for asking us.
And Brad is correct about the crappy roads all over Juneau that continue to go unrepaired while we build 6 foot bike lanes and 8 foot sidewalks - that will no doubt get plowed last during winter.
Spectacular.
Single Lane at Main Street Light
I assume they will keep the turning lane at the Main Street light. There is quite a bottle neck at this location during peak travel times, especially when considering the tour busses returning to the ships at noon for the ships that depart at 1pm, combined with the lunch hour traffic. Are there alternative designs and can someone provide direction to where we can view these...CBJ website? I certainly agree that a bike lane and increased pedestrian accomodations are needed when considering access to downtown and the waterfront.
Fdubs
The Glory Hole doesn't allow drunk people into its facility. You can move the shelter, but you'll keep the chronic inebriates. There aren't many places in Juneau that aren't a busride from downtown, so if your concern is that they eat dinner before they drink I'm afraid moving TGH isn't going to change things.
Don't take my word for it. Volunteer down there a time or two and learn for yourself.
sheqelim
First, my name is spelled with a "z," not an "s," and second, I actually have volunteered at the Glory Hole.
If you couldn't tell my post was tongue in cheek, maybe you need to study humor and sarcasm more...
A separate bike/pedestrian
A separate bike/pedestrian path would be nice, not a six foot bike lane next to motor traffic. The sidewalk from the bridge down to the Coast Guard parking lot is great. Nearing the Merchant's Wharf it gets so narrow that it's insane. I fail to see how a six foot bike lane can be made from that bottleneck. If the seawalk ever gets built make it so that we can all travel without risk of being run over.
Before I get ripped for riding my bike, I have three kids and we like to take an afternoon to go on the tram. We have a bike trailer and try to avoid going where we have to ride on the shoulder next to cars and trucks whizzing by.
So many factual errors
I really do have to correct some factual errors, and then comment.
- DOT sprays SALT, not urea. They haven't used urea for at least 2 years. They went back to salt to "save money", which means that we all pay more because our cars rust out faster. If you aren't washing your car in the winter, you should be, to help slow down the rusting.
- Once again, the whale sculpture is NOT being erected with public funds! It's being done with private fund raising. And the public never voted on it either. Some folks don't want to be confused with facts, even if they have been repeated many times.
- Narrowing traffic to ONE lane outbound at the Main Street light is just simply stupid. It's almost impossible to get out of Seward Street in the summer now, especially when turning left. Left turns from Main heading toward the cruise zone will take forever.
They make it almost impossible to drop off passengers or make deliveries to the Wharf drop off area, where there is never any summer daytime parking available.
One lane will back the buses up all the way to the Red Dog. This is typical DOT thinking, where they don't consider what's happening beyond the limits of their one project. Some should force DOT planners to spend a summer driving a tour or delivery van downtown, so they understand the problem they are trying to fix. I doubt if they've done any recent traffic counts for turns at all these intersections. I certainly didn't see them counting turns last summer.
I'm a cyclist, and I'm against the bike lane between City Hall and Main Street outbound. We need that outbound right turn lane there for traffic going up Main Street.
And I love that fact that their drawings are based on old aerial photos that still show the Subport building. I guess they never heard of Google Maps.
How prophetic.
The Whale To Nowhere placed at Nowhere Park under the bridge where tourists will have to walk a mile to snap a picture and turn around and walk back on the Seawalk To Nowhere. Gotta be a Dr. Seuss book or a Beatles song in this... Somewhere.
Curmudgeon
There was a public outcry against public funds being used for the whale. The assembly was inundated with citizen voices against it, therefore the Assembly VOTED against it - unanimously. Did we, the citizens, actually "vote" - no you're right. But we were against it in such numbers that we convinced the assembly to vote against it - therefore, I call that a citizen vote against public funds being used for the bronze whale.
The city also voted in 2008 to fund $1.2 million for the landscaping and placement of the sculpture. THAT is public funding. $1.2 million of our public dollars for landscaping and placement of a sculpture that the majority of residents are against IF it is publically funded.
Some folks don't want to be confused with facts, even if they have been repeated many times.
If we were to build a bike
If we were to build a bike lane, how about from Freds to Western Auto, where you currently have to bike with dump trucks wizzing by you.
KP
I heard a few days ago that DOT is working on a plan for doing just that from the portion from Walmart to Western Auto. In fact, wasn't there a recent public meeting on that subject?
I'm with Kpawsuh
....on that one - that stretch needs a bike/walk path badly. Lots of kids in that area, a school, high density housing, etc. Also a town to the glacier bike ride would be easier/better with that last stretch covered.
You would think...
... That for the money we will have spent, we could get a whole whale. Funny, how it works. A very clearly unwanted expenditure gets railroaded through. Sure. The price of the brazen monstrosity is sold to contributors. But, what about the unrecoverable expense to taxpayers for all the city man hours to deal with it and city lands and infrastructure to accommodate it? It's like magic. Someone snaps their fingers and POOF! Out of the blue we have half a bronze whale sticking out of our street sanding material lot. Where did it come from? Is it the Whale FROM Nowhere? You know where it's from. And this humpback is humping your back pocket. Kinda makes you want to vote in additional 1% sales tax and another $25 million bond issue, doesn't it?
...that's a good idea....
...I bet the people who live and work past the tourist trap area are elated and pleased with the well thought out plan that is being put forth...well thought out improvements indeed...
Bike lane on Egan
The bike lane along the Glacier Hwy. ends at JDHS. If there is to be a bike lane on Egan downtown there first has to be some way other than the side walk or the street of getting to a bike lane on Egan. We also need a bike lane in the Lemon Creek area. Do those two things and alot more people would ride.