Meeting to present ideas for reducing tourism congestion

A South Franklin Street bypass and a wider sidewalk are among the ideas up for discussion Thursday during a meeting hosted by consultants studying ways to improve safety and lessen downtown congestion during the tourist season.

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Web links

Read the draft report from the Downtown Juneau Tourism

Transportation Study.

Click on Working Paper No. 2.

Staff from Portland, Ore.-based Kittelson & Associates, a transportation and traffic planning firm, will present plans for reducing pedestrian and vehicle traffic and take comments for a final report at Thursday's meeting, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall. A brief presentation will be made about 5 p.m., followed by discussion and public comments in an open-house format.

"We were tasked to look at the existing transportation system and what could be done to make pedestrians and vehicles flow better during the busy summer months," said Sonia Hennum, project manager for Kittelson & Associates. "We're also looking at options to provide additional travel routes for pedestrians and additional transportation routes for vehicle access."

Some of the work has focused on basic changes to improve pedestrian flow, such as moving electrical power boxes, benches, newspaper-sales machines and other sidewalk obstructions. Plans also include options for routing jaywalkers to crosswalks, such as signs, flashing lights and painted pavement.

Among the larger options is a bypass on the hillside above South Franklin Street from the downtown library to near the Franklin Dock, where Princess ships tie up. The road would not route traffic onto Gastineau Avenue, a narrow, recently rebuilt neighborhood street that parallels part of South Franklin.

"The residential portion of that street ... is too narrow and the grade now wouldn't allow it to be widened to handle traffic," she said.

City Transportation Development Manager Sam Kito III, who is working with the consultants, said a bypass could be expensive.

"The comments we seem to be getting back are anything's feasible, it depends on how much you want to spend," he said.

Hennum said cost and other factors will be determined in future studies.

Another idea, proposed by a city engineer, is to move several buildings housing gift shops back from the road in a particularly congested part of South Franklin. An early estimate pegged the cost at $3 million.

Extending the existing downtown waterfront pedestrian path, known as a seawalk, also is in the draft plan. Hennum said an extension would provide visitors an alternative to the crowded roadside sidewalk between the Mount Roberts tram terminal area and the Franklin Dock.

Kito said safety and right-of-way problems exist, and all the plan may do is keep the extension on the table for future discussion.

The state Department of Transportation funded the $65,000 Downtown Juneau Tourism Transportation Study, Kito said.

Kittelson and Associates was hired in February and staff and subcontractors have observed tourist traffic, held public meetings and met with residents and business owners.

Hennum said feedback on the plan will help consultants narrow options for the final report, due by the end of September. Information in the report will be used in a larger waterfront master plan, Kito said.