City Engineer Tim Porter and council members discussed plans for downtown at length during a recent workshop.  Chad Engbrock

Council hit a bump in the road with plans to reconfigure the historic downtown area. 

City Engineer Tim Porter led a work session on phase one of the proposed downtown project to reconfigure lanes, parking and sidewalks.

Following council’s approval of a traffic study in 2022, the focus has been on converting Ballard Avenue and Birmingham Street from two-way to one-way streets with parallel parking on both sides and wider sidewalks. 

“What I’d really like to talk to you about tonight is an alternative to that,” Tim Porter said, at the Tuesday, June 25 council meeting. 

The original plan includes one-way lanes that are not wide enough for International Fire Code, said Porter. 

For Birmingham Street, Tim Porter presented the options of one travel lane with a bike lane and parallel parking on the north side or two travel lanes moving in one direction. He preferred the second option because it would include two narrow 12-foot lanes that would slow traffic and allow drivers to get around stopped vehicles. 

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