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TRANSPORTATION Proposal calls for reducing lanes through downtown Ashland Committee ponders ways to add bike lanes, ease congestion Comment By Julie Akins for the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Julie Akins for the Tidings Posted Apr. 1, 2016 at 4:46 PM By Julie Akins for the Tidings Posted Apr. 1, 2016 at 4:46 PM » Social News The city of Ashland may tighten East Main Street through downtown, shrinking it from three lanes to two through the center of town, creating loading zones for delivery trucks and adding bike lanes. A plan developed by a committee organized through Mayor John Stromberg would include fewer lanes through the heart of downtown, 21 fewer parking spaces and new traffic signals at Oak and East Main streets and Oak and Lithia Way. A traffic signal where East Main and Lithia Way split at the north end of downtown would be removed. The Downtown Parking Management and Circulation Ad Hoc Advisory Committee is charged with finishing up a five-year transportation plan for the city. The changes are intended to ease congestion and open up bike lanes through downtown, where there currently are none. Under the proposal — which still has many hurdles to clear before it could be adopted — a third lane would be eliminated on East Main between the Plaza and Gresham Street and the bicycle lane would be continuous. Delivery trucks would no longer be allowed to park in a lane and would instead have to park in loading zones which would be carved out of current parking spaces. The delivery zone parking spots would be open to the public after 4 p.m. In addition, the traffic light at the Lithia Way-East Main split would be removed and possibly replaced with a flashing pedestrian light. The possible changes originally were reported by the city of Ashland Public Works Department and confirmed through committee Chairman David Young. The public has yet to weigh in on the proposal. When the public gets its chance to comment, parking spaces are expected to be a big part of the discussion, city officials say. To make up for the loss of 21 parking spaces, the plan calls for the city to lease additional spaces from businesses that have under-utilized parking. Dealing with parking was a big part of the process, according to Committee Chair David Young, who said it took 2½ years to form a loose agreement that has yet to be finalized. ”We will have to tweak things," said Young. "There may be certain things after the fact that we’ll discover. One option would be to consider a pilot project to make sure it works. It takes roughly 18 months.” The proposal bears some similarity to the city's last major roads project, referred to as a “road diet,” which reduced North Main Street going in and out of Ashland from four lanes to two travel lanes and a center turn lane. It also added bike lanes. The change was controversial and remained a pilot project for 18 months before becoming permanent. Young said the committee would like to see the new idea also be implemented on a temporary basis to make sure it works the way it's intended. “Traffic engineers say it will work," Young said. "There will be people who have to change habits. It takes a year for people to change habits. Then we’ll see.” The committee, made up of two planning commissioners, two transportation commissioners, a few residents and numerous downtown business people, meets again at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in the City Council chambers at 1175 East Main St. to possibly finalize the plan before sending it to the city for further consideration. Because the impact would directly affect the downtown business and tourism core, merchants make up a majority of the committee. “We decided to have the downtown businesses who were concerned come together and create the solutions.” said Stromberg. Before the changes would be made there will be public hearings and any final approval would come from the Ashland City Council. Stromberg declined to discuss the plan this week, saying, “I can’t weigh in before it comes to the council because I have to facilitate an open conversation without giving an opinion.” No dates have been set for implementation of the various parts of the plan. Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ @julieakins. By Julie Akins for the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Julie Akins for the Tidings Posted Apr. 1, 2016 at 4:46 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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