Eagle Holds Design Workshops to Get Public Opinion on Grand Avenue Plan

The City of Eagle will hold two more design workshops on Tuesday afternoon to seek public input on the Grand Avenue Corridor Plan, which aims to make the downtown stretch of US Highway 6 known. under the name of Grand Avenue, safer and more accessible for drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

The two events are far from the first or last opportunity for residents of Eagle to weigh in on the plan, said Eagle deputy general manager Bill Shrum. The city has created a website Grand Avenue Corridor Plan with several links where locals can share their thoughts, ideas and feelings.

“At the end of the day, the design team and all of us in town are only as good as the feedback we get from the public,” said Shrum. “We recognize that there are a whole bunch of different concerns that we have out there on Grand Avenue and we’re not necessarily the experts on the site and the way people use it.”

Tuesday’s events are the conclusion of a week-long effort to gather public feedback on various aspects of the project through audits, discussions and activities, said Pedro Campos and Samantha Thomas-Lorenz, two members of the the project design team.

A long-term global project like the Grand Avenue Corridor project is something that really affects everyone in the community, Campos said.

“When people can attend these workshops and sessions, they can tell us precisely how they are using Grand Avenue and we can extrapolate from that design solutions to try to improve their quality of life,” said Shrum. .

Tuesday will begin with a walk-in design studio from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in McDowell Engineering Suite 202, located at 241 Broadway Street in Eagle. The public will have the opportunity to “stop and see the work in progress” and ask questions as engineers begin to incorporate their comments on previous events, Thomas-Lorenz said.

Later today, a closing session will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Eagle Town Hall, located at 200 Broadway Street in Eagle, during which planners will provide an overview of public commentary. collected and allow residents to add whatever they feel. was missed, she said.

The roughly 30 residents who attended the first design event on Friday expressed concern that the area is not safe for drivers as well as cyclists and other pedestrians, Thomas-Lorenz said. One priority they expressed for the project was the continuation of the ecological trail, which would fill the void in the trails that mainly exist along Grand Avenue.

Other priorities expressed were to create better access to downtown businesses for cyclists and pedestrians on Grand Avenue, improve traffic flow and provide more parking.

“I would say fairly unanimously that it is recognized that today Grand Avenue is not consistent in its appeal, it is not sure … and then, of course, the concerns about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in because of the speeds and passage locations or, in many cases, the lack of it, ”said Thomas-Lorenz.

One proposed traffic improvement is the placement of roundabouts at fifth and third streets to reduce the number of long and dangerous left turns along the road, she said.

Friday’s public conversation also touched on various areas where Grand Avenue could potentially take over on-street parking.

Also last week, a bicycle audit was held to test what it is like to cycle through Grand Avenue and what safety issues need to be addressed, Campos said. The event drew 17 participants who cycled in two groups down the hall, identifying various “security and connectivity” challenges and other sightings along the way, he said.

Representatives of the Walking Mountains Science Center’s Climate Action Collaboration Group also attended the audit of the bike to see how the project fits into the valley’s broader climate action goals, Campos said. Six similar events were organized with participants walking the area on foot.

Project planners also engaged with community stakeholders over the past week, Thomas-Lorenz said. They hosted an economic roundtable with the Eagle Downtown Development Authority, the Eagle Chamber of Commerce, and the city’s Economic Vitality Committee, where they discussed design strategies and different ways to fund them.

They also met with representatives from the Eagle Police Department and the Grand Eagle Fire Protection District, who briefed them on the safety realities associated with the project and shared their needs, Thomas-Lorenz said.

Finally, the team met with landowners in the corridor who will be affected by various phases of the plan to get their views on access, parking and preserving the character of the area, she said.

“The desire for the future (is) to make Grand Avenue a stronger gateway for Eagle which not only distinguishes the character of Eagle in the sense of his arrival in the city, but then connects him, very important , in the heart of the city, especially on Broadway. , said Thomas-Lorenz.

Email Kelli Duncan at kduncan@vaildaily.com