Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

After an extended wait that lasted throughout the summer, the City of Grand Junction is preparing to begin work on the final configuration of the 4th and 5th Streets Complete Streets Pilot Project downtown, south of Gunnison Avenue.

One final vote remains before construction can proceed. City Council will decide whether to fund $160,000 in additional curb cuts needed to fit a bike lane alongside two lanes of traffic as the streets cross Main Street. The work also would require removing at least one or two historic downtown shade trees and cutting into existing landscaping to make the design feasible.

The discussion was prompted by the newly revealed costs.

During a prior meeting in June, the council voted unanimously to strike a compromise and bifurcate the corridor, converting the residential area north of Gunnison to one lane of traffic with a buffered bike lane, while reconsidering the configuration south of Gunnison. As reported by The Business Times at the time, the 7-0 vote did not include a disclosure of the curb-cut costs by Grand Junction Transportation Director Trent Prall.

“We’ve already poured a bunch of concrete. To tear all that back out and put it back just seems like a waste of money,” Council member Robert Ballard said during the Aug. 4 workshop.

Mayor Cody Kennedy concurred with Ballard.

Council member Ben Van Dyke said businesses he has spoken with are still struggling and cited the project as a source of revenue loss.

Council member Scott Beilfuss said even with the costs, he would still like to see the project move forward with the curb cuts.

Council member Jason Nguyen, who serves as the council’s liaison to the City of Grand Junction’s Urban Trails Committee, said he had concerns about the curb cuts but would like to see a bike-lane option that does not require them.

The remaining decision appears to be between two options: One, keep two lanes of traffic in each direction with a dedicated bike lane extending to Main Street, then transitioning into a “sharrow” at the intersection, where bikes share the right-hand lane with vehicles. Or two, revert entirely to the pre-pilot program configuration with a sharrow painted on the right-hand lane the whole distance, like on Main Street where there are no bike lanes. 

Ballard noted the council already made a compromise north of Gunnison Avenue and said it is time to consider the needs of downtown businesses.

Van Dyke urged the council not to delay a decision any longer, saying, “I think we need to get to the finalization of this and make a decision. We’ve gotten the input, we’ve had the pilot for a year, we’ve made some changes based on that.”

Although Kennedy, Ballard and Van Dyke raised concerns about whether delaying the final vote by two weeks could slow the construction process, Grand Junction City Manager Mike Bennett confirmed with city staff that it will not.

“There’s not any need to do this Wednesday,” he said. “That gives more time for public comment.”

Council member Laurel Cole said she’s more comfortable with giving the community enough time to be aware they can provide public comment, and she preferred not holding the vote at the regular meeting just two days after the workshop.

Council appeared to reach a consensus not to move forward with the curb-cut option, which would have added roughly $160,000 to the remaining $250,000 project cost.

The discussion also led to questions raised by council members about downtown parking, prompting Bennett to suggest revisiting the issue separately at a future meeting.

“If we feel like there’s a conversation that needs to be had about parking, specifically parking, I think that could be added to a future agenda. It just doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to this conversation about the configuration,” he said.

Council ultimately agreed to hold the final vote at the Aug. 20 regular meeting rather than on Aug. 6.

Council member Scott Beilfuss participated remotely. Council member Anna Stout was absent.