Bruce Hyman, Transportation Program Manager (L) with Bill Needleman, Waterfront Coordinator (R) at a Working Waterfront Meeting Last Year at City Hall.
A “remote” presentation will be given before the City’s Sustainability & Transportation Committee tomorrow, Wednesday, May 20th, by Bruce Hyman, Transportation Program Manager. The presentation to the Committee is for review and input prior to the finalization according to a memorandum from Hyman, dated May 15, 2020.
Almost two years ago, the city began to address the transportation infrastructure and operational issues confronting the highly congested Commercial Street to support a vibrant working waterfront in concert with growing retail, commercial and residential uses along the corridor.
The public outreach and study team identified seven key topic areas that the study addresses. They are:
marine staging, loading and access; travel time and its reality; pedestrian safety, comfort and access; general deliveries; parking and curbside management; transportation demand and management; bicyclist comfort and safety transit operations.
The study has included significant data collection and analysis during peak summer visitor periods on cruise ship and non-cruise ship days as well as the off-peak season. Data collection included intersection and roadway traffic counts, pedestrian counts at intersections and crosswalks and observation of the streets function. There were several community-wide meetings that were well-attended. The Waterfront Working Group, convened by city manager Jon Jennings, was advised of the progress of this project.
Based on the identified issues and opportunities, the project team developed a range of potential improvement strategies and measures. They were reviewed, screened and grouped into three distinct corridor improvement concepts with the following distinct areas of emphasis:
Concept 1: reduce travel times and improve travel time reliability.
Concept 2: improve the working waterfront.
Concept 3: enhance multimodal accessibility.
“Following input from the Committee tomorrow, staff will work with the consultant to finalize the Commercial Street Operations and Master Plan. Work has begun on several of the early action iems, such as changes to maximize the efficiency work at the West Commercial Street at each Street intersection……” A time table for full implementation of the plan is not proposed at this time due to the need to monitor and assess the full impacts of COVID-19,” according to the Hyman memorandum to the Committee.