Larry Robinson/The Daily Sentinel
Mike Bennett was officially hired to be the City of Grand Junction鈥檚 city manager on Wednesday. City Council voted unanimously to authorize an employment agreement with Bennett, who was previously the City of Fruita鈥檚 city manager. Bennett鈥檚 first day on the job will be Dec. 2.
The city of Grand Junction is slated to start work this week on additional changes to the Fourth and Fifth Street pilot project, which include reducing the bollards and improving sight lines along both Fourth Street and Fifth Street.
Transportation and Engineering Director Trent Prall said cold temperatures delayed the roll-out of the new changes, which have started to be implemented this week.
鈥淥ne of the pieces from the start was to slow traffic, definitely narrowing lanes is proven to slow traffic, not just in this pilot, but in general,鈥 City Manager Mike Bennett said.
Bennett told City Council a few weeks ago the current configuration has been successful in slowing traffic, and drivers are used to the configuration enough that the plastic bollards that had been in place, which had been the source of some criticism from the public, could be removed.
The biggest change on the horizon is flipping the bike lane from being protected to being next to the road. That change, however, can鈥檛 be made until it gets warmer, possibly in late April.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 make those big changes that we recommended until it gets warmer in later April, so we鈥檒l have to ramp up that communication as we get closer to that,鈥 Bennett said. 鈥淯sually when you make a decision like that it鈥檚 not so far out.鈥
Narrowing the street made room for a bike lane where there previously hadn鈥檛 been one, Bennett said.
鈥淭here were challenges from the feedback with parallel parking, challenges with some visibility when you are separated from the bike lane, challenges at intersections,鈥 Bennett said.
Bennett said he thinks the change keeps with the project鈥檚 original goals.
鈥淭his was an opportunity as we had had enough time to evaluate it and come together with all the departments that are involved 鈥 public safety, engineering, planning 鈥 and really just looking at it and thinking, 鈥榟ow do we take the pieces of constructed feedback we鈥檝e received鈥 and is there another modification to the pilot that I think we can try to address the majority of that feedback,鈥 Bennett said. 鈥淪o keeping it one lane keeps it slower and flip-flopping the parking and the bike lane are more familiar based on the roadways that we have throughout the city, very similar to what you find on Seventh in the same corridor, and that鈥檚 what the sell was.鈥
Bennett said the change also allows the city to address the turning radius at some intersections.
鈥淭he reality is a pilot program is created to be flexible and to adjust to feedback and what we鈥檙e experiencing, so after reviewing all that this was a great opportunity to make this adjustment to address feedback we鈥檙e getting,鈥 Bennett said.
Bennett said this issue is probably the one that has been brought up the most by the public since he started at the beginning of December.
鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely been a lot of engagement on Fourth and Fifth, regular emails coming in, probably a majority to City Council, but also to city staff,鈥 Bennett said. 鈥淲e of course try to work through the departments to respond to even some of those messages to City Council. And I would say there鈥檚 positive that has come in, and there鈥檚 also a lot of confusion, and frustration and negative that鈥檚 come in as well.鈥
Bennett said the city has gotten less communication on the Fourth and Fifth Streets project since the new changes were announced.
City staff needs a minimum of three months after the changes are implemented to see how well they鈥檙e working, Bennett said. The city doesn鈥檛 currently have money budgeted to make the changes permanent.
