Proposed Market Street changes: good and bad

A garden spot downtown, busy with pedestrians and shoppers and still uniquely Colusa, has a nice ring to everyone's ears.

That is unless the garden has trees running down the middle of Market Street, cars whizzing by at dangerous speeds and costs that will add to the city's budget burden.

"I hope this will be a first step toward traffic calming, which can lead to downtown revitalization," City Manager Jan McClintock said in opening remarks to the Market Street/SR20 & 45 Complete Street Project workshop.

McClintock was referring to a planned vision for the downtown corridor.

Developing exactly what that vision should be was the focus of the Wednesday night workshop held at the City Hall auditorium and attended by about 25 people — mostly Market Street merchants and a few others with well-defined interests.

Four alternatives were presented by MIG, Inc. of Berkeley, a consulting firm hired by Caltrans to meet with Colusa residents, business owners and city officials to develop a Market Street plan.

The group held a public meeting in May and followed that up with private meetings with various business owners along the corridor.

That information was used to sketch out the alternatives. Presentations to the city Planning Commission and City Council will be next, followed ultimately by a final report expected to be unveiled in November.

"This is not something you will see tomorrow or next week, but (will) give the city a vision of what Market Street should look like," said Lou Hexter, the project manager for MIG.

The primary goals are to meet traffic needs, making the downtown more pedestrian friendly and to create an aesthetic environment that makes the corridor recognizably special.

MIG representatives, as well as Caltrans officials and a handful of city staff were met Wednesday with a host of strong opinions, most directed at design elements that fail to recognize the pragmatic function of the roadway — getting people, goods and, most especially, farming equipment through town.

"No trees," emphasized Cathy Yerxa, whose family farming operation routinely transports large equipment down Market Street, and there is no other alternative route.

Any plan, she said, that would include a median with trees would be a real problem — not only because of the width of the equipment, but also the height.

Paul Sankey said median trees also would cut into the visibility his car dealership relies on for passing motorists.

MIG and Caltrans officials said the purpose of the median is to help slow traffic, and for aesthetic purposes that would help define the downtown area.

Some alternatives had two narrower traffic lanes on either side of the median, another alternative had single, wider lanes on either side.

The sketches also included a back-in diagonal parking option, which caused its own debate.

"As a business person on Market Street, I would like to see more parking and slower traffic," said Pat Kittle, owner of a sporting and outdoors store. "A center median with just turn lanes (and no landscaping) would be enough for me."

The one thing everyone seemed to agree on is bicycles have no business on Market Street, primarily because of the amount of traffic and the speed at which it travels.

Everyone also agreed traffic needs to be slowed so pedestrians can get across safely. Whether that means more controlled intersections, better defined crosswalks or other alternatives was not clearly answered.

The fact Caltrans officials were there helping to promote design elements to slow traffic after the agency just upped the speed limit 5 mph was not lost on those in the crowd.

Nor was the fact Caltrans would have the final say on any element in the Market Street plan because it is a state highway — which brought the discussion back to parking.

MIG officials said the best way to get more street parking was to change from parallel parking to diagonal parking, but in this case, a plan that requires motorists to back into the spaces rather than drive in nose first.

There was a mixed reaction to the idea. Some saw instant disaster; others argued people are already backing in when parallel parking and the diagonal spaces would be easier.

"I can tell you right now, we are not going to allow front-end diagonal parking," said Ken Murray, Caltrans District 3 landscape architect, accenting the ultimate power the state agency holds.

The solution, some argued, was to better utilize the side streets around the downtown area.

In the end, a thin majority of those in attendance preferred an alternative that includes more parking and two traffic lanes in each direction. A center median with turn lanes — perhaps as simple as striping off the area as Jim White suggested — was also desirable.

But don't look for any trees in the middle of Market Street anytime soon.

Whatever is done, the city would be responsible for maintaining those improvements, and that makes any work unlikely in the immediate future, city officials made clear.