(Lander, WY) – The Lander City Council heard a presentation last week on the final designs for the planned Popo Agie River Park Pathway.
The proposed path will head north from the northeast corner of Main and First streets, then turn east on Washakie Street to tie in with a path that already exists along the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, consultant Kasey Jones told the city council last week.
The new path will “generally follow that existing path along the river” until it hits Eugene Street, he said; from there, the new path will continue west along Eugene Street to Railroad Street, then go north on Railroad Street until it hits Poor Farm Road.
Path types
Jones outlined several different “types of path” that will be installed along the route.
For example, he said the portion of the pathway that runs parallel to city streets will utilize existing sidewalks, which will be widened to five feet to meet ADA requirements and make it “a much more inviting place for people to walk.”
“In those areas, bicycles will be out on the street like they are now,” he noted.
Along the river, Jones said the plan calls for a 10-foot-wide asphalt path that bicyclists and pedestrians can share – and the “alternate” path that “cuts across the grass behind the Chamber and gives a more direct route up to Washakie Street” will be asphalt as well.
On Eugene and Railroad streets, however, Jones said the plan doesn’t envision any “major improvements” to the existing sidewalks or gravel surfacing.
He explained that “we’re doing a little bit less” in those areas because “long-term we hope this path follows the river more.”
For now, though, he said “there’s a lot of questions” about “what’s going to happen (with) the flood mitigation” plan for the river, so “it would be premature to try and design something – and even worse, to build something – that may have to be torn out later. “
“In my view it’s better to do something that’s inexpensive by going down Eugene and up Railroad … so at least for now (we have) a way of connecting the city’s path system,” Jones said.
He added that “the north third of Railroad Street is just two-track road, so we’re going to go in with a 10-foot-wide (gravel) path up there as well.”
Main Street crossing
The design project for the Popo Agie River Parkway also included a study of potential pedestrian crossing options at Main and First streets.
The plan already includes a widened sidewalk along North First, Jones noted, with a “bump out” at First and Main that “provides protection to parked vehicles there,” allows for “a few additional parking spaces,” “narrows North First Street so crossing is safer for pedestrians,” and “essentially makes this a no semi-truck route.”
Councilmember John Larsen wondered whether prohibiting semis on North First would “hinder truck traffic” since “the larger vehicles still need to get to the north side of town,” but Jones responded that “we would have to lose the bump-out to maintain truck traffic, and then we have the challenge of … facilitating things like bicycles.”
“We’re really trying to focus on the pathway system,” Jones said. “That becomes … easier to do if we can eliminate those semis. (If) we could eliminate those larger vehicles, that would be in everybody’s best interest.”
Councilmember Julia Stuble agreed that it would be a good idea to establish a “non-truck route” on North First due to “the amount of pedestrian traffic” in that area.
“It strikes me as not a safe place for truck traffic,” she said. “When you look at the design of Second Street, (that) makes more sense … for truck traffic.”
For pedestrians looking to cross Main Street at North First, Jones outlined several alternatives, including a crosswalk with a median and signs, a crosswalk with “a rapid flashing beacon” with yellow lights that can be “user-initiated to warn traffic” that a pedestrian is in the roadway, or a similar crosswalk design with “large red flashing lights” instead of yellow beacons.
However, the Wyoming Department of Transportation is “opposed to any at-grade crossing” at First and Main, Jones said, so the agency “would only support” installing pedestrian infrastructure there that allows people to “cross at a different elevation than the road.”
“That means … a bridge or an underpass,” Jones said. “So … there’s not much we can do until it becomes feasible to construct something (like that).”
A pedestrian overpass isn’t feasible at Main and First because it wouldn’t meet ADA requirements, he explained.
WYDOT does have a potential flood mitigation plan that would change the “configuration” of the Main Street bridge just east of North First, making it possible to “allow a pathway” to run underneath the bridge, Assistant Mayor RaJean Strube Fossen said – but she noted that pedestrian access to the path would only be “seasonal” because “that path would probably be flooded” when water levels are higher.
The Popo Agie River Park Pathway study was funded through a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant, Strube Fossen said, and while the award did not include money for construction, the report can now be used “for future designs, or future grants, or future discussions with WYDOT.”
For more information call the City of Lander at (307) 332-2870.