Draft city transportation plan uses canal banks
As
the city of Grand Junction prepares to update its plan for moving
vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians around town, one of the four
components of the plan incorporates some travel along canal banks and
natural drainage ditches.
The
Active Transportation Corridor Master Plan, which identifies miles of
routes along ditches and drainages, is intended for commuting through
the city and not necessarily recreation purposes, said Kathy Portner,
community development manager for the city.
The
proposed plan was presented to the City Council during a workshop
Monday night, but the document is headed toward rounds of reviews from
stakeholders and the public. City councilors expect to adopt a revised
version of the circulation plan sometime in 2018.
The
plan calls for the city to secure rights to easements for trails as
development occurs. If the Grand Junction Planning Commission and the
Grand Junction City Council choose to secure easements on other
privately owned properties for trail rights of way, those would be
negotiated separately, Portner said.
The
Active Transportation Corridor Master Plan is different from an Urban
Trails Master Plan that was presented in 2013, which listed numerous
canal banks as potential travel routes. That proposed plan was sharply
criticized by irrigation managers and was denied by both the Planning
Commission and the City Council.
The
proposed Active Transportation Corridor Master Plan lists routes along
canal banks and drainages only in areas where there is no better way for
multi-modal travel, Portner said.
"It's
not only that it's safer," she said. "You don't want to force a
bicyclist to go way out of their way because they're not going to do
it."
A new version of the
Circulation Plan aims to update the 2010 version that was adopted as
part of the overall Grand Junction Comprehensive Plan. That includes an
Urban Trails Master Plan adopted by the city in 2001.
The
proposed Circulation Plan also includes maps linking important city
corridors. It seeks more than 50 proposed changes for the functional
classification of roadways.
Other goals of the plan include:
■ Developing strategies to adopt a Complete Street Policy for Grand Junction and develop and adopt a policy for Mesa County.
■ Developing strategies for an integrated transportation system.
■ Providing connectivity maps to make future transportation decisions.
■ Improving connections among Grand Valley Transit, neighborhoods and attractions.
For more information on the city's proposed Circulation Plan, visit gjcity.org and search for the Dec. 4 workshop agenda packet.
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