The Wichita City Council has given unanimous approval to a conceptual plan for downtown streets, to improve safety and mobility and to improve access to downtown businesses.
The council heard from consultant Alyson Fletcher with the firm of Nelson/Nygaard on work that began in 2018 to create a Wichita Downtown Streets Conceptual Plan with input from a number of community meetings and workshops. She said the plan calls for changing one-way streets into two-way streets, along with streets that would go from four lanes to three.
Concepts were presented for Market and Main Street, along with Topeka, Emporia and English, with projects to be designed and carried out in the next four years. Future projects could involve Broadway and Waterman, and there will be a study of Douglas Avenue.
The Council approved $460,000 to work on designs for projects over the next four years and to begin the study of Douglas. Individual projects will be returned to the City Council for consideration and for public input.
Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson said downtown areas are becoming vibrant, active 24/7 places where people live, work and play, and cities across the nation have gone through an evolution in creating a downtown where there is better mobility and increased safety. He said the conversion from one-way to two-way streets has also helped downtown businesses to grow.
