City staff outlines Mission Street road diet concept and seeks commission feedback

City transportation staff presented a package of design alternatives on May 20, 2025, for a proposed Mission Street road diet that would reduce most of the roadway from four travel lanes to two, add a two‑way left‑turn lane, install bike lanes, and create curbside parklets and outdoor dining spaces.

The proposal centers on converting Mission Street to a narrower cross section and performing a slurry seal and restripe rather than full reconstruction. "If we're gonna do this change to Mission Street, it should be towards the idea of doing something permanent," staff member Ted said during the presentation, describing the plan to use rubberized striping and roadway resurfacing as a long‑term demonstration that could be upgraded in a later capital project.

Commissioners and members of the public raised traffic‑flow and safety concerns at several constrained intersections, notably Fremont, Mound and Orange Grove. Staff presented traffic modeling showing modest increases in vehicle delay for several alternatives and described three alternatives for the constrained Fremont–Ferris segment: (1) a full conversion to a two‑lane…