City staff recommend reconfiguring Fourth and Fifth Street pilot to diagonal parking and single travel lane; council gives tentative support

City staff presented detailed findings from the Fourth and Fifth Street downtown pilot and recommended modifying the temporary configuration by moving parking adjacent to the travel lane and placing the bike lane between parked cars and the curb (a layout similar to portions of Seventh Street). The presentation and council discussion took place Jan. 13, 2025.

Staff described why the modification is proposed: the current separated bike lane has produced visibility issues at unsignalized intersections, generated strong public debate and led some riders and motorists to experience conflicts. Staff said average speeds on the corridors have dropped since the pilot but that interaction points (for example, right‑turn conflicts and diagonal‑parking backing movements) require design adjustments. Mike (staff presenter) summarized the recommendation as a "flip‑flop" of the bike lane and parking to a configuration residents see on other local streets, and staff emphasized this would be a modification of the pilot rather than a final permanent design.

Data presented: staff reported a roughly 5‑mile‑per‑hour reduction in average speeds north of Grand Avenue (from about 37 mph down by about 5 mph toward the posted limit) and reductions in the commercial corridor south of Grand (examples cited: prior averages around 29–32 mph reduced to the low-to-mid 20s). Crash data shown by staff compared an eight‑year pre‑project period (2016–2023) to calendar year 2024: Fourth Street averaged about 2.7 crashes per month in the earlier period; Fifth Street about 2.5 per month. Staff reported 12 crashes in the 2024 calendar year in the project area (pre‑project baseline versus post‑implementation periods were shown in staff materials) and said three of the post‑project crashes involved bicycles or scooters and resulted in injury; two of those were attributable to project changes involving lane drop/turning interactions.

Staff reviewed other metrics and community signals: anonymized mobile‑device visitation estimates showed a 3.4% increase in downtown visitors in 2024 compared with 2023 and a 0.42% increase in total visits on sampled comparison dates; downtown gift‑card sales were up 23% in 2024 versus 2023 per staff. Business owners and residents submitted roughly 700 comments on the city engagement site during the pilot; staff reported a mix of positive and negative feedback and said the pilot had heightened emotions among stakeholders.

Staff recommended several near‑term actions if council agreed: (1) convert the configuration to the parking‑outside, bike‑lane‑inside layout when pavement and temperature conditions allow (staff indicated painting and striping work likely in late April due to curing/adhesion concerns in colder months); (2) remove or reduce some vertical delineators where appropriate and replace with lower‑profile elements such as curb stops in selected locations; (3) continue to collect and publish data on speeds, volumes and crashes; and (4) implement a public messaging campaign to explain the modifications and maintain channels for feedback while the pilot continues.

Council comments focused on tradeoffs among speed reduction, cyclist safety and business access. Several council members said they favor additional onboarding time for newly elected members and more measured data collection before permanent changes. Concerns were raised about visibility at specific intersections (Fourth/Fifth & Colorado) and about whether reestablishing diagonal parking would restore pre‑existing sight‑distance problems; staff said targeted parking removals at those intersections had already improved sight lines in some locations and that further geometric adjustments could be made.

No final permanent decision was made at the workshop. Multiple council members expressed general support for staff moving ahead with the recommended pilot modification and the proposed timeline for re‑striping in warmer weather, subject to staff follow‑up on signal timing, enforcement coordination and specific intersection sight‑distance fixes. Staff said they would continue monitoring speeds, crashes and downtown economic indicators and return with additional data after the next pilot phase.