Carbondale commission advances tactical urbanism recommendations, directs traffic counts

CARBONDALE — The Carbondale Bike & Trail Commission on an April virtual meeting approved its prior meeting minutes and spent the bulk of the session reviewing a set of tactical urbanism and low-cost traffic-calming recommendations intended for near-term testing and later referral to the town trustees.

Commission members and residents described a two-track approach: a focused set of pilot measures concentrated on a few streets to test layered techniques (striping, temporary bollards, painted bulb-outs) and a broader set of inexpensive, townwide actions (repainting crosswalks, sharrows, wayfinding) to shift how people perceive and use streets.

The subcommittee that walked Hendrick and West Main recommended bike lanes on West Main and Hendrick, and proposed linking those lanes to Sopris and then to downtown. The group also recommended testing raised crosswalks or temporary raised-feel markings, corner bulb-outs and painted intersections, and short sections of parking removal on Sopris to accommodate two-sided bike lanes while retaining parking on at least one side.

"Our first recommendation is is bike lanes at West Main and at Hendrick and and then linking over to Sopris," said Rick, a commission member who presented the walking group's findings. The commission heard residents' reports from the walk: an 11-person turnout, including local neighbors, who described Hendrick as a wide street with little regular parking but periodic event parking by Miners Park. Members said the width makes it prone to fast driving and that…