Mesa staff pitch Center Street redesign: narrower lanes, separated bike lanes and a roundabout to link downtown and convention center

Eric (transportation staff) presented a high-level feasibility study on Sept. 4 for a portion of Center Street between Main Street and University Avenue, calling the corridor "the right location" to connect the convention center to downtown and proposing design changes to prioritize walking and bicycling.

Staff recommended reducing Center Street from four travel lanes to one lane in each direction between Main and University, widening sidewalks (particularly between Second and Main streets), adding curbside separated bike lanes with a four-foot buffer from parking, and lowering the speed limit to 25 mph. The proposal includes a potential roundabout at Second Street that staff said would provide a gateway feature and traffic-calming benefits while still preserving parade and large-vehicle access to the convention center; staff said the roundabout location would require additional study to ensure it could accommodate larger vehicles.

Staff said feasibility work included traffic counts and analysis; the section discussed has had peak counts "just under 10,000 vehicles a day," which staff said could be served by two lanes. Councilmembers raised several concerns: how the roundabout would affect parade routing and large-event traffic, the safety and effectiveness of delineators for cyclists, bus-stop accommodations if a travel lane is removed, and ensuring connectivity to existing bike and shared-use paths. Councilmember Spilsbury and others urged quick progress but also cautioned for thorough public outreach and engineering to address parade and event needs.

Eric told council staff wants direction to move into detailed design and public outreach and noted $7 million in the 2024 bond package allocated for streets projects could fund initial design. Council did not take a formal vote to adopt the design on Sept. 4 but provided direction to advance detailed design and outreach.