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Council approves supplemental design funding for Douglas Avenue pilot, will test protected bike lanes
Summary
The Wichita City Council approved supplemental design and implementation funding for a temporary road‑diet pilot on Douglas Avenue (Washington to Grove) with protected, curb‑adjacent bike lanes, temporary markers and a six‑month data collection period; the vote passed 6–1 after public comment and bench debate about parking configurations.
Wichita City Council voted May 5 to approve a supplemental design agreement and revised budget to implement a pilot road‑diet on Douglas Avenue from Washington to Grove. Public Works Director Paul Gunsman described the pilot as a temporary restriping exercise that retains existing diagonal and parallel parking patterns while adding curb‑adjacent, protected on‑street bike lanes protected with tubular delineators. The supplemental design agreement for pilot plans was roughly $105,000; staff estimated construction and implementation at about $300,000, plus $15,000 for artist selection tied to curb‑side art at curb extensions.
Council members and members of the District Advisory Board debated parking tradeoffs, including whether to convert some diagonal or parallel spaces to reverse‑angle (back‑in) parking to increase counted stalls. Speakers from the public urged a measured approach and better data collection; Vice Mayor Glascock urged continued public engagement including the metropolitan area planning commission and the board of county commissioners, which is hearing solar applications. Staff said the pilot will begin markings in early July, run for approximately six months to collect pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular counts, travel speed data and intersection timing impacts, and then return to council with evaluation and final concept recommendations.
Council Member Shepard moved to approve the supplemental design agreement number one and revised budget and to adopt the amending resolution; after public comment opened for the pulled consent item and bench discussion the motion passed 6–1 (Mayor voted no). The pilot funds come from a combination of initiated CIP budgets plus the supplemental request; staff explained $3.3M remains in CIP for final project phases beyond the pilot.
Staff emphasized parking will remain the same during the pilot: angle parking on the south side and parallel on the north; paid parking will not be extended east of Washington at this time. The city will collect multimodal data during the pilot and consider art and curb extensions as part of future permanent design choices.
Next steps: staff to advertise the pilot, select a contractor, install temporary delineators and markers in July, collect six months of data and return to council with findings and a final concept recommendation.
