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Downtown transportation plan pushes more protected bike lanes, pedestrian phases
Summary
Consultants presented a draft Downtown Transportation Plan that prioritizes multimodal safety and includes short-term measures (0–3 years) such as pedestrian phases at Church & Main, mid-block crossings, and repurposing a left-turn lane on Church Street; council discussed moving some items sooner and the limits posed by SCDOT ownership.
City staff and consultants presented a draft Spartanburg Downtown Transportation Plan and detailed short-, mid- and long-term street treatments intended to improve safety for people walking and biking.
Ernie Baumann of Tool Design said the study area is bounded by Daniel Morgan Avenue (west/north), Henry Street (south) and Pine Street (east) and that the plan is guided by five principles focused on safety and multimodal mobility. "Our technical analyses and public outreach found that, intersections in the downtown currently perform well for motorists," Baumann said, while adding that the plan recommends changes to strengthen pedestrian and bicycle safety. The draft includes short-term actions the team says can be implemented in 0–3 years, midterm work (3–7 years) and long-term strategies (8–15 years).
Site-specific short-term items described by consultants include adding a dedicated pedestrian phase at Church and Main, converting a northbound left-turn lane on Church into a planted median with a pedestrian refuge, converting Dunbar Street to stop control with right-turn-only movements onto Church Street, and adding raised mid-block crossings and a 3-way stop at Liberty and Main. Baumann also noted some changes will require coordination with the state: he said staff had been working with SCDOT and that the agency "has been very cooperative and have signed off on some of those" proposals, but other moves will require further work with SCDOT because of state ownership of certain streets.
Councilmembers pressed staff in a detailed Q&A about sequencing and safety, urging that some treatments already in place (for example, the existing Converse Street bike lane) be refined sooner and asking whether bollards or other delineators could be added to reduce vehicle intrusion into bike lanes. Planning staff said some items are constrained by the required order of operations (for example, changes at Dunbar should occur before other upstream changes) but that if funding or adjacent projects arise, certain midterm items could advance sooner.
The plan is in draft-final form and councilmembers were given several weeks to review the document; consultants said they will return to the August 24 meeting for additional discussion as needed.
