The Municipal Services Committee met 05/22/2023. One of the items they took up was a request to approve the three-party engineering design services contract for the Lawe Street reconstruction. The contract for design services by Ayres Associates Inc totaled $439,934.38 with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation covering $339,441 of that cost and the City of Appleton footing the remaining $100,493.38.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the complete discussion for download.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) mentioned that while District 2 residents were very interested and invested in the project, they also had some concerns.
- The design services contract did not mention evaluating alternative truck routes.
- The contract did mention bike lanes, but putting bike lanes on Lawe Street with have truck traffic would not work.
- A general desire to maintain the street trees.
- A desire for neighborhood signage and landscaping as well as pedestrian enhancements for some of the crosswalks.
Director of Public Works Danielle Block told the committee that the truck route analysis was something that would mainly be done by city staff. The decision as to whether or not to keep the street a truck route would have to be made early in the design process and would impact the ultimate design layout for Lawe Street.
Director Block noted that the design study report would come out in July of 2024 when the design work was 60% complete. The design report would finalize the details of things such as the width of the street and whether or not it would have bike lanes.
Although there was only one public information meeting required by Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the city was still going to hold design hearings and committee meetings related to Lawe Street and city staff would be willing to facilitate the Lawe Street design meetings. Any feedback they received during those meeting would be relayed back to the design consultant at various checkpoints when the plans were 30% complete, 60% complete, and 90% complete.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1101172&GUID=376E2B8E-B1D9-4E5C-9458-CC10FE363497
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