Residents and travelers who frequent North Limestone have raised a number of concerns about the area – from pedestrian safety to collisions at 7th Street to vehicle racing along the corridor.
In response, the city is looking at what’s called a “Road Diet,” which involves removing vehicle travel lanes to make space for other uses and alternate modes of travel. Among the proposed changes are reduced lane widths, adjusted signal timing, the creation of bicycle lanes, and limiting the road to one travel lane.
Councilman James Brown said the proposal is more than cosmetic.
"It's a pretty drastic change and the neighbors that brought it forward, I know they had some frustration about how long it was taking, but this is something that I really think is going to address the issues in these three blocks."Councilman James Brown
Two residents who utilize the area spoke to the plans, raising questions about the placement of bike lanes and other factors. Alan Bartley regularly bikes in the area with his kids.
"If we're looking for the future, these small changes make big changes later on," he said. "If we want people to be able to walk and bike, we need to make these changes now."
Planners don’t yet have a timeline in place, as the city is still working on allocation of funds and how to proceed with paving.
