The DDA board reintroduced public discussion regarding the restoration of the two-way street system at the October 8, 2002 Streetscape Open House. It is the hope of the DDA Board that working on the two-way streets and the streetscape projects together would afford the community with the opportunity to see a new vision for Alma’s Downtown.

Before a streetscape master planning can be finalized we need to determine if the current one-way street system within the Central Business District will be maintained or converted to two-way. These two issues by their nature are intertwined and there for must be looked at jointly.

The street conversion from one-way to two-way is estimated at $140,000 in 2003 dollars. That dollar amount includes everything that needs to be done on Superior and Center Street to make all traffic in the CBD two-way. The conversion could be done over a couple of months and construction activities would not impede access to downtown businesses.

Once a decision is made in regard to the street orientation, the streetscape master plan can be finalized. The streetscape project would be much more costly then the conversion project and the Board sees it as a long-term future goal that won’t be implemented until funding is secured. However, the Board does need a plan with cost estimates in order to apply for potential grant sources.

The DDA Board has developed this informational packet to help explain why the street conversion is critical to the over all economic revitalization of downtown. Enclosed is the executive summary to the HyettPalma recommending the conversion as part of the overall plan to revitalize downtown Alma. Also included is background information on communities that have gone through or going though a conversion process and the 1998 traffic study showing that the conversion can be accomplished with some modifications to the current configuration and have little impact on those who just want to get through downtown, but will create a healthier traffic pattern for retail business and pedestrian environment.

As you may be aware, in 1997 the Alma Downtown Development Authority and the City of Alma felt that something needed to be done to revitalize the central business district. Private dollars were raised along with City dollars to hire HyettPalma, a nationally known downtown consultant group as an outside observer to develop an Economic Enhancement Strategy for downtown Alma. In the strategy, HyettPalma recommended a course of action that included a number of changes to create the most attractive business and investment environment possible. The first of these changes involved the restoration of the two-way street system with in the CBD.

Following the recommendations of HyettPlama the engineering firm of NcNamee, Porter, and Seeley was hired to look at the feasibility of converting the current three lane system to a bi-directional one lane system with a center turning lane while maintaining parallel parking. Also they were charged with looking at the traffic volumes at peak weekday hours with the current configuration and the proposed bi-directional one lane with center turning lane and the evaluation of parking throughout CBD. The study area included Pine to Wright, Downie to Center.

The traffic study found the following noteworthy results:

1.) Under existing traffic patterns, each signalized intersection along Superior Street and Center Street operate at Level of Service B. Under level of service B the average stopped delay per vehicle is 5 to 15 seconds. • After the conversion to two-way the level of service analysis shows that the busiest intersection of Superior and Wright would still operate at a level of service C, which is 15-25 second stopped delay/vehicle. So even after the conversion at the busiest intersection we still will operate above level of service D which is a stopped delay of 25 – 40 seconds per vehicle. Level of service D is considered acceptable traffic delays by traffic engineers in urban areas.

2.) There are 1250 parking spaces in the CBD, which includes parallel parking, municipal parking lots, and private parking lots. A conversion to two-way operation may result in the loss of one parking space on the south side of Superior Street at each intersection, resulting in a loss of no more then 5 parking spaces. It is also possible that the downtown would not lose any parking. For example, in Bay City they considered removing parking spaces for turning movements and found that it wasn’t needed. That is probably why the traffic study indicates that the conversion “may” result in the loss of some parking spaces.

3.) An estimated 613 parking spaces are occupied during the peak parking demand period, which includes parallel, municipal off-street, and private off-street parking lots. The study also looked at angled parking, which could be added on one side of Gratiot Street. All the other streets are too narrow to allow angle parking.

Given the above conclusions regarding the levels of service and parking in downtown, it is helpful to look at the traffic counts during the peak hours. The counts were done on Tuesday April 28, 1998 and Thursday, July 16, 1998 from 7 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 6 pm. It was found that the evening peak hours were higher then the morning peak so the analyses was performed on the evening peak hours to represent the worst-case traffic conditions.