Bolivar Street bike lanes dropped

Commission rescinds previous vote after neighbors come out in opposition

A plan for new bike lanes on Bolivar Street has been rescinded after several residents and business owners objected to the loss of parking.

At the Jefferson City Transportation and Traffic Commission meeting Wednesday, commissioners rescinded a vote taken in February to remove parking on the east side of the 200 and 300 blocks of Bolivar Street to help make room for planned bike lanes along the sides of the street. City Engineer David Bange had said the effort was part of a regional wayfinding plan, which seeks to help visitors and residents locate districts, landmarks and other venues in town through signs and informational kiosks.

Last year, the city was awarded $214,000 in grant funds from the Transportation Alternatives Program to implement a wayfinding plan, "including fabrication and installation of wayfinding signage for downtown Jefferson City and from the Katy Trail leading into Jefferson City."

The total cost of the project is $267,500, and the grant funds cover 80 percent. The majority of the 20 percent local match has been provided by several groups, including Capital Region Medical Center, the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Discover Jefferson City Foundation, Downtown Jefferson City, the East Side Business Association, the Historic City of Jefferson and the parking division of the city.

Part of the wayfinding project will install signage from the Katy Trail to the Clay Street bike plaza and along Bolivar Street, where the new bike lanes were planned, to the Wears Creek Greenway trail head on Dunklin Street.

Kiosks also will be placed in North Jefferson City and at the Clay Street bike plaza that will include information on hotels and restaurants in the area.

The original plan was to eliminate the parking on one side of the two blocks of Bolivar Street, which would have eliminated 17 parking spaces to accommodate the two 5-foot-wide bike lanes.

Because the commission voted to recommend the parking removal last month, it was sent to the full City Council. But at Monday's City Council meeting, 4th Ward Councilman Carlos Graham, who also serves as the council liaison to the Transportation and Traffic Commission, said he was withdrawing the bill to send it back to the commission because of an error in notifying residents.

Graham said the letter that went to residents to notify them of the February meeting listed the wrong date, confusing some who would have liked to attend.

At Wednesday's meeting, seven residents and business owners attended to speak in opposition to the parking removal, saying the move would punish those who lived and worked on those blocks.

The commission then voted unanimously to rescind its earlier vote.

After the meeting, Bange said staff would have to evaluate the best alternatives before moving forward but noted without the planned bike lanes for the 200 and 300 blocks of Bolivar Street, the city would not be able to apply for grant funding to pay for striping needs, and other sections of Bolivar Street - from McCarty Street to Missouri Boulevard - would have to be striped using city funds.

"I'm unsure of how we'll handle the 200 and 300 blocks of Bolivar Street," Bange said.