08-26-2017, 01:42 PM
I will be contacting the Clerk's office on Monday and registering as a delegation for this issue. I will be asking that Council endorse the original preferred concept (alternative 4). The staff report concludes that removing a lane in each direction is acceptable based on estimated vehicular volumes in 2031. Alternative 4 calls only for the removal of one vehicle lane, which is still acceptable by staff's estimate.
If reducing Weber Street to one lane in each direction is acceptable to regional staff from an engineering perspective, why are staff making a *political* decision to leave Weber Street at two lanes in each direction, based largely on negative feedback during their PICs. Staff is supposed to provide their professional opinion based on the facts and hard numbers, not based on public opinion - that's council's job. I want Regional Staff to justify why they need 4 lanes on Weber over the bridge when their own numbers say it's not warranted, especially since those 4 lanes comes at the cost of marginally improving the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.
If reducing Weber Street to one lane in each direction is acceptable to regional staff from an engineering perspective, why are staff making a *political* decision to leave Weber Street at two lanes in each direction, based largely on negative feedback during their PICs. Staff is supposed to provide their professional opinion based on the facts and hard numbers, not based on public opinion - that's council's job. I want Regional Staff to justify why they need 4 lanes on Weber over the bridge when their own numbers say it's not warranted, especially since those 4 lanes comes at the cost of marginally improving the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.