Our View: Community Advocacy is working!
A Second Meeting on Downtown Improvements is scheduled
At the Troy City Council Meeting on May 6th, it was announced a second public meeting would be held in regard to the improvements slated to begin at the Public Square.
On May 7th, the official announcement from the City was made, as seen below:
Last month, this publication spent time discussing the concepts that were presented at the last public meeting held on April 17th between the city, LJB (the consulting engineers on the project) and downtown stakeholders.
The next day, this publication advocated for four points as the project is moving forward. Those four points that this publication advocated for included:
Giving Downtown A Break - This publication suggested that no construction should happen before June 2026.
Enhance Crosswalks with Pedestrian Safety in Mind - The slide deck presented to the public on April 17th had no renderings of what enhancements were planned to the crosswalks on the square.
Traffic Should Slow Down - The slide deck presentation showed a new traffic configuration, adding a second lane to the roundabout on the east side, increasing both traffic volume and speed.
Continuing the Conversation - Work with the community to have more and better accessible meetings.
The City’s Response
Due to the advocacy efforts of many individuals, some of those four points outlined above are actually being addressed.
First, in their announcement, the City is stating that construction would not happen before 2025. This is in marked contrast to what was posted on the project’s website, in which construction was set to begin in 2025. While this publication still believes June 2026 is preferable, waiting until January 2026 gives our downtown businesses an opportunity to catch their breath after months of a downtown street closing and years of construction on West Main Street.
Second, the statement made by the Mayor on the city’s Facebook page announcing this meeting shows some hope that pedestrian improvements will at least get garner some attention for this project.
One of the first meetings on this project was held between the City Council and KZF Design in October 2022. In the presentation by KZF Design to the council, these consultants provided different options for pedestrian enhancements. Even the lowest cost option presented by KZF showed a rendering of traffic islands and better delineated cross walks with bump-outs.
The presentation by LJB in April did talk about raised islands, but there was no attention paid to the KZF work when it came to better delineated crosswalks. As this publication has pointed out, it seemed that the presentation by LJB wasn’t so much to improve pedestrian safety as it was to improve traffic flow. The comments of the Mayor at least given an indication that the goals of improving traffic flow and improving pedestrian safety will both be addressed.
Finally, another public meeting in a more accessible place is a win for the community. While LJB was contractually obligated to hold a number of public meetings, the fact that this meeting will be held just weeks after the last presentation and is being opened up to a wider audience and in a more accessible venue gives the impression that the city is wanting more public input on this project.
In the end, what we are collectively seeing is community advocacy at work. Residents had strong opinions on the presentation that was made available to the public; it appears the city is listening.
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My nail tech and I talked about this plan last week. She works in a downtown salon. She was not impressed with the plans for the square and thought that it might make an already congested traffic situation worse. I agreed. The city needs input, discussion, and thought on these changes before making them.
Bill - Good article. You are so correct in your statements. Too often planners / consultants can mess up a good thing IMHO. The square / traffic circle works as it is intended and has for many years.