MPO seeking public comment on Converse Avenue improvement plan
Mar. 6—CHEYENNE — The Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization is currently in the early planning stages for road work along the Converse Avenue corridor, north from Dell Range Boulevard.
They're considering ideas like extending Carlson Street from Powderhouse Road to Converse and installing traffic lights at intersections that need it.
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The MPO held its first public meeting on the project Wednesday evening to gauge what residents feel is needed, and folks wishing to make public comments will have another opportunity to provide input on the plan at another public meeting in May, though the date is not set yet. Updates can be found on the MPO website and Facebook page.
Residents can also provide their input on the MPO's website at plancheyenne.org/project/converse-avenue-project/, which is highly encouraged by MPO staff. MPO Senior Planner Jillian Harris said they want to know how residents feel about Converse's functionality right now, and what their wish list is for the future.
"We are here to provide a project that serves the city of Cheyenne. Obviously, you know this corridor better than anyone else because you use it every day," Nathan Silberhorn of Ayres and Associates said at the meeting.
The goals of the project are to: identify the roadway cross section; enhance pedestrian and bicycle mobility and safety, including crossings of Converse Avenue and connections to other facilities; improve intersection design and evaluate the need for traffic signals, and minimize traffic conflicts through corridor access management.
As Silberhorn outlined, some of the issues the project hopes to solve are the connectivity for pedestrians between the retail offerings west of Converse and the residential developments to the east. On the flip side of that, kids who live west of Converse and go to Anderson Elementary on the east side have no sidewalks or crossings to get to school.
Participants were asked to provide input on which road could be extended to best connect the different areas and distribute the traffic — Plainview Road, Patterson Avenue or Apache Street. The MPO is also seeking input on where future traffic signals might be necessary on the corridor.
Additionally, a new Laramie County School District 1 fifth- and sixth-grade school will be built east of the intersection of Carlson and Powderhouse, and that area is also expected to see significant growth in residential developments. The plan includes extending Carlson from Powderhouse to Converse to increase connectivity between the two areas.
At the meeting in May, two proposed plans for changes to the Converse Avenue roadway will be presented. Input on these topics will be considered during the design process for the project.
Margaret Austin is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's local government reporter. She can be reached at maustin@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3152. Follow her on Twitter at @MargaretMAustin.
