Safe routes upgrades set for roads

Mar. 8—EAU CLAIRE — Being labeled as safe routes to schools and parks helped influence features in plans for two major street projects the Eau Claire City Council will consider this week.

A 1 1/3-mile stretch of Riverview Drive that connects to Riverview Park and a portion of Keith Street in front of Memorial High School are both scheduled for reconstruction this year.

The two are among the largest road projects the city has planned for 2021 and will be subject to public hearings in front of the council tonight before they are voted on at Tuesday afternoon's meeting.

Since the last time the two roads had been repaved, the city has listed them as "safe routes," indicating they are due for upgrades with pedestrians and bicyclists in mind.

Given Keith Street's location alongside the school, crosswalks used by students are getting a couple of safety improvements.

Concrete projections called "bump-outs" are being added at intersections to shorten the distance pedestrians have to cross the street. More prominent crosswalk markings called "cross blocks" will be painted there too, instead of the standard pair of thin parallel lines.

Along the curb next to the school building, between the bump outs, will be parking designated for school buses on weekdays but general use for school visitors on evenings and weekends.

Another addition planned for Keith Street is bicycle lanes going both directions in front of the school because the road is also considered a bike route. However, the road narrows as it gets closer to the Brackett Avenue intersection, which prompted engineers to not include a southbound bike lane there so on-street parking could remain in front of homes along Keith Street. Eau Claire's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission wrote a memo arguing the bike lanes should span the entire six-block project by eliminating that curbside parking.

Bicycle lanes will also be part of the Riverview Drive project, which picks up where last year's road construction project left off.

During summer 2020, Riverview Drive from Welsh Court to Riverview Park's north entrance was rebuilt. The upcoming roadwork on Riverview Drive stretches from the park's north end and continues through a neighborhood, ending before the intersection with Airport Road.

Like last year's work, the project will include the addition of bicycle lanes and a paved recreational trail near the park. As the road narrows when it continues north and east through the neighborhood, the wider trail scales down to a sidewalk. The dedicated bicycle lanes also are reduced there to pavement markings telling vehicles to share the road.

To minimize disruption to homeowners' front yards, the city is putting sidewalk on one side of Riverview Drive.

"We're still providing connectivity, just not on both sides," said Leah Ness, deputy city engineer.

The road construction will result in some Riverview Park features being temporarily inaccessible, but not to the degree caused by last year's roadwork.

Whereas the 2020 construction shut off access to most of the park — including its boat launch — during several weeks of summer, this year's project will only limit access to the park's secondary parking lot on its north side and a pavilion next to it.

Other business

Also during this week's council meetings:

—L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library's site plan for its renovation and expansion project will be up for a public hearing tonight before the council votes on it Tuesday.

—UW-Eau Claire's repaving of an employee parking lot next to Hibbard Hall along Garfield Avenue will also be subject to a public hearing and council vote.

—Discussed at prior meetings but then delayed, road construction projects on Omaha Street and Kane Road are both back for consideration.

—The council will vote Tuesday on whether it will continue to hold its meetings virtually for three more months. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began last spring, the city has been holding its public meetings using the Webex online platform.