By Per Peterson
Members of the public shared their concerns about the upcoming Center St. project during an hour-and-a-half public hearing at Monday’s Tracy City Council meeting.
The project, which the City is partnering on with Lyon County since the road is considered a county highway, is scheduled to start this summer. Details of the project were shared by ISG on Monday and included the width of the street, as well as discussion on parking on the west side and a bike lane on the east side, which would tie Center into the City’s city-wide bike plan.
“The current roadway varies,” said Kyle Renneke of ISG, the engineering firm working with the city on its infrastructure project. “There are a couple blocks where it might be 33 feet wide; a lot of it is 36 feet wide. The proposal right now is 37 — most of the road is in that 36- to 37-foot wide range right now, so it will be similar, maybe just a hair wider. It would still include the parking on the west side of the street in general; there would be a bike lane on the east side. Sidewalks will go back where they are today, plus a couple extra blocks of sidewalk to make the connection, all the way from South St. to the north.”
The entire project will extend from Craig Ave. all the way to 50 feet south of South St., as well as Union St. from Center to 1st St. East.
Work beneath the streets and sidewalks, Renneke said, is one of the main focuses of the project and addressing structural deficiencies with the sanitary sewer and fixing inflow and infiltration issues. Renneke said there are blocks that don’t include a watermain, and in some areas, the watermain is 4 inches in diameter, compared to the typical 8-inch pipe, which is standard for fire service. Increasing the pipe size, he said, would ideally provide improved water service to everyone within the scope of the project.
But much of the discussion Monday focused on the street itself and how potential changes will affect homeowners in that area, including 2nd St., which intersects with Center at an angle a block south of Craig Ave. Homeowner Joe Beierman expressed his concerns about parking in front of his home at the intersection of 2nd and Center streets, as did Carla VanDeWiele, who lives on Center St.
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