City of Beatrice, consultant hold second open house on proposed Court Street plan

BEATRICE – The City of Beatrice and a consulting firm the city is working with, held a second open house Monday about the Court Street Corridor project….a move to make a more pedestrian-friendly business district.

The public could provide suggestions to the city and Olsson Studio, about what might work to accomplish that goal.

Austin Vachal, a Landscape Architect with Olsson Studio….says the company is borrowing partly on a study done in 2011 of the downtown area…..taking some elements from that plan.

"There was a very preliminary look at the redesign of Court Street as a part of that project, and also the relocation of the highway. So, we've kind of taken that and continued it....so now we have a more refined highway reroute layout. We've taken a lot of the ideas that were a part of that 2011 study....the overall street layout, keeping the curbs the same way, adding additional space for angled parking on the north side of the street, with the extra space that you get from moving the third lane of traffic. We thought those were fantastic ideas....use the same curb-to-curb width...give yourself some extra parking as well as give yourself some extra pedestrian space."

The locations at which truck traffic would be routed one block south to Market Street, are at Second Street and Eighth Street.  Many of the design concepts shown on display boards at the Beatrice Municipal Auditorium used green space to provide examples of how to soften up a downtown and create a safer environment.

"With a lot of the bumpouts or pedestrian nodes that we can accomplish by moving the highway...we can get more space and it kind of narrows up the roadway. It causes what we like to call friction...vertical green components and the narrow roadway, to kind of create a safer environment for pedestrians. So, it slows down traffic, creates a lot of eye contact at intersections where now, all of a sudden, there's more activity. As a driver, you're more aware and so you stop and you make the eye contact with people out on the street, rather than just relying on signalized intersections, completely. It does a lot for the aesthetics and the safety."

Vachal says his firm will compile the information from the public received at the open house Monday, review and refine the preliminary work into an updated master plan for the corridor….with recommendations going to the Beatrice Mayor and City Council later this summer.  The company uses a team of specialists to work on the project, including engineers, landscape architects and community engagement specialists.

The open house was four p.m. to six p.m. Monday, at the Beatrice Municipal Auditorium.