Letter: Common Council’s road diet plan will kill business
To the Editor-
The council is creating a bottleneck that will kill business in Stevens Point.
The bicycle lanes that take away six feet or more of roadway beginning at the roundabout at Sentry Insurance and through Whiting, the raised median strips with trees and limited places to turn into businesses, the roundabout that will increase accidents at that intersection like it did at the one by Sentry — and create a dangerous crossing of the 600 or more students that use that intersection daily.
I live on Main Street and more bicyclists travel on both sides of the street on sidewalks than on the one-way bicycle lane and I rarely see a bicyclist on Division or Church Street.
Our mayor has fought valiantly to keep the courthouse downtown and the County Board has agreed to do so. If the Common Council continues the idealistic plan that turns the only four-lane highway, (also Alternate I-39) into a two-lane roadway with trees in the middle and bike lanes on both sides it will make it difficult for people coming into town from the north on I-39 and coming from the four-lane highway from Plover and Whiting to access business places and they may decide to skip the hassle and shop elsewhere.
If this happens, it will kill the downtown and perhaps affect keeping the courthouse downtown.
These alderpersons are supporting the one-lane roundabout at Fourth and Division and would appear to be supporting the road diet as well: D1-Marc Christianson, D2-David Shorr, D3-Ginger Keymer, D4-Lara Broderick, D5-Allison Birr, D7-Mary Kneebone, and D9-Sam Lang.
If you agree that these are bad ideas contact them and ask why, and if they don’t have a satisfactory answer, support other candidates.
I read a recent article in the Plover/Point Metro Wire written by Dan Kontos stating that Stevens Point Alderman David Shorr admitted that the main push for the road diet was not to make the roadway safer but to add credibility to the city’s desire to be seen more bicycle friendly for two-wheeled riders.
That same article mentioned that we have a Traffic Safety Commission in Portage County that studies these projects and makes a recommendation.
I suggest that our Council asks the local Traffic Safety Commission for their assistance in the matter before it goes any further.
This is an important decision that should not be made by eleven council members. This is a decision that should be made by the people who live and drive here to work, visit, shop, or dine here.
Put this to a binding referendum with the option of a four-lane roadway with a bicycle silhouette imprinted on the roadway and let the citizens decide.
Mark C. Hemmrich
District 3 County Board Supervisor
