Anyone who has been reading my columns for a while knows how
much of an advocate I am on public input. After all, it’s our job to create and
manage a city that you want to live in! We now have another opportunity for you
to give your input.
The Elizabethton Regional Planning Commission has been
working hard to update the City’s Major Thoroughfare Plan. Essentially this is
a plan that classifies every road in the city and helps determine where future
roadways need to go. We use this plan to work with developers to dedicate the
appropriate rights-of-way and it also serves as a basis for working with the
regional transportation planning agency to get new transportation projects
completed. Needless to say, this plan serves as the bones and arteries of the
city.
In the proposed plan, the subcommittee is proposing some
improvements to Southside Road to make it more of a throughway. This will help
provide better connections for residents on the southern side of the city and
provide another east to west corridor in the city to help alleviate traffic
congestion on West Elk Avenue/Broad Street and G Street. The subcommittee has
also proposed some improvements to Milligan Highway to help make it safer for
vehicles using the road and bicyclists.
One thing that is new to the Thoroughfare Plan is the
inclusion of pedestrian and bicycle trails. The subcommittee has reviewed and
considered where existing trail systems are located and where new potential
trial systems should be located. Additionally, this plan includes redesigns of
streets to better allow for bicycles and better buffering between roadways and
sidewalks (so you don’t feel like you’re walking in traffic while on the
sidewalk). These new elements really speak to the emphasis the Planning
Commission has placed on making Elizabethton a more pedestrian and bike
friendly community.
You input on this plan will help guide the Planning
Commission and the city as it develops over the next 10-20 years. You input
doesn’t have to be long or lengthy and the format is open-house style so you
don’t have to speak in front of anyone and can come and go as you please. Just
stop by on your way home from work, learn a little about how road systems work,
review the proposed improvements, and provide us with a comment as to whether
you like it, don’t like it, or would rather see something else. By providing
feedback now, you can help us make this community grow into exactly the
community you want to live in. Let’s talk about it!