The selected route of the Fischer Road extension was a choice  – not the ‘only’ viable option

The route of the Fischer Road extension was a choice – there were multiple viable routes. If the three stated goals (move the collector road North, away from the river, avoid the Bankston Nature Preserve, and discourage regional cut-through traffic) had been established up-front, the consultants would have come back with a different recommendation.

The council members who did not represent the priorities of the community have been recalled. The new city council is listening, and they are in the process of exploring what is possible.

History of the selection process

The original concept plan for Kingston Terrace was for the east west road to be an intra city collector to integrate the city.  However, the TSP now plans for Fischer Road to become a “regionally significant collector road” that will route traffic through existing neighborhoods, and more than quadruple traffic through the Edgewater community. The city consultants estimate that 40% of this traffic will be regional cut through. At the low-end, the collector road is estimated to have 8000 cars a day. Even if the traffic were evenly distributed, that would mean 8000/24 = 333 cars an hour, which is more than 5 cars per minute. But traffic is not evenly distributed – most of it would be during daylight hours – with concentration during the morning and evening rush hours, resulting in a car passing every few seconds. This is not what we want for our community!

Throughout the planning process residents have said the route for this planned East-West roadway must be moved further north to protect the river environment, the wildlife corridor, and reduce regional cut-through traffic.  The City Council approved the TSP based on input from their expert consultants. However, the community priorities were not factored into the scoring of the East-West Circulation Alternatives Analysis. The scoring of that analysis was even challenged by an independent consultant.

There are other options for the east-west collector road

For example, below is a map showing another viable option, using the city’s map of planned roads:

This option meets the three stated goals. Can it also meet state, metro, and county requirements? Is the issue strictly Federal funding? Are there other options that can be leveraged from the existing studies as well? Again, we do not need to start over – we just need to work together to come up with a constructive solution.

How can we all work together to overcome the roadblocks of choosing another option to save our community?