The most traveled bikeway in Arizona is preparing for a makeover in the next few days.
Construction on College Avenue should begin by the end of the week through an approximately $2 million street improvement project to beautify the street and increase safety for pedestrians.
The enhancements will stretch from U.S. 60 to Apache Boulevard and are expected to be complete by April.
“We’re redesigning the street to be more friendly to other modes of transportation other than vehicles,” said Eric Iwersen, senior planner with the city of Tempe and project manager.
Talks began for the project in 2006 after the city of Tempe received a federal grant to better its streets.
The project includes widening curbs and sidewalks, building landscaped medians and adding shade trees to the side of the road. The designers will also explore the possibility of lowering the speed limit to 25 mph over the entire stretch of road.
“We’re going to beautify and make the streets more friendly for bikers and pedestrians, slow traffic and discourage cut-through traffic,” Tempe spokeswoman Amanda Nelson said, adding that the street sees more bike traffic than any other street in the state.
Despite the extensive improvements to the road, it will remain open to vehicles, pedestrians, bikers and the Orbit bus “Jupiter” throughout construction.
An important part of the project is keeping neighborhoods in the area informed of what is planned. The city has worked extensively with churches, homeowners, schools and ASU since planning for the project started in 2006, Nelson said.
Overall, residents near College Avenue seem to like the plan.
“In [my] neighborhood, roughly 90 percent are supportive of the project,” said Paul Hubbell, resident of Brentwood Cavalier, a neighborhood near Southern Avenue and Rural Road.
This isn’t the only recent street enhancement project in Tempe. Previous projects on 5th Street between Priest Drive and Ash Avenue and 13th Street between Hardy Drive and Mill Avenue were successful in achieving similar goals.
This project will be different from the ones in the past because instead of completely redoing the street, the contractors will be targeting specific places to improve.
This will also reduce cost, while still providing similar results.
“It is a neighborhood area and we want the street to reflect that,” Iwersen said.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
