Residents who live along Ravalli Street in Hamilton, or anyone who uses or crosses the street regularly, may want to attend a public meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 17 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall to discuss possible improvements to the street.
The city selected WGM Group consulting firm last fall to help plan and design enhanced maintenance improvements along the street. Company engineers Jeremy Keene and John Gass gave a presentation last week to City Council members of two different concepts for improving the street to serve as a starting point for discussions.
The street, which has an 80-foot right of way, suffers from a lot of encroachments including landscaping, fences and trees in the right of way. The road narrows significantly in places and offers haphazard parking.
Engineers are focusing on the street from Highway 93 west to River Park. Work on the east side of Highway 93 would involve getting County cooperation. Engineers devised a set of initial suggestions for improvement based upon the City’s Transportation Plan and Non-motorized Transportation Plan and intend to make accommodations for bicycle traffic. Various options are being considered to manage the speed and volume of traffic. It could involve sidewalk construction and possibly even a traffic circle and possibly signage and striping to accommodate bicycle traffic.