Monika Leininger
During this week’s work session the city council began planning for a construction project linking south Bill Nye avenue to south Third Street.
The project plans to promote intercity connectivity and boost economic development in this area.
Tom Cobb, project manager of AVI Professional Company, a Cheyenne based firm that specializes in engineering, surveying and planning, proposed the project.
Out of the three options for the alignment project, the one favored by the city council would integrate an extended Bill Nye Avenue connecting to Boswell drive and then connecting to Third Street through a roundabout.
The roundabout to be installed on Third Street would have five entrances and two lanes. Additional constructive features of the roundabout are helping to slow down incoming traffic from Highway 287 and resolve a common traffic confusion area on the westbound intersection to Interstate 80.
A survey produced by AVI showed there was stakeholder support for the roundabout option.
“The two lane roundabout scares everyone, but we are getting used to it in Cheyenne, it’s getting better,” Cobb said.
Along with making a cohesive intersection between the spring creek neighborhood and the rest of downtown, the project plans to incorporate a greenway sidewalk along with two bike lanes.
“We want to serve all transportation users including bicyclists, pedestrians, freight, passenger cars and buses,” Cobb said.
City council is in favor of the roundabout option for a variety of reasons, including the project’s prospective development of the industrious South Third street.
“I really like the roundabout option for several reasons – I like that the project would make the south side of Third Street more developable,” Councilor Andrea Summerville said.
Councilors also believe the construction of the roundabout on South Third Street would serve as an entrance to the Laramie city.
“I see a prime opportunity to create a really good gateway for the city, everybody wants to improve 3rd street, everyone wants to improve the gateways and a project like this would certainly do that,” Summerville said.
The proposed project is expected to cost around $5,245,760. The city council, AVI firm and the city planning committee will plan on drafting a proposal by the end of March and have a final draft of the project by April.
