Talkeetna downtown pedestrian committee meets

A committee formed to look at downtown Talkeetna pedestrian traffic met Monday evening.

Jok Bonderant was the Council member that was nominated to chair the Downtown Pedestrian Traffic committee. He said the committee had some good discussion about the future of downtown Talkeetna. They are recommending to the Talkeetna Community Council that the Borough re-paint pedestrian lines along Main Street to the Spur Road junction in downtown and that no parking in the walkway is enforced.

Several years ago, the Community Council received funding to change pedestrian and parking patterns in downtown. That grant was redistributed to fund building bathrooms in the park near the riverfront. At the last Community Council meeting, the Board of Directors formed a committee to address the pedestrian walkways in downtown.

According to Bonderant, the discussion Monday night included change of traffic patterns on Main Street, the possibility of making Main Street one way and discussion of Talkeetna as a tourist destination. Bonderant said that Disneyland was brought up as an example of catering to tourist needs rather than addressing needs of a community.

The committee will make their recommendation to repaint the current lines as they are to the Council at their regularly scheduled meeting December 7^th. It will be the Council’s decision whether to expand the committee’s scope to include making recommendations on traffic patterns in downtown or to accept the current recommendation.

###