January 25, 2024 |
Photo – TAPS map – Courtesy Town of Saratoga
In Saratoga, work continues to determine what, if any, improvements need to be made to Saratoga’s walking paths.
The Colorado design firm hired to perform Saratoga’s transportation alternatives master plan, OV Consulting, has narrowed the list of potential walkway improvements from 42 down to 11.
Last year, Saratoga received a $200,000 grant from Wyoming Department of Transportation to study the town’s existing sidewalks and pathways. Denver-based OV Consulting was chosen to conduct the transportation alternatives master plan and suggest changes to the town’s pedestrian infrastructure.
Since September, OV Consulting has been collecting input from residents on mobility projects they would like to see. A public meeting on September 13th was too sparsely attended for the design firm to understand the types of walkway projects that residents desire.
At the January 16th Saratoga town council meeting, OV Consulting owner Chris Vogelsang provided an update on the work. Vogelsang said he had discussed potential walkway projects with various community groups.
To help collect public input, OV Consulting created the website saratogamoves.com. Vogelsang said nearly 200 different people visited the site since September with 50 taking the online survey.
The online survey ran until November 1st. According to documents provided by Vogelsang, in the two months the survey was active, Saratogamoves.com received 196 unique visitors and 47 completed surveys.
Vogelsang said walking and driving are the most common ways residents say they get around town. The OV Consulting owner said a majority of survey respondents stated they would walk more if the town offered additional sidewalks.
According to the saratogamoves.com website, when asked if they would walk more if Saratoga had more sidewalks, 57% of respondents said yes. Twenty-six percent of people who took the survey said they would not walk more if the town had more sidewalks.
Vogelsang said the survey data was inconclusive in determining how people felt about the safety of walking along Saratoga’s streets.
Vogelsang said OV Consulting collected 42 different potential walkway improvements from survey responses and face-to-face conversations with residents. Vogelsang said not every suggestion was worth pursuing.
Vogelsang said OV Consulting examined the feasibility of the 42 project ideas. He said after several rounds of study, 31 projects were dropped from consideration.
Vogelsang said the 11 remaining projects are concentrated in three areas of towns. He said residents agreed that they wanted to see a sidewalk installed along Elm Street from the elementary school to the middle high school.
Vogelsang said the remaining two projects centered around better access to Veteran’s Island and a walkway along highway 130 to Valley Foods on the south end of town.
Vogelsang encouraged residents to come to the second master plan public meeting on the following evening, January 17th.
In an email to Bigfoot99, Vogelsang said 61 community members attended last week’s public meeting. When asked what he has learned, Vogelsang said, “The large difference of opinion about the value of a path along Hwy 130 connecting the south part of town to downtown was the most surprising. The input we got was very different depending on where in town people lived with people living in the south sub-division the most supportive of improvements especially for youth safety in traveling from that subdivision to other parts of town.”
Vogelsang added that some residents suggested using River Street as an alternative to creating a path along Hwy 130. Some residents like that option while others expressed concerns about the dangers of kids crossing 130 to reach the grocery store.
OV Consulting will take the newest round of public input and create a design document to present to the town council. Included in the document will be the price to build each project, the cost of maintenance, and suggestions for funding sources, such as grants.
Vogelsang said the next transportation alternatives master plan public meeting will be in April. An exact time and date will be provided within the next month.
