By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times
Plans to finalize protected bike lanes on Fourth and Fifth Streets this summer could cost the City of Grand Junction additional money in curb cut work and remove more downtown parking spaces.
That raises a broader conversation about the cost of implementation and the city’s downtown parking system, including the financial viability of potential changes.
Curb Cuts and Parking Losses
The vote to revert to two lanes with a protected bike lane may require cutting curbs at intersections where there is currently not enough space to fit both vehicle lanes and the bike lane.
This cost was not included in the May 29 special meeting when the City Council reversed a prior decision to end the pilot project.
Councilmember Anna Stout asked, “So Trent, can you help me understand: if we go back to the pre-pilot configuration—meaning we rip up the paint, put it back to what it was—and also stripe the part that was never striped, what is the cost difference between that and Phase 2?”
Transportation Director Trent Prall responded, “Yeah, I believe I mentioned this at the last meeting, but the cost to revert back to pre-pilot was around $70,000, and to do Phase 2.0, it would be about $40,000. Those are rough estimates and don’t include any additional costs if we had to touch curbs or infrastructure.”
Main Street Parking and Fund Constraints
At the special meeting, Prall noted that about 30 parking spots would be lost, which sparked a conversation in the subsequent June 16 workshop, where council members discussed downtown parking with staff.
Chief Financial Officer Jay Valentine said in the workshop, “The parking enterprise fund is still in the black,” and added, “If we keep losing parking and losing meters and adding more enforcement, but can’t enforce or ticket or do the things that make the revenue come in, we will be in the red.”
Mayor Cody Kennedy asked, “If we were to switch some of the on-street spots on Main to free, we’d need to subsidize the lost revenue?”
Valentine responded, “Yes. If we were to do something like that, there’s an offset that has to happen.”
He added, “The fund was healthy at the end of 2023; 2024 doesn’t look as good.”
Staff confirmed that 73 metered spaces had been removed over the last year, mostly high-producing ones.
Concerns About Downtown Worker Safety
Councilmember Ben Van Dyke said, “I’ve had a lot of feedback from employees of downtown businesses who are struggling to find safe parking.”
Van Dyke asked about possibly making parking in the Rockslide parking lot free for employees from businesses in the area.
In response, staff explained that the city’s newer smart meters provide flexibility for app-based payments, validations, and codes, which could allow businesses to subsidize employee parking without altering the overall revenue model.
Business Input and Outreach
Councilmember Anna Stout said she wants more targeted engagement before making changes to the system.
“I’m concerned about doing anything systemwide without better data,” she said. “Are certain businesses being affected more than others?”
She recommended roundtables or stakeholder meetings to better understand impacts before taking broad action.