The Daily News

A Colorado-based transportation planner offered Monday a few ideas on road design to Breckenridge officials who are trying to create a healthier community.

James Charlier, president of Charlier Associates, said the largesse of streets everywhere calls for a "road diet," which involves shrinking the width of car space on the road to include a path for cyclists. People have long held to the idea that streets were meant to move traffic as fast as possible, but "we way underestimate the value of our streets in shaping our communities," he said.

Some cities have already begun to adopt "complete streets" - ones designed to include sidewalks, bike lanes and public transportation stops - but there's also a push to make the design a requirement in federal funding of transportation projects.

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Charlier said street design should vary according to businesses - areas with cheap land value typically hold gas stations and liquor stores, but downtown streets, while more expensive to maintain and create, should slow traffic and entice drivers to the businesses.

Continual accumulation of snow here tends to clear out the number of walkers and cyclists, but Charlier told the story of an Alaskan community that pooled its funding together to pay for a contractor who cleared walkways for kids to get to school. In Anchorage, about 600 inches of snow piles up per year, he said.

"You don't get snow like they get snow," he said.

On his PowerPoint, Charlier explained ways to include room for both foot traffic and snow by providing a furnishing strip between the edge of the street and the sidewalk. As flooding is also an issue, he informed the group of a walkway "underpass" that provides Colorado students with exercise and helps with flood control.

For Breckenridge, he suggested the city stripe an additional lane for a bike path and allow residents to ride bikes on city sidewalks. Wahpeton resident Jake Krohn suggested the creation of a city biking map, similar to ones he'd seen while living in Pittsburgh. The maps would include routes suggested from local bikers.

"If you highlight them on this map or paint them on the street... I think it's a really great idea, and you don't have to necessarily spend a lot of money or build new trails," he said.

Although some of the ideas would require significant changes, Charlier said he understood the plight of small towns. In the past five years, he's talked to other communities similar to Breckenridge which lack funding. But he said money tends to gravitate to strong ideas.

"Money comes to plans a lot faster than plans come to money," he said.

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