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Third Street bike lane focus of forum

The bike lane on Third Street in Marquette was the subject of discussion and debate Thursday night at a forum held by the Marquette Downtown Development Authority. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

MARQUETTE — Success in a city’s business district often brings challenges, and some of those challenges were discussed Thursday during a forum that focused on the Third Street corridor.

The Marquette Downtown Development Authority held the forum, which was attended by business owners and city officials, at the Casa Calabria restaurant on Third Street.

The main topics of discussion were the North Third Street bike lane and the annual Marquette Marathon, which begins in Ishpeming and ends on Third Street.

Regarding the bike lane, Dennis Stachewicz, city of Marquette director of planning and community development, said the community has seen a big resurgence of commuting bicyclists.

“This is an extension of part of downtown Marquette,” Stachewicz said. “It’s Downtown North, as we like to call it in the planning office. There’s a lot of activity out here, but with a lot of activity comes a lot of opportunity, because when we researched what we were going to do here, we found that there were a lot of pedestrian-bicycle incidents because of sidewalks.”

The city paints the lines on the street in the manner staff believes is best for the street, and then monitors it, he said.

“Over the course of time we have found that the numbers of bikes are consistent in the bike lane,” said Stachewicz, who noted there have been reductions in pedestrian-bicycle accidents as well as motor vehicle accidents.

Some Third Street business owners who attended the forum were in favor of the bike lane, saying it’s increased customers who are able to visit the stores in a more leisurely manner.

Other owners expressed concerns over their stores being negatively affected by the bike lane, including there not being enough room to accommodate parking, a bike lane and a traffic lane.

Mike Valle, owner of Valle’s Village Market at 1034 N. Third St., was one of those owners.

Valle said his store has seen a decrease of 100 customers per day, which happened when the bike lane was created. He said customers have told him it’s dangerous to pull into the street when bicyclists are traveling on Third Street.

“There was no positive impact, especially on my business,” Valle said. “We suffer greatly from it.”

DDA Executive Director Mona Lang pointed out that bicyclists would travel on Third Street regardless of a bike lane.

“I think one of the reasons that makes it really challenging on Third Street is that there are so many driveways,” Lang said. “If there weren’t so many driveways, it would be so much simpler.”

Marquette Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jason Schneider said the community has “no idea” about what to do with a bike lane.

“I think that part of it, kind of like the marathon, is it takes patience,” Schneider said. “This is a beginning trial of something to say, ‘Let’s see how it goes,’ and if it we can expand it and if it grows from there.”

DDA member Greg Potvin said education can play a part, with bicyclists and motorists both being ill informed on the issue.

“Start helping each other learn the rules of the road a little bit better,” Potvin said.

Stachewicz said street painting is considered an infrastructure issue that will come up again in the budget process, and in that process, staff will ask the city for funding to replace all existing street markings, which would include the bike lane.

“If there is interest in the community that it no longer sees this to be warranted, that would be the time to attend budget hearings and speak toward removal of the bike lanes,” Stachewicz said.

Budget hearings take place in August, he said, although the capital outlay discussions are in June.

Marquette Police Chief Blake Rieboldt said it’s not his department’s goal to write tickets.

“We’ve created this problem ourselves with the success of the business district,” said Rieboldt, who believes bike lanes are “traffic-calming” by slowing motorists.

Instead, police officers are willing to work with the community to resolve bicycle-related issues, he said.

The forum also focused on the annual Marquette Marathon, which this year is scheduled for September 2.

Some business owners at the forum voiced their concerns about Third Street being closed the day of the race and hurting their businesses.

Options discussed included keeping part of the street open, closing one lane instead of two and relocating the finish to Front Street where there are fewer retail businesses.

Stephanie Zadroga-Langlois, a member of the Marquette Marathon committee, said: “We want to make sure that it’s a community-enrichment event, and so when we hear that the community’s not happy with it, we want to make it work.”

She said it’s possible part of the street could be open for the race as long as the city of Marquette OKs that change. She also said the committee wants to work with businesses to come up with “creative ideas.”

“What our hope is, is that we keep working with the businesses so that in a few years you guys are just excited about the race as we are,” Zadroga-Langlois said.

Lang pointed out the marathon weekend brings in $500,000 to the area.

Potvin suggested people meet after the event to talk about the 2018 event.

“Is this good enough? Is this solution we worked on going to work for everybody, and if not, what else can we do?” Potvin asked.

Lang stressed that no decision on the marathon was to be made at the forum, the purpose of which was to start a dialogue.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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