By the end of the month, the City of Rochester will move forward with the final plans to fill-in the inner loop. Tuesday, the city held the last two public open houses to inform residents of the plan's details.
City Engineer Jim McIntosh explains to residents that the Inner Loop East Transformation Project will reorganize traffic patterns through downtown and connect the neighborhoods now separated by the existing inner loop.
Attendees came with many questions and suggestions. Julie Brooks, a bicyclist who is new to Rochester, said she's optimistic and excited to see dedicated bike lanes in the plans, but she has a few concerns about safety at intersections.
"[I'm concerned that] crosswalk buttons are accessible to both cyclist and pedestrians and people in wheel chairs," she said.
McIntosh says the city is using community input to tweak the designs, but they are mostly complete.
"Final design plans are due to the state and federal folks at the end of this month," said McIntosh. "We're working to meet that date. After that happens there will be a period of their review which is anywhere from 6 weeks to two months. Right after that we'll be ready to put out to bid."
Construction on the Inner Loop Project is scheduled to begin in October and run until 2017.