By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD — The fervor over the proposed changes to Second Street has calmed down over the past month, but the city is now prepared to present its final concept to the Board of Public Works at a meeting to be held Monday, Aug. 3, at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall.

The final concept for the Second Street project concerns a two-block stretch from Maple Avenue to Central Avenue and Central to Chestnut Avenue. In a memo from City Planner Josh Miller, he says that the final concept would maintain most of the parking in the two-block stretch, going from 35 total spaces presently to 32 spaces.

An aspect of the plan that also has been thoroughly debated involves one-way streets heading east for one block from Central to Maple and west for one block from Central to Chestnut. The plan also includes angled parking.

In Miller’s memo he said that there was not a clear public consensus on how to redesign the corridor but that the concepts with the most support were: two-way traffic, more green space, no significant reduction in parking, bike lanes, outdoor dining options, public art, and safety.

“Based on the proposed design, we were able to provide one-way traffic, significantly more green space, outdoor dining options, public art space, added safety, and limited reduction to parking. We weren’t able to include the bike lanes or two-way traffic due to lack of space. A desirable characteristic in the design that we were able to achieve was a limited loss of parking,” Miller said in the memo.

The full concept and design rendering are available at this link.