A plan to develop a major Dubuque roadway soon might receive final approval from City Council members.

Council members this week received an update on the Central Avenue Corridor Streetscape Master Plan and were urged by city staff to vote on a final draft of the plan in January so improvement projects can commence.

The current draft of the plan includes changing the stretch of Central Avenue from a one-way to two-way road, expanding sidewalks, adding greenery and on-street decorations and creating a Central Avenue pedestrian plaza.

“We’d like to get started in 2023 on spending some funds that we currently have and putting together a budget moving forward for some projects we have there,” said Jill Connors, the city’s economic development director.

Council members generally expressed support for the plan and asked city staff to include a vote to officially approve it on the agenda of one of the council’s January meetings.

For the past four years, city officials have worked to develop a plan to revitalize a stretch of Central Avenue from 11th to 22nd streets to make the road more pedestrian-friendly and encourage future business development.

The Central Avenue Corridor Streetscape Master Plan will lay out improvements that the city could make to the corridor over the next several years.

The city started working with RDG Planning & Design in 2018 to design the plan and gather community input. In 2019, a preliminary plan was created and presented to the City Council, and it has continued to be modified since then.

Ryan Peterson, senior partner at RDG Planning & Design, said much of the recent work on the plan has focused on the plaza planned at the intersection of Central Avenue and East 18th Street.

Stakeholder meetings earlier this year sought to gauge whether residents and business owners still would want access from Central to 18th if the plaza were constructed. Peterson said residents spoke more in favor of blocking off vehicle access to 18th while also requesting that the plaza not reduce the amount of public parking in the area.

“After listening to the individuals that own property near the curve, they made it clear that parking was something that essentially should have a no net loss,” Peterson said.

Connors said city staff now is asking the council to approve the plan so it can move forward with developing the corridor. A finalized plan also would allow the city to pursue federal grants for improvements.

The city already budgeted about $150,000 in the current fiscal year to make small aesthetic improvements to the corridor, while an additional $625,000 has been budgeted to fund engineering designs for the improvements and a traffic study.

“We have the money to move forward with the plan, but we don’t want to move ahead without the City Council signing off on the vision for Central Avenue,” Connors said. “This is why we have plans.”

Connors said that even if the plan is approved, certain elements still can be changed.

“Once we have the vision adopted, then we can look at the specifics of the projects,” she said.

Council members voiced their agreement with city staff that work should begin soon on improving Central.

“I agree that we do need to move forward with this,” said Council Member David Resnick. “There are some great ideas here.”

Council Member Ric Jones said he also supports the plan and believes the public is ready to see revitalization begin along the busy roadway.

“It’s a project that people are ready to get movement on, and I do think we should get it moving,” Jones said.

However, some council members also expressed frustration about city staff’s recommendation to conduct a traffic study before determining whether Central should be converted into a two-way road.

Connors said a traffic study is needed to determine if changing the road would have an adverse impact on traffic, but Sprank and Wethal questioned if the study was worth further delaying making major changes to the road.

“My biggest concern is frustration with time and needing to tell my constituents, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know when,’” Wethal said. “I hope that we don’t hold this up for traffic studies.”