Burlington’s Public Works Department is set to present its final draft of the Winooski Avenue revitalization project before the city.

DPW will give its new recommendations to the Transportation Commission at a public meeting on Tuesday. The department has been working on the Winooski Avenue Corridor Study since last year and has been researching the best ways to address concerns along the busy street. The project seeks to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

Public Works Director Chapin Spencer says they modified recommendations for the South End, Downtown and the Old North End. Spencer says in the South End, they want to improve pedestrian safety at the five corners by Shy Guy Gelato. Downtown, the plan is to reduce Winooski Avenue from four to three lanes.

“One travel lane in each direction, a center turn lane and two bike lanes,” said Spencer. “And then in the Old North End, we're planning to pilot a couple of mini-roundabouts this year.”

Spencer says 16% of bicycle crashes and 17% of pedestrian crashes in Burlington occur there. He also says six Winooski Avenue intersections have been identified by VTrans as high crash locations.

In an effort to prevent collisions, DPW has come up with a few short-term solutions to be completed to this year. They include installing mini-roundabouts on North Winooski Avenue, finding solutions to commercial loading and driveway queuing on Winooski Avenue downtown, and creating protections for pedestrians and bicyclists downtown.

They’re also considering new pavements markings from Pearl Street to Main Street, continuous bicycle lanes in both directions of south Main Street, and improvement for high-priority transit stops and pedestrian crossings.

Some of the longer-term improvements include modifying the roadway to balance two-way traffic for all modes of transportation north of Pearl Street, protected bike lanes and additional on-street parking.

Another change is the number of parking spaces slated to be removed. The original plan called for removing 109 parking spaces. Spencer says that number has dropped to 97.

“We have adjusted the recommendation in the Old North End on a key block between North and Union. We were able to preserve parking on both sides and allow connectivity for bike lanes in both directions. So that will mitigate some of the parking loss with the other recommendations,” said Spencer.

Thirteen of those spaces are downtown and are set to be removed this year. Eighty-four spaces are in the Old North End and will be taken away next year.

Recommendations are now heading to the Transportation Committee for review. Max Tracy, who sits on the board, is in favor of the changes. He says he supports mitigating parking loss for businesses, adding bike lanes and upgrading crosswalks.

“What I would hope is that we find ways to add additional protection for bikers and walkers in that downtown section which has been identified as the most dangerous section,” said Tracy. “That may mean having some spaces that are time-limited. Having some spaces that are more for residents. We really need to just take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Tracy told WCAX News the Transportation Committee plans to spend the next six to seven months looking at parking impacts, analyzing how parking spaces are used, and examining parking resources.

He says they have heard from business owners who are worried about the potential consequences of losing parking spaces. Tracy said they are taking their concerns seriously and will continue to study ways to reduce impacts from parking removal.

Spencer says other major issues along Winooski Avenue are the number of driveways, lack of connectivity and inconsistency of traffic patterns.

“There’s a lot of turning movements on Winooski Avenue. And the downtown core -- the four-lane sections -- there’s no shoulders. There’s a fair bit of weaving. The corridor is also disjointed. There are different traffic patterns in different sections of the corridor,” Spencer said.

People in Burlington who WCAX spoke to say Winooski Avenue needs works.

“I don’t think Winooski Avenue is any worse or any better than any other street in Burlington. I think they all need work,” said Sebastian Ryder. “Stop signs and stop lights are suggestions. I’ve almost gotten hit multiple times. I’ve seen many, many cars run through stop signs.”

Kelly Wilson says she crosses Winooski Avenue at least once a day and generally feels safe, but she has seen a few accidents.

“The worst collision that I’ve seen was actually sort of head-on like up a block or two blocks where Pearl Street Beverage is and I was standing right at the corner and I’m like, ‘I almost got hit by a car and I wasn’t even driving,’” said Wilson. “You get a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of cars in a small place stuff’s going to happen. But I don’t feel actively unsafe in the general course of things.”

The public is welcome to attend Tuesday’s meeting to give their feedback. It will start at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the Public Works Department on Pine Street.