There's no great benefit to returning the Woodin Avenue Bridge to two-way traffic. That's the conclusion of the study by Transpo Group presented to the Chelan City Council Tuesday night. The purpose of the study was to consider seasonal influences on traffic in Downtown Chelan, and review the overall citywide level of service policies. The study focused on five intersections in the downtown Chelan area that incorporate Woodin and Johnson avenues, as well as Columbia and Saunders streets, and the Woodin/Webster avenue turnoff towards the Woodin Avenue Bridge. The number of vehicles using the Woodin Avenue and Dan Gordon bridges were stressed; John Pascal with the Transpo Group:
Pascal then explained how they arrived at their conclusion on traffic levels:
Transpo estimated daily two-way volumes of 78-hundred vehicles a day on the Woodin Avenue Bridge, versus 74-hundred using the Dan Gordon Bridge, this on an average Summer Friday afternoon. Pascal summed it up:
The study and its results were based on third-party data used by the Chelan-Douglas Transportation Commission, and didn't take into account public opinion, something that was noted by Chelan Mayor Bob Goedde:
We note here that that “Question of the Day” took place around a year ago. In his comments at the end of the meeting, Councilman Chris Baker said nothing's going to happen with the bridge anytime soon:
It was also noted that returning the bridge to a two-way design would likely cost upwards of six million dollars.