Today is the last day for residents to make comments on the drafted Downtown Plan.

The City of Troy released the 116-page plan last Thursday for public review and comment. It will be tweaked in the upcoming week and presented to the Troy Planning Commission at their regular meeting on October 27.

The Messenger has already broken down three of the plan’s five strategy categories – promotion, vitality and appearance.

The remaining two strategies are movement and linkages.

One strategy to improve movement downtown is the creation of a wayfinding system that will lead people to and around downtown.

A study done by McComm Group gave suggestions for a variety of signs that work in conjunction to lead people downtown, let them know they’re still going the right direction, and then directing them to various places within the district.

Creating attractive and welcoming gateway locations to downtown is another strategy to improvement movement.

The final strategy to improve movement includes the conversion of the Square to two-way traffic, rerouting truck traffic and establishing rail quiet zones downtown.

The plan explains the suggestion for the change from one-way to two-way streets.

“Currently, the traffic circulates around the square in a counter-clockwise direction, which restricts access to the businesses located around the square and often causes driver confusion. Converting the traffic to two-way circulation would improve traffic circulation, improve access to the business around the square, and decrease driver confusion.”

One suggestion to reroute truck traffic is to reroute them along Trojan Way, but the plan states that some improvements would be need to accomplish this.

A rail quiet zone is an intersection of the railroad and street in which the conductors do not have to blow their horns because the intersection has adequate safety measures. This would cut down on downtown noise, the plan says.

Linkage strategies include developing an organizational structure downtown and developing stronger relationships with existing organizations, especially Troy University.

One strategy focuses on creating a link to the university by creating a path for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The path would connect the Square to Troy University via Elm Street, Park Street and Madison Street.

The suggested one-mile route would connect the two entities with a shared path for bicyclists and pedestrians that would be separate from motor vehicle traffic. Elm Street would also be a shared road for bicyclists and motor vehicles.

Most of the major changes in these strategies fall in the bottom half of listed priorities. The highest-priority major change is the bike and pedestrian connection to the university, which is ranked as a level three priority out of five levels.

The conversion of traffic around the square to two-way traffic is listed as a level four priority. Installing underground utilities, rerouting truck traffic and establishing rail quiet zones are at the bottom of the priority list.

The full downtown plan can be viewed at https://issuu.com/troyplanning/docs/draftdowntownplan100616.

To request a physical copy of the plan, to make a comment, or to receive further information, contact Melissa Sanders at 334-670-6058 or send an email to Melissa.sanders@troyal.gov.