GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Merchants, property owners, and residents in Green Bay’s Broadway District are concerned with the heavy truck traffic that’s constantly maneuvering along the popular downtown road.
Broadway Street is a designated truck route creating excessive noise and safety concerns.
Many are questioning what the district will look like in the future.
Director of On Broadway Inc., Brian Johnson, says businesses are affected on a daily basis.
“When you’ve got some of those office environment settings that require a quieter atmosphere, you know, we’ve got things like a recording studio that are constantly disrupted by vibrations,” Johnson said. “So, when we start thinking about things like business recruitment and retention and ensuring that our storefronts are full, our office space is full, we want to create an environment that’s healthy for us to be able to do that.”
There’s also safety concerns for pedestrians.
“If you really spend any amount of time down here in the district, you really do start to realize that the pedestrian traffic is, not as secure as you’d like it to be,” Johnson said.
But it’s more than that. It’s also about the vision the district has for its future.
“If you look at some of the most successful downtown areas throughout the country, one of the things they don’t have are designated truck routes that drive through the heart of them,” explained Johnson. “A big part of this for us is trying to create an ambiance that’s appropriate for the type of place that individuals want to come to and spend time and recreate.”
A quote for a traffic study of the area came back higher than anticipated at $44,000 dollars.
On Broadway representatives are currently having discussions with city staff to come up with alternative solutions that are less costly.
