Big changes will be coming on College Avenue in Appleton

APPLETON, Wis. (WBAY) - The city council meeting on April 5 had one agenda item: whether to approve a pilot program, which is basically just a trial period, regulating the number of lanes on College Avenue.

When the votes were counted, the motion had passed with an overwhelming majority of 14-1.

It means that College Avenue from State Street to Drew Street will be repainted to change that portion of the road from two lanes traveling in each direction to a single lane - with a turn in the center and bike lanes on each side.

The goal of the project is to cut down on the time it takes to drive to the downtown area as traffic increases.

At a previous meeting, Jennifer Stephany, Executive Director of Appleton Downtown Inc., expressed her opinion about the change: “We want to be the destination that people drive to. We want to be the place that people want to visit, live and explore, but we want to make sure that people can get to us and this is where that balance comes in - how much congestion is too much congestion and what are people willing to adapt to?”

The city will start making changes to the road as early as June. The pilot program is scheduled for evaluation in the spring of 2025.

The council was already familiar with many of the goals of the project. Several people shared their support early on, including a few Lawrence University students concerned with making the area more accessible for people without cars. A local wine bar owner had complained about the noise from traffic, as it has affected business.

However, the majority of the attendants wanted to sway the council against the changes, due to concerns that changing the avenue from two lanes to one in each direction would deter people from coming to the area and thus have a negative impact on local businesses.

“Businesses on College Avenue, a lot of them, have very small margins and if you’re going to cut their traffic in half or shoe people away, it doesn’t matter how many events you have downtown - 500 new apartments are not going to keep those business owners open,” said Deb Matz, a downtown business owner.

Before voting, many aldermen said this had been a difficult decision for them to make and stressed that it is a pilot program, due for reassessment in two years.

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