Sidney Tourism Improvement Group Recent post by Steven Heywood the Peninsula News Review
Debate over whether a return to full two-way traffic flow on Sidney’s Beacon Avenue is in the cards could boil down to the cost.
Both the Town of Sidney and the Sidney Tourism Improvement Group (STIG) have asked for engineering and cost reports showing what would need to take place on the street to make it fully two-way. The reports differ on the bottom line and both parties have said that the cost to taxpayers for any change could sway the outcome of a public consultation process in December and January. STIG, however, hopes that cost alone won’t be the only determining factor in this decision.
Currently, traffic on Beacon Avenue is two-way between the Pat Bay Highway and Fifth Street; one-way between Fifth and Second streets, and; two-way again between Second and First streets.
The battle over traffic flow has been simmering since 1997, when the Town, under then-Mayor Don Amos, changed the three-block segment of the street for both beautification and business delivery reasons. Not everyone was keen on the change. STIG has been a vocal proponent of the two-way system in an effort to keep visitors in town longer and, therefore, help improve the local economy.