The City Council will be asked Tuesday to approve the finalized plans for the Fifth Street “road diet” that, most notably, will reduce the number of vehicle lanes between A and L streets from four to two.

Staff will come before the council with a final list of specifications and ask for the go-ahead to put the $1.9 million project out to bid. If the council gives the OK and the project stays on schedule, construction would begin in August and possibly be completed by October.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Chambers at City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd. It can be viewed live on Comcast Channel 16 or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99. It also will be streamed live on the city’s website at www.cityofdavis.org/media.

In addition to the reduction in travel lanes, the project specifications include painted medians, turn pockets, bicycle lanes, marked crosswalks and ADA-compliant ramps at the intersections.

The project also calls for new eight-phase traffic signals at the intersections of F and G streets. Traffic signals at A, B and L streets also will be changed out with new models to accommodate the new two-lane configuration.

City leaders long have pursued the lane reduction on Fifth Street to improve pedestrian safety and bicycle connectivity while reducing vehicle speeds, among other benefits. Project team members don’t believe the change will dramatically alter vehicle capacity.

The city will pay for a little less than half of the $1.9 million project through a Sacramento Area Council of Governments grant, to the tune of about $836,000. The other large chunk of funding, totaling about $800,000, will come from Davis’ transportation and transportation roads funds.

The city also will use a $200,000 Highway Safety Improvement Program grant and $50,000 from Community Development Block Grant funds.

Other features of the project include the introduction of two new street lights at every intersection along the corridor; a new signal at Fire Station 31 at Fifth and E streets, to help fire trucks responding to or returning from calls; rapid rectangular flashing beacons for pedestrians at the C and J Street intersections; and bike boxes.

For more information on the redesign, visit the project website at http://fifthstreetdavis.org/.

Lake Boulevard stone pines

The West Davis residents in favor of salvaging the stone pine trees that have ruined the bike path running along Lake Boulevard believed they had won a victory in February when the council directed city engineering staff to look at maintenance solutions that would not require trees to be removed.

But staffers will return to the council Tuesday with the same recommendation they offered three months ago, which calls for entirely reconstructing the bike path and fixing the cracking street and storm drain that have been damaged by the tree roots.

This “full solution” also would result in the removal of several stone pines.

“This will address the long-term problem of trees impacting the Lake Boulevard bike path and surrounding infrastructure,” said Michael Mitchell, city principal civil engineer, in his staff report.

The bicycle path, deemed by the city to be too unsafe to leave open, has been closed between Portage Bay West and Salem Avenue for more than 18 months while engineers have looked at ways to fix the problem.

When the issue was brought before the council in February, many West Davis community members came out to request that the trees be spared. Others simply wanted the path reopened, no matter which option the council chose.

The council eventually picked an option that would trim the roots from the trees causing the problems and patch up the crumbling asphalt, thereby temporarily avoiding the need to cut down the trees while still reopening the path.

The council also asked for cost estimates associated with introducing ADA access to the paths. The addition of ADA access may result in trees being removed regardless, as the ground adjacent to the path will have to be graded down considerably, leaving the trees less soil to grab onto.

Council members could stick with their original decision Tuesday — to maintain the path and attempt to save the trees — pick the full solution that staff members have described in their report or choose a third option that engineers have drawn up.

The third option would build a brand-new bike path on the street next to the curb that would route bicyclists and pedestrians from the off-street path onto Lake Boulevard, and then back off the street and onto the path again once they’ve passed by the block in question.

Staffers caution in their report, however, that the council would have to decide what to do with the abandoned off-street path if it chooses this option. They also say that the new route could present awkward transitions between the street and the existing pathways.

The “full solution” would cost about $282,000 in net present dollars and require minimal maintenance in the coming years. Again, it also would repair the storm drain and street pavement.

Option 2, or the maintenance option, would cost about $89,000 up front, but likely would require more expensive work in the future. It also would not address the storm drain and street, as fixing those problems would require trees to be removed.

The third option to build a new path on the street would cost about $147,000 if the council elects to wait to repair the storm drain and street, or about $187,000 if it would like to address that part of the problem at this stage.

— Reach Tom Sakash at [email protected] or 530-747-8057. Follow him on Twitter at @TomSakash

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