The Bismarck City Commission will hear the public's input on the west side transportation study, received by the commission last month, at their 5:15 p.m. meeting today in the Tom Baker room of the City-County building.

In January 2003, the Mayor's Taskforce on Transportation recommended a study examining north-south traffic flow within the boundaries of Century Avenue to the north, State Street with Ninth and Seventh avenues as the eastern edge, Bismarck Expressway on the south and the Missouri River serving as the western line. The study, conducted by URS Corp., started last spring. Bill Troe was the study's project manager for URS. The steps suggested to take place within the next five years are:

Place a traffic signal at the intersection of Century and Tyler Parkway.

Add a center left-turn lane to Washington from Century to Divide Avenue, keeping one side of the street for parking. This move would enable Washington to serve 4,000 more cars per day.

Establish northbound and southbound left-turn lanes on Fourth Street, where it intersects with Capitol Avenue and Turnpike Avenue. The intersection capacity would increase to 4,000 vehicles more than its current max.

Install a center left-turn lane to Fourth Street from Divide to Arikara Avenue. Approximately 4,000 more cars would be able to comfortably use the corridor.

Widen Washington Street by 10 feet, to three lanes, from Avenue D to Rosser Avenue and add a traffic signal where Avenue C intersects. While this section of Washington would be able to handle 4,000 more cars daily, 47 trees on the street would have to be taken down.

Troe's other suggestions to improve traffic flow in the study area would be applied in five to 10 years. They are:

Make Third and Fourth streets a one-way pair, attracting 3,000 to 5,000 more vehicles to this route from adjacent streets. Arikara Avenue, from Third to Fourth, also would see a traffic increase of 5,000 vehicles. About 3,000 more cars would travel Arikara to Boulevard Avenue on Third Street.

Realign the Ward Road-College Drive intersection, making Ward a through street and controlling College Drive's traffic with a stop sign.

Add an eastbound right-turn lane at the intersection of Divide Avenue and Ward Road.

(Reach reporter Angie Buckley at 250-8255 or angiebuckley@ndonline.com.)