HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Much to do about the main street concept during today’s Hutchinson city Council meeting. The 
council spent about an hour going over the main street corridor and a proposed expansion of its bike trails and sidewalks during today’s agenda session.
As presented by Jim Calhoun of Wilson and Company, the Main Street project will keep the corridor as a five lane avenue with improved sidewalks and new curbs and gutter. The project will run from 7th Avenue to 30th. It does not include any closing of Crescent Drive or other side streets. It also calls for sidewalks along the east side of Main in front of the Kansas State Fair grounds.
Also included is a redesign of intersections that could make crosswalks shorter and provide more room for angle parking by narrowing the sidewalks along parts of the corridor. The total cost of the project is estimated at $6.2 million. The project would be phased in over three years with the first phase starting around 23rd Avenue and going north to 30th.
City Engineer Brian Clennan stated that a public meeting will be held as the final plans are coming together. No date was announced for that.