DEADWOOD (AP) – Deadwood’s Main Street is under the microscope and a master plan to address challenges currently occurring on the historic strip is in full motion.
Along with upward of 3 million visitors per year and regular vehicular traffic flow, Historic Main Street in Deadwood regularly accommodates many unique transportation modes, including stagecoaches, trolleys, RVs, and many, many motorcycles.
The Historic Main Street Master Plan was discussed at a joint work session of city staff, historic preservation and planning and zoning commissions. Principals involved in the project ultimately recommended two options for reconfiguring the street, based on public design charettes held in 2020, taking into consideration information recently gleaned during discussions with the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service.
Because Deadwood is a National Historic Landmark, work done to alter the street must involve the two aforementioned entities in master plan discussions, which involve the goal of improved traffic flow, street design, pedestrian access, and bump-outs and parklets for community gathering spaces, the Black Hills Pioneer reported.
Nore Winter, president of Winter & Co., the design firm hired to develop the Main Street Master Plan, shared key points from discussions with the state office as well as the Park Service.
“And that is, recognizing downtown has always been a gathering place and that is a part of its history and evolution and change are also a part of its history,” Winter said. “But that doesn’t mean that anything is appropriate from a historic preservation standpoint. There are still a lot of things we need to be sensitive to. One is to preserve the few authentic features that do survive. Some of those are obvious things like some of the bulb heads or service entries to underground service areas that are part of the history and even some of the storm water inlets.”
Winter said the width of the historic brick paving street itself is a key feature that should be preserved.
“Another principle is that it is appropriate to use historic replicas when there’s good documentation,” he said. “But where there is not a good example of something historic, don’t confuse history by putting something historic in it.”
Based on the historic preservation and Park Service meetings, Winter presented two design options for consideration, with option one the preferred alternative.
“This is, how do we widen the sidewalks and still maintain the view of the current width of the brick paving and the street itself?” Winter said.
Option one involves equal sidewalks on both sides of the street and a flex lane to accommodate Deadwood’s unique transportation modes, including, but not limited to the stagecoach and the trolley.
In option one, the historic curb is delineated with a concrete strip. This option also incorporates travel lanes and a narrower flex lane on the west, what designers refer to as the “hillside” versus the “creekside,” and the sidewalk expanded equally on both sides of the street.
“It still does provide a little bit of a flex lane,” Winter said. “Enough room that you could have loading and service vehicles stopping and the stagecoach.”
Option two calls for a wider sidewalk on one side of the street, the east, or “creekside,” and a flex lane on the west, or “hillside.”
“The idea is that for many days, the flex lane would actually serve as additional sidewalk,” Winter said. “There would be temporary railings with a decorative design that fit the historic theme of downtown that would help to mark the flex lane for pedestrian flow, but there still could be pull-out areas within that for vehicle servicing and parking and other portions could be outdoor seating areas.”
Both options recommend that the flex lane be on the “hillside.”
“Because that accommodates service vehicles coming in from the north, peeling off onto Lower Main and then coming on fully over for loading and unloading and also for transit vehicles.”
Deadwood Historic Preservation Officer Kevin Kuchenbecker said he prefers Option one.
“Just because of the symmetry and you’re not favoring one side of the street over the other,” Kuchenbecker said. “But it is narrowing the street and we already have a narrow street. You’ve got tour buses, you’ve got conveyance buses. We’ve got deliveries, we’ve got stagecoach. We have fifth wheels coming through and buses. The other option, and we’ve talked about doing that, is just leaving everything where it is, but it doesn’t address the ADA that we may have to and it doesn’t address the fact that our 2 million visitors in peak season, the sidewalks are full.”
Commissioner Gary Todd said he has a concern with narrowing the street.
“But the main reason for widening the sidewalk, I did not realize, is to get the slope into ADA compliance,” Todd said. “Everything I’ve ever heard is we need to be more pedestrian friendly. And most communities are that way.”
Kuchenbecker said one of the reasons the conversation with SHPO and NPS was held was to involve them in the entire process to avoid investing in a plan that would negatively impact the historic district.
“The other thing is, we wanted to have some discussion with them on the widening of the sidewalks and helping us meet ADA compliance, as we go through this,” Kuchenbecker said. “What do we have to do to meet ADA or make it a little more user friendly for ADA reasons without having an adverse effect to the district?”
Deadwood Planning and Zoning Administrator Jeramy Russell said he feels it’s important to note that the way Main Street is currently laid out and the difficulties there are with delivery trucks, vehicles, and trolleys.
“The difficulties with the width of the street now, the inconveniences they pose to our current width of Main Street,” he said. “However much we narrow this, what type of impact is that going to have on that driving lane if we do have a trolley stopped and a stagecoach, and a couple delivery trucks on Main Street? Just making sure that we still have passable lanes for oncoming traffic. That’s still important, especially for our police department.”
Deadwood Mayor David Ruth, Jr. urged the group not to forget when talking about doing any type of narrowing of Main Street, there is motorcycle parking during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, as well.
“We need to be careful what the impact will be for traffic on that, as well,” he said.
Other facets of the Main Street Master Plan include:
The development of preliminary cost estimates; an existing conditions/findings report, to include a design framework map, existing conditions map, infrastructure survey work, pedestrian systems, streetscape and wayfinding features, sound, security, and Wi-Fi strategies; design approach including lanes, sidewalk widths, amenities; and a timeline for implementation.
Enhancement of Lee and Gold Street pedestrian ways was also discussed, along with implementation considerations, including the upcoming box culvert project in 2026, which Kuchenbecker pointed out is Deadwood’s Sesquicentennial.
“150th anniversary of Deadwood,” he said. “Do you do this before? Wait until after?”
Ruth said implementation of the Main Street Master Plan remains to be discussed.
“There are lots of factors to consider,” he added.
