Sheridan's Main Street will look different to drivers starting Sunday afternoon. The city is testing the idea of changing the lanes on Main Street from its current four lanes.
The new set up will be one lane of traffic in each direction with a center left-turn lane.
Parking on Main Street will remain parallel parking, and the change will add a buffer zone between traffic and parking.
The Sheridan city government is temporarily testing the idea for a month to see if the change would better suit pedestrian access to downtown.
Brian Craig, community development director for the city of Sheridan, said the city doesn't anticipate the changes to add much additional time to residents' commutes.
"The test wouldn't be as valid if people avoided Main Street, so it's really important people come and use their normal routines, come visit main street businesses and explore the new configurations," Craig said.
Craig said WYDOT and the city will be collecting data to see how the configuration affects traffic.
"In addition to those quantitative measures, the city has delivered surveys to each of the businesses asking them to gather some feedback from their customers and we've developed a service online on the website sheridanmainstreet.com," he said.
Main Street will be shut down to traffic starting Saturday, August 10, at 9:00 p.m. It will reopen with the new lanes on Sunday afternoon. The change of lanes will start at the intersection of Coffeen Avenue, Burkitt and Main Streets to First Street. The test will last for four weeks.
Once it's completed in September, the city will hold a public meeting to discuss the test.
The idea of changing Sheridan's Main Street comes as WYDOT plans to resurface the street in 2023.
