The Rapid City Public Works Committee gave first approval Tuesday to a $19.3 million plan for Mount Rushmore Road that includes extensive landscaping, center medians and a cohesive appearance from Omaha Street to Cathedral Drive.

Aldermen unanimously approved the draft report of the Mount Rushmore Road Corridor Development Plan, which envisions the future of the major north-south thoroughfare. Mount Rushmore Road is scheduled to be rebuilt starting in 2014. The city council must still approve a final version.

“In order for this to move forward, it’s going to take public and private partnership,” said Lloyd LaCroix, council president. “We need to think outside the box.”

Of the $19.3 million price tag, $3.8 million would be for enhancements above and beyond rebuilding the road and underlying infrastructure.

How the city pays for those improvements will be largely up to the council. Funding suggestions from consultants Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson include transportation enhancement grants, tax-increment financing, bond issues, a business improvement district and Vision 2012.

City Growth Management Director Marcia Elkins said both public and private investment will be required to make the Mount Rushmore Road vision a reality. Two things the city can do to encourage compatible private development, though, are creating corridorwide design guidelines and a defensible boundary to keep commercial development from further encroaching on residential neighborhoods on either side of Mount Rushmore Road.

The committee on Tuesday gave staff the go-ahead to explore options for preparing design guidelines, which would pertain to setbacks, parking, landscaping, building design and other development concepts, Elkins said.

“It’s an additional level of review in some cases,” Elkins said. “Is that something the city is willing to support? It’s going to be key.”

The city and the state Department of Transportation have been working together on the plan since 2007.

The plan puts an emphasis on improving pedestrian safety and access to parking and creating a cohesive corridorwide appearance with landscaping, public art and signature banners and monuments, officials said.

Center medians would be installed where practical, and expanded “roadside parkway” would provide a green-space buffer between traffic and pedestrians.

“One of the biggest things for the downtown area is creating an opportunity for a gateway to the community,” said Rod Senn, a senior engineer with Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson.

Contact Emilie Rusch at 394-8453 or emilie.rusch@rapidcityjournal.com.