TUPELO - Traffic consultants are looking at several options for changing Main Street in downtown Tupelo, including reducing the speed limit, coordinating the traffic signals and making it a three-lane road with a bike lane and turning lanes.

The Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association earlier this year hired Bob Murphy of RPM Transportation Consultants and Chris Camp of Lose amp& Associates to make recommendations for ways to retool Main Street from Gloster Street to Highway 45.

The goal, according to DTMSA and the Community Development Foundation, its partner in the project, is to make downtown Tupelo more of a destination for residents, tourists, business owners and economic developers.

"The goal is not to fix something that's broken but to capitalize on business opportunities that we might not know exist," said Jon Milstead, CDF's planning director.

The consultants met Tuesday with Main Street board members, CDF staffers, downtown business owners and city leaders to explain how they work and to express their initial thoughts about the Tupelo project.

Murphy, president of RPM, said he expects to present a preliminary report to DMTSA in about a month.

He said downtown Tupelo along Main Street has several assets, including a strong urban street layout, wide right-of-ways, wide sidewalks, wide roads, a good mix of uses and high activity levels.

The challenge, he said, is making the street accommodate the traffic without letting the traffic overwhelm the street.

Murphy said the corridor averages 17,000 to 20,000 vehicles traveling on it every day. The city's Public Works department has been conducting additional traffic counts downtown.

"It's important for people to recognize that they are entering this downtown area," Murphy said.

Murphy's and Camp's initial impression about Tupelo's Main Street is it looks more like a traffic corridor.

"It's really how the street feels to us and that's how it looks like it's intended," Murphy said.

He said it's important to maintain the ability for people to use the street, but it has to be balanced with other considerations, such as making it safe for pedestrians to cross.

Murphy added that it is important also to think about having a streetscape and a downtown that will work for automobiles, bicycles, buses and pedestrians.

Murphy's and Camp's companies still are analyzing Tupelo's data, but so far they have come up with several options.

One is reducing the speed limit from the current 35 mph. The consultants also are toying with the idea of coordinating the timing of the traffic lights in downtown so if drivers go the posted 20 mph, they will get green lights and traffic will flow smoothly. If drivers speed and go 40 mph, they will hit red lights.

Reducing the speed also will improve the safety for pedestrians, Murphy said.

Another idea calls for narrowing Main Street from four lanes to three lanes with a bike lane and turning lanes.

Murphy said the narrower road would benefit downtown because right now traffic backs up behind drivers trying to turn left at lights. A lack of a turning lane also leads to more rear-end collisions, he added.

"We're not saying this is what we are going to recommend, but it's definitely a concept we are going to be looking at," Murphy said. "The main thing is to make (downtown Tupelo) more pedestrian-friendly, more vibrant and a place where people are comfortable. We want it to become a destination."

Contact Carlie Kollath at (662) 678-1598 or carlie.kollath@djournal.com.