The Bainbridge City Council tonight will be shown an improvement plan for Ericksen Avenue designed to make the street more walkable and bikeable.And while the plan ultimately calls for sidewalks on both sides of the street, they may not be constructed any time soon in front of the historic houses on the east side of the street.We’ve tried to thread our way through all the goals that may support or conflict with each other, and accommodate them the best we could, said public works Director Randy Witt.The Winslow Master Plan, part of the city’s comprehensive plan, calls for bicycle lanes, sidewalks and traffic calming features on Ericksen.Between Winslow Way and Wyatt Way, though, implementing that plan would require significant encroachment into setbacks and landscaped areas, particularly on the east side of the street. That aspect of the plan drew a number of objections at public meetings.The city’s response to those objections is to postpone – perhaps indefinitely – the sidewalks on the east side.We’re saying there should be sidewalks there, but we’ll let the developers implement that when and if the property changes hands and is redeveloped, Witt said. The plan now calls for two, 10-foot vehicle lanes the length of the street. Presently, the lanes average about 10 feet from center-line to the stripe painted inside the curb. Five-foot bike lanes are planned for both sides.The plan calls for five-foot sidewalks in the narrower portions of the road, and seven-foot sidewalks in the wider portions. Where room is adequate, particularly north of Wyatt, there will be planter strips.On lower Ericksen, the eastern boundary of the bike lane would be the east edge of the utility poles, which generally mark the edge of the city’s right of way, Witt said. Some landscaping will be affected, but none of the fences or structures would be impacted except possibly for a garage to the east of the Bainbridge Performing Arts property, Witt said.Some citizens said there is no need for a bike lane on the downhill side. But that was rejected out of concern for young or inexperienced riders.A mother riding with her child probably wouldn’t feel too comfortable getting out into the traffic, Witt said. On the west side of the street, where sidewalks will be installed, Witt said the alignment will be site specific – where sidewalks next to the street would threaten existing trees, the sidewalks might be behind the trees, he said.Sidewalk, bike-lane and travel-lane width are frequently dictated by state and federal funding agencies, Witt said, and are therefore not entirely within the city’s control.One option the council must consider is whether to put the electric utilities underground. Using conservative cost figures, the city estimates that its share of the cost to underground the electric lines between Winslow and Wyatt could roughly $160,000.The current schedule calls for final design work to take place over the winter, and for construction to get under way next spring, Witt said.A lot of people said they like the character of the street the way it is, Witt said. I think we can maintain a lot of that character.