Juneau tourism task force to vote Aug. 20 on downtown crowding fixes

Restructuring the roundabout outside the Red Dog Saloon, growing the crossing guard program and pushing business entrances toward the Seawalk all go to a vote Thursday, Aug. 20, before Juneau's Visitor Industry Task Force 2.0.

Visitor Industry Director Alexandra Pierce laid out seven possible recommendations in an Aug. 11 memo to the task force. The list also includes more benches and covered areas downtown, Seawalk development from the Wharf through Aak'w Landing, communal space and public games in the Peratrovich Plaza area, and better signage marking one-way streets and traffic rules for rental cars.

"At our next meeting, we will work through these recommendations individually and vote on the final wording," Pierce wrote. She noted that downtown crowding was the task force's first substantive discussion and one of the highest-ranking concerns in the 2025 Juneau Tourism Survey. The task force's Aug. 13 meeting was cancelled for the glacial outburst flood response.

Approval on Aug. 20 **does not settle the matter**. Once the task force revisits all its topics, staff will compile the recommendations into a report, and the public will have **one more chance to testify** before the report is refined, approved and sent to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly for review and adoption by resolution. The second public testimony meeting is scheduled for Oct. 15.

Mayor Beth Weldon established the ten-member task force in December 2025, with Assembly member Ella Adkison as chair, and charged it with identifying pinch points causing congestion downtown and in Auke Bay. Its calendar was extended through October 2026 to add topics and public testimony.

The crowding fixes serve one of seven strategic goals in a draft Juneau Tourism Plan: easing downtown congestion through dispersal. Separately, the task force is developing the criteria that would govern any future change to Juneau's daily cruise passenger cap. CBJ materials describe two competing paths for that broader work: tightening caps to reduce crowding, or holding visitor levels steady while expanding infrastructure like the Seawalk and crossing guards to disperse the crowds that already come.