|
ISSN 0012-5822
<br /> Downtown® Optimizing traffic -continued from page 1
<br /> 40 Idea Exchange
<br /> a publication of the But they typically "treat this as a signal poles that the department of
<br /> Downtown Research&Development Center highway and not as a downtown," transportation recently installed in
<br /> 28 West 25th Street—8th Floor
<br /> she says, "and fail to recognize that the downtown.
<br /> New York,NY 10010-2705
<br /> Phone:(212)228-0246•Fax:(212)228-0376 pedestrians are walking around the It helps to be creative in find-
<br /> Email:info @DowntownDevelopment.com ' area." ing grants to fund traffic improve-
<br /> Website:www.DowntownDevelopment.com` A$2-million project creating ment projects, Scott says. "Our
<br /> Editor bulb-outs at 12 highway intersections niche happened to be pedestrian
<br /> Paul Felt, ext. 119 through the downtown recently went safety improvements; find pockets
<br /> pfeit @DowntownDevelopment.com to bid and should be complete by that fit and go after them," she rec-
<br /> Customer Service this time next year, she says,helping ommends, "and partner with your
<br /> Mary Pagliaroli,ext.101 - to correct the safety issue and tap local transportation authority."
<br /> mpagliaroli@DowntownDevelopment.com
<br /> more cars passing through for Contact:Lisa Scott, City of Aberdeen,
<br /> Reprints and Permissions business. (360)537-3238, lscott @aberdeeninfo.com.
<br /> Mary Dalessandro,ext. 103
<br /> mdalessandra @DowntownDevelopment.com
<br /> "The bulb-outs are designed to
<br /> make the pedestrian more visible New train whistle regulation
<br /> Publisher squeezes Main Street
<br /> Margaret DeWitt ext. 106. to the vehicles on the highway by q
<br /> msdewitt @DowntownDevelopment.com ? bringing them out into the right- La Grange, KY (pop. 5,680),
<br /> Downtown idea Exchange®is published twice monthly of-way," Scott says. "This not only has shared various forms of traffic
<br /> by the Downtown Research&Development Center.The decreases the distance that the pe- with a commercial railroad running
<br /> Center provides news,information and analysis for suc-
<br /> cessful downtown revitalization through its newsletters, destrian has to travel but it also down the middle of its Main Street
<br /> books,reports,and website, draws the driver's attention to the since the 1840s—before Henry
<br /> i)Alexander Communications Group fact that, `Yes, this is a town, there Ford was even born.
<br /> CELEBRATING 50 YEARS• 1954-2004 are pedestrians, maybe I should "The train track is flush with
<br /> •2004 Alexander Communications Group,Inc,All slow down.'" the road, and in the narrowest
<br /> rights reserved.No part of this publication may be parts of Main Street, the road is
<br /> reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmit- p
<br /> ted rn any form or by any means,electronic,mechani- Making the case for funding only about 49 feet wide. So there
<br /> cal,photocopying or otherwise,without the prim'Writ-
<br /> ten permission of Alexander Communications Group. The highway bulb-outs will are times that when the train is
<br /> Subscription Order Form: likely benefit public safety as well not coming, we are driving right
<br /> as the downtown's image and local on the tracks," says Keli Quinn, ,
<br /> Please start renew my one-year commerce, but it is the improved executive director, Crossroads-La
<br /> subscription to Downtown Idea
<br /> Exchange for$197.* safety that Aberdeen leveraged to Grange Main Street Inc.
<br /> get funding through the downtown- That scenario would seem
<br /> NAME enhancing project, particularly ,far from ideal,but the Main Street as
<br /> TITLE through the state department of train street is something of a tourist
<br /> transportation(DOT). attraction. "Train enthusiasts visit
<br /> FIRM/ORGANIZATION Since receiving a$550,000 from all over the country to take pic-
<br /> ADDRESS federal pedestrian safety enhance- tures," Quinn says. "Everyone gets a
<br /> CITY STATE ZIP ment grant through the DOT two big kick out of it.We like that, and it
<br /> years ago, the city budgeted money is part of our history."
<br /> PHONE
<br /> for a match to the grants and has With a slow downtown train
<br /> FAX been successful in acquiring a fed- speed, and warning bells and flash-
<br /> EMAIL N15 eral appropriation from Senator ing lights to alert passersby, the
<br /> MAIL: 28 West 25th Street—8th Floor Patty Murray as well as other DOT town has been fortunate with few
<br /> New York,NY 10010 grants, Scott says. accidents, Quinn says. But without
<br /> QIII FAX: (212)228-0376 Featuring sidewalk lighting, more reliable safety precautions,
<br /> 41,U"PHONE: (800)232-4317 (
<br /> EMAIL: infoC�DowntownDevelopment.com planters,benches, brick pavers, and new federal railroad regulations
<br /> *North America,$197.Elsewhere,$227 street trees, the bulb-outs will com- would require trains to sound their
<br /> (includes airmail delivery). plement new cantilevered traffic horns as they roll through.And
<br /> 2 Downtown Idea Exchange • www.DowntownDevelopment.com August 1, 2004
<br />
|