Here is a question: Are our sidewalks Downtown adequately designed and maintained to enable and encourage increased pedestrian traffic?
After walking them recently, I noticed how narrow many of them are. In many places, you can't even walk two abreast. Then, there are more than a few obstacles placed in the little space afforded such as street lights, signal posts, plantings, parking meters, signs, etc.
We also have places like Water Street along where the Times Union Center is where one can barely stay on the walk when going to a show, it's so narrow, especially given a crowd. It's absurd.
I wonder what NY City standards are and how we compare to them? How about other cities? Anyone ever look at this?
Having walked all over D.C. and New York, I can say they fare no better. While the sidewalks are larger in NY, there's a lot more people using them, plus there are the vendors.
There does seem to be an undue amount of poles with signs and planters with nothing in them
I think they are ok (not great, not terrible). If you look at the 2000 master plan, they talk about the sidewalk issue (mainly the clutter). In New York (manhattan), the primary Streets, and the avenues are VERY wide, but on most of the streets the sidewalks heare actually fairly narrow.
However, we do have an issue with a lot of crap in the way, particularly the god awful planters. I hate those things. If it were my things, I'd dump the planters (every single one of them), leave the trees, and put down the metal grates that cover the planter beds, so the only room taken up is the room of the tree trunk itself.
Interesting note: The Modis building only has sidewalks leading from the street corners to the building's corner entry doors. You really can't walk along the street sides from corner to corner. Wonder how that got approved?
Maybe when we become a more mass transit, pedestrian oriented city, we can narrow our auto traffic lanes or eliminate curb side parking (The City seems to be moving over time in that direction anyway!) and widen the sidewalks.
At a minimum, I would say that two couples walking past each other should be comfortably accommodated. I would think this would dictate a minimum of about 8 feet in width. I'm thinking many of our sidewalks would fail this simple test, especially when discounting for the obstacles in place.
And let's not even talk about what you'd have to go through if you're using a wheelchair. I can't count the number of places I've seen where it would be simply impossible to maneuver yourself through the space that is allowed. Or, even better, when there's a handicapped parking space with an obstacle stuck right where the lift would descend from an accessible van. >:(
The City of Jacksonville doesn't care about pedestrian traffic, only vehicular traffic. Peyton believes the more cars that are on the street, the more cars that are likely to fill up at his gas stations. And don't forget most of those planters are made of precast concrete, another one of Peyton's companies. Maybe I'm just being to mean spirited.
QuoteIf it were my things, I'd dump the planters (every single one of them), leave the trees, and put down the metal grates that cover the planter beds, so the only room taken up is the room of the tree trunk itself.
That's an example of good sidewalk design. It's critical to make sure that the grates are not too open so that wheelchairs can easily roll over them as well.
Like stated b4, i really think it just depends on where you are downtown. If we ever get any major ped. traffic downtown then they will have to make changes...but as for now they're sufficient.
just a note of caution-in the 90's, we went through a period of "widen the sidewalk at the expense of parallel parking". If it were my thing, I'd have parallel parking on both sides of every street. Not only is on street parking convenient for people (and free after 6), it creates a sense of place, and making people feel safe by showing that theyarent the only ones on a street
^ the parked cars also become a buffer between the pedestrians and the traffic.
I'd say the vast majority of our sidewalks downtown are sufficient, although I do agree with Steve on the planters. Rip 'em out and put in steel grates.