Walkable Commercial Districts: Brooklyn's Park Street

[Metro Jacksonville]

Walkable Commercial Districts: Brooklyn's Park Street



Brooklyn's Park Street is a walkable commercial district that is anchored by a number of businesses in the paint, floral and linen industries.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-may-walkable-commercial-districts-brooklyns-park-street

[urbaknight]

Wow, there's a lot more going on than it appears. Not so sure if you could put street trees there, the sidewalks are pretty narrow. I ride the bus throuth there every day. Jackson st has only one house on it. It would be nice if they could rebuild a neighborhood in that area. Then that market on the corner of Jackson and Park could also be reopened. So much more potential than we realize. I hope something comes of our ideas.

[cline]

It is a joke that this road was ever widened to 4 lanes.  It carries 4,000 vehicles per day.  Absolutely no demand.  Contrast that with the section of Riverside Avenue from Forest to the Acosta ramps which carries 23,000.  This corridor definitely needs a lane diet.  Hopefully the Streetcar can help spur that along

[sandralark]

I work right there on Park in Brooklyn and I think one of the hugest hindrances to foot/bike traffic is the connection to 95 right there on Forest. Don't get me wrong, access to the interstate was a huge help, but I ride my bike in to work every morning and nearly get killed by drivers making the left turn onto Forest.

Not quite sure how to remedy that specific problem, but it would make me feel a bunch better about walking/biking to local shops and using the road as a connection to downtown.

[cline]

I work right there on Park in Brooklyn and I think one of the hugest hindrances to foot/bike traffic is the connection to 95 right there on Forest. Don't get me wrong, access to the interstate was a huge help, but I ride my bike in to work every morning and nearly get killed by drivers making the left turn onto Forest.

Not quite sure how to remedy that specific problem, but it would make me feel a bunch better about walking/biking to local shops and using the road as a connection to downtown.

The major cause of that is that it is a very wide intersection causing the crosswalk across forest to be very wide (the crosswalk has to cross 6 lanes of traffic including the small dedicated right turn lane on Forest).  Cars making a left turn off of Park onto Forest spend a lot of time in the intersection because it is so wide- which is not good.  Probably the best way to make this safer for peds/bicyclists would be to lengthen the pedestrian signal in the crosswalk to allow peds more time to cross (although I'm not even sure there is a ped signal on the west side of Park.  Another option would be to extend the raised median on Forest (west of Park) to go out into the crosswalk which would creat a pedestrian refuge if you felt like you weren't going to be able to make it all the way across.

[thelakelander]

Not so sure if you could put street trees there, the sidewalks are pretty narrow. I ride the bus throuth there every day.

A lane diet would create an opportunity for parallel parking and bulb outs with greenery in certain spots. You could also put shade trees in tree grates, similar to the narrow sidewalks in Riverside's Park & King District.

[Ocklawaha]

The beautiful old marker dedicating the original Lee Street Viaduct, might have been located. This is something I have been working on in my spare time and the city has been a great help. We think we have traced it to a public works yard, but if it's still there or not remains to be seen. It would be fantastic to see it go back up on the north end of that viaduct in front of the station once again. "dedicated... so that the people of Jacksonville may pass..."

Also if or should I say IF FDOT starts rebuilding that bridge, we need to make sure that:

1. streetcar tracks are built in.
2. it gets up and over space for 10-12 tracks. (12 being the USDOT recommendation for Jacksonville's multimodal station).
3. We should push for beautification of the viaduct, and to have the balusters returned to the classic style, which actually compliments the depot, with classic light poles and trolley wire hangers. Anyone too young to remember that beautiful old viaduct need only look at the new bridge over Hogans Creek on Bay Street to get the balusters styling down pat. I don't know who is responsible for that little bridge but kudos to them for doing it right... IE: photogenic, interesting, monumental, classic revival, etc...

OCKLAWAHA

[urbaknight]

Not so sure if you could put street trees there, the sidewalks are pretty narrow. I ride the bus throuth there every day.

A lane diet would create an opportunity for parallel parking and bulb outs with greenery in certain spots. You could also put shade trees in tree grates, similar to the narrow sidewalks in Riverside's Park & King District.

I like the term, "lane diet".

[billy]

Some of the Atlanta shots, such as the A&P Lofts, are actually in or across Memorial Drive from Reynoldstown,
which is next to Cabbagetown.

[stjr]

Park Street can be seen in the upper-right corner of this image of the Jacksonville Terminal, taken between 1960 and 1979, courtesy of Florida State Archives.

Excuse me, but isn't that Myrtle Avenue in the upper right?  Park Street runs in FRONT of the Terminal as it heads toward its viaduct over the RR.  That puts Park, as it makes the curve to the west to the picture's upper LEFT side.

[thelakelander]

You are correct. Thanks for finding that typo.

[Tacachale]

Does anybody know what if anything is going on with the residential development that was planned in this area?

[riverside_mail]

Dead i

Does anybody know what if anything is going on with the residential development that was planned in this area?

Last I heard, it was dead in the water.

[urbaknight]

Let's push to bring it back to life. I'm beginning to feel that we on MJ, CAN be the grease in the local wheels of develpoment.