GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The City of Greensboro wrapped up its survey process Monday after a few months of asking people to weigh in on a plan to transform some of downtown Greensboro's busiest streets.
The Greensboro Downtown Streetscape Project aims to transform Elm, Davie, Church, Market and Bellemeade streets and some of the surrounding areas.
The proposed plan, put out by the City of Greensboro and Downtown Greensboro Inc., centers around connectivity. The idea is to better connect some of downtown Greensboro's anchors, like Elm Street, LeBauer Park, the Greensboro Children's Museum, First National Bank Field and the Tanger Center For Performing Arts Center once it is completed.
In the survey, there are 6 overall project goals listed:
- Improve Safety and Comfort
- Encourage Walking and Biking
- Enhance Downtown's Identity
- Create A Clear Roadmap for Phased Improvements
- Catalyze Economic Development
- Strengthen Existing Business
- Attract New Private Developments
- Attract New Residents
- Create Community and Stakeholder Ownership
Here's a breakdown of the project and what it would bring:
Elm Street
- North Elm Street
- Enhance pedestrian environment to support the commercial and entertainment corridor
- Re-purpose wider roadway to provide for a two-way bike facility
- Special paving, art installations to celebrate the cultural node at the Tanger Center
- South Elm Street
- Strengthen space for retail, restaurants and arts
- Showcase Greensboro history with interactive art elements, special paving, etc.
- Provide access to local destinations by removing a few blocks of through-traffic near February One Place (keeping necessary on-street and service access for vehicles)
- Create a curbless pedestrian-friendly special event/festival area
Bellemeade Street
- Street will serve ball park, hotels, parks, etc.
- Enhance pedestrian and bicycle-friendly character to better connect neighborhoods to existing and planned destinations
- Incorporate as a flexible festival street
- If possible, create a curbless street
Church Street
- Create a family-friendly "play" street
- Repurpose excess roadway with a vibrant, multi-purpose linear park programmed with child-friendly activities and shared ped-bike pathway
- Provide an outdoor experience of museum, library and new school
Davie Street
- Create an active pedestrian-friendly multi-modal urban retail street
- Serve vehicle and parking access to existing and planned development along Davie, Elm and other adjoining destinations
- Repurpose excess roadway by providing safe and convenient protected bike facilities in both directions
Market Street
- Enhance multi-modal road with Greenway connections
- Repurpose excess roadway to provide protected eastbound bike facilities for all ages that complement future west-bound bike facilities on Friendly
- Strengthen the pedestrian-friendly civic character fo the street
- Provide flexible parking lanes
Zack Matheny, President and CEO of Downtown Greensboro, Inc. is involved in the project and says some changes could be coming as soon as the end of 2018.
"We don’t want to wait 10 years for them to see what they voted on," he explains. "We want to implement the strategy as soon as possible."
Funding for this project will come from a $25 million bond already approved by the people of Greensboro for downtown development. Matheny says the next move from here is to submit a final rendering to City Council, which he expects to do by the end of the summer. After Council approval, construction can start. Matheny says construction will likely start at the end of 2018 and progress through 2019 and 2020.
For more information about the project, check out the city's website here.