Last month we hosted “Making the Most of Main Street: Complete Streets & Walkable Communities”, the fourth installment in our monthly webinar series, Implementation & Equity 201: The Path Forward to Complete Streets. A recording of the webinar is now available above. You can also download the PDF of the presentation, or read the brief recap below.
A discussion recap
“Making the Most of Main Street” featured the stories of walkable main streets around the country. Ian Thomas, State and Local Program Director at America Walks, began the webinar by exploring how walkability can catalyze economic development in small, rural towns. He presented a case study of Batesville, AR, where a project to revitalize Main Street brought its downtown back to life. Previously, Batesville’s Main Street had high vacancy rates and a dangerous speeding problem. Under the leadership of Mayor Rick Elumbaugh, Batesville launched an initiative to make Main Street more attractive for businesses and residents alike. The city launched a zero-interest loan program for building improvements, organized community events, and implemented a road diet on Main Street, including widening sidewalks and adding landscaping, clearly marked crosswalks, and angled parking. As a result, Main Street’s vacancy rate dropped to 0 percent, and its downtown is now the thriving site of new restaurants and apartments as well as renovated theaters, libraries, and other community centers.
Next, Brigid Reynolds, Director of Community Development at the City of Langley, WA, and Lorinda Kay, Program Manager of the Langley Main Street Association shared the story of revitalizing Langley’s downtown. They first held community workshops to come up with a Complete Streets design for Second Street, one of the town’s main commercial avenues. To keep the street activated during the lengthy construction process, Langley held community events including prize drawings, gardening events, and “Monsters on Machines” where kids were invited to climb on and learn more about the construction vehicles. The project was so successful that now First Street is now undergoing a Complete Streets redesign as well, including making crosswalks more visible, widening sidewalks, improving lighting, and adding bike facilities to the street. The Washington State Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets grant program helped make possible much of Langley’s work to improve the character and vibrancy of their village with these ambitious corridor redesigns.
Learn more in St. Paul in September