NORTHAMPTON A $19.1 million extensive redesign of Main Street downtown outlined this week calls for removing more than a third of on-street parking, adding bike lanes in both directions and planting new trees throughout the downtown area, all part.
Published: 6/24/2021 9:39:21 PM
NORTHAMPTON Residents and business owners pushed for changes to the city’s chosen redesign for the downtown area at a public forum Thursday night, asking the design team to eliminate angled parking, improve handicapped accessibility and create a continuous canopy of trees along Main Street sidewalks.
More than 120 people attended the fifth public meeting and final one this year on the Picture Main Street project, held virtually on Zoom, and described concerns and ideas about the plan dubbed “Alternative 3.”
A major goal of the initiative is to reduce miles traveled by car and to increase other mobility options like walking and biking.
Downtown business owners: Envisioning a more robust Main Street
Downtown Northampton on Main Street in 2017. Gazette file photo
Published: 5/27/2021 3:24:00 PM
When we, the undersigned, as business owners in downtown Northampton, picture Main Street we envision a place with greenery and shade; we envision a place where bicyclists ride without fear of automobiles; we envision a place where pedestrians are walking down the street, stopping into businesses, enjoying the shade from trees on a sunny day, gathering outdoors to talk and laugh; we envision a place that values the community more than it values the 50-cent parking fee.
What we have been given as options by the city for Picture Main Street is a step not far enough. We are living in a moment where the climate emergency is real and we have the opportunity right now to change how the future of our city will deal with that.
Three-lane design favored option for Northampton’s downtown
STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN GUTTING
Published: 5/25/2021 8:53:28 PM
NORTHAMPTON An ongoing effort to redesign Main Street took a significant step forward Tuesday when Mayor David Narkewicz announced that he has picked a three-lane design for the busy thoroughfare for further study.
The mayor, who has called Main Street’s redesign a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity, selected what’s known as “Alternative Three” from among four options that have been studied as part of the so-called Picture Main Street project.
This option calls for three lanes for car travel one lane in each direction with a third lane for left turns. The idea would also preserve angled parking, expand the sidewalks and create continuous separated bike lanes.
Visitors to downtown Northampton dropped dramatically due to COVID; New program seeks to help businesses bounce back MassLive.com 6 hrs ago Jackson Cote, masslive.com
Findings from an outside consultant group hired by the state to look at the challenges posed to businesses in downtown Northampton amid the coronavirus pandemic paint a bleak picture for the typically bustling area.
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Northampton’s primary business district wasn’t immune to the economic effects of the COVID-19 public health crisis, according to Karl Alexander, a project planner for Civic Space Collaborative. The pandemic caused a 50% decline in vehicle traffic and a 41% decrease in foot traffic in the Pioneer Valley city’s downtown.