West Broad Street 2.0 - Let's Continue to Strengthen the Community
Looking back at West Broad Street 1.0 and how you can influence the next version of Sugar Hill's Main Street
In our last article, we talked about the city awarding a design contract for West Broad Street in January 2006. Now, more than 18 years later, it’s time to look at what was right in the design, what needs improvement, and how we can expand our city’s main street.
Let’s first look back at the design that came out of 2006. Construction on West Broad Street wouldn’t get underway for some time after the design completion - some of that delay attributed to the Great Recession that would set in shortly after the design completion in 2008.
Here is a portion of the February 2010 newsletter Sugar Hill Sentinel discussing the coming changes for both downtown and West Broad Street.
The city would break ground on West Broad Street 1.0 in 2011 and would mark the occasion in the August 2011 version of the Sugar Hill Sentinel, including a general layout of what the new main street in downtown would look like.
Construction on West Broad Street would see the entire street closed for long periods of time for the major rebuild, as noted in the November 2011 Sugar Hill Sentinel.
What did West Broad Street 1.0 get right?
A lot - on-street parking to calm traffic speeds, street trees, brick inlays in the sidewalk, improved infrastructure replacing undersized and deteriorated water, sewer and storm drainage that would be upsized to accommodate the planned future growth that was contemplated in the 2005 Town Center Master Plan. The street lighting was significantly upgraded and the sidewalks were much, much larger (with some exceptions).
What did 1.0 get wrong?
A few things - chief among them the angle of the on-street parking. One complaint we get a lot about downtown is larger vehicles sticking out in the travel lane. While that’s certainly an annoyance, it does provide for additional traffic calming but it certainly could be improved. The other issue with the angle of the parking is the need for most cars to back into not only the on-coming traffic lane, but the opposite lane in order to get out of the space. A sharper angle on the parking will improve the situation but it does come at the cost of the loss of some of the parking spaces. This, however, isn’t an issue as there is plenty of parking in the Solis public parking deck that exists today.
Some other areas for improvement include:
Tree wells that weren’t adequately sized to accommodate the future growth of the street trees.
The roundabout at Whitehead Road is too small allowing for cars to maintain speed through the roundabout rather than slowing and the stone planter is too high, obstructing the view for motorists and pedestrians.
The landscape islands are generally too small. The landscaping, in general, could use a lot of improvement.
The brick inlays, while aesthetically pleasing, have settled unevenly leading to uneven surfaces.
Stamped asphalt was used as a cost saving measure in the street itself which looks great when freshly painted and stamped but quickly deteriorates and looks poor after a very short time.
It’s time for West Broad Street 2.0
Some 15 years later, it’s now time to improve our community’s main street with West Broad Street 2.0. The city has published a concept board showing a number of possible improvements to be considered for our main street. Not only was the initial investment of 1.0 necessary, but re-investment is also absolutely necessary to keep our community’s front porch beautiful, safe, inviting and a statement that our city’s main street is open for business.
As mentioned in a previous article, downtown is in the awkward teenage phase of its growth and nurturing it into a productive adulthood means not abandoning it at this critical stage.
The concept board is just that - a concept to spark your imagination. This is your main street.
The city needs your thoughtful and constructive feedback.
How can you do that? Very easily through the feedback section on the city’s website at this location.
Your feedback is important to the future of our city’s main street. Changes to West Broad Street 2.0 could include additional traffic calming, parking changes, upgraded street lights to LED lights to improve safety and save energy.
Please leave your feedback in the easy to complete form on the city’s website!
Once you’ve done that, you can come back here and discuss your ideas by leaving a comment below and sharing this article with your friends and neighbors. Let’s brainstorm together on what West Broad Street 2.0 could be!