Burlington officials have used snapdragons and petunias to reclaim bits of streets that vehicles once used. Winooski planners upped the ante, setting up that city’s first-ever “parklet” in parking spaces along busy North Main Street.
The goal in both cities is to reclaim small spaces from vehicles, slow drivers along busy routes, and make people on bikes and foot feel safer.
Winooski’s parklet popped up on upper Main Street earlier this month. It looks like a small outdoor living room and occupies two curbside parking spaces. A bus stop-like enclosure anchors one end, while thigh-high wooden planters and Jersey barriers set it off from traffic. A table and chairs are set up in a corner, and “parklet” is scrawled on a wall below a cascade of white petunias.
No one was there Tuesday morning as cars whooshed by. Several events have been scheduled, including a “library in the parklet” Wednesday, August 22, from noon to 2 p.m. The city is encouraging community groups to get in touch to host programs.
The city erected the parklet with a $3,000 Placemaking Demonstration Project grant from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). It’s supposed to be in place until October, and it’s generating mixed reviews.
“I don’t like it,” said Trang Tran, owner of Heavenly Nails & Spa at 325 Main Street, just across the street. “It takes a lot of room in the road.”
She worries it will make the busy stretch more difficult for drivers, including her customers, to navigate.
“It looks like a bus stop to to me,” said Jen Murray as she had her nails done at Heavenly Nails & Spa.
But the demo has fans as well.
“I think it’s a good idea. This is something to make it a bit more pedestrian-friendly,” said Abby Gaughan, another customer at the nail shop. “I think if it became more permanent, that would be a good thing.”
Meanwhile, in Burlington, the city is using planted flowers to slow traffic along certain spots downtown, such as at Main and South Champlain streets, and on the bike route known as the Old North End Greenway, which heads from Battery Park toward the University of Vermont campus.
Bollards have been installed to reclaim parts of intersections and streets from vehicles. They’re temporary fixtures, according to Nicole Losch, senior transportation planner for the Department of Public Works.
These “quick builds” will be in place for a few years or until the city replaces them with permanent curbs and green areas, Losch said. For now, the department is seeking feedback from residents, bikers and drivers. So far, they have mostly gotten questions, according to Losch.
The design is common, “but it’s super new in Burlington,” she said.
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The need for traffic “calming ” is just proof that civilization is deteriorating. The greed and selfishness of the insane consumer/capitalist culture has gotten so bad that people behind the wheel fail to take others into consideration as they speed down the road to the next red light, thinking that they are “winning”.
@NorthOldEnder,
You mean like bicycles running red lights and stop signs? Do you mean skateboarders’ weaving in and out of cars stopped at a red light?
Thank you very little for your comment!
Who’s bright idea was this??? AARP is in on this?? @NorthOldEnder you need to get out of the flower power (hippies) era.. it’s way long gone by. You trash the cars/trucks what about the elites, they think they are the elites, who ride their $1500-5000 bikes like they own the roads. They made room for the bikes to ride on the side of the roads but have seem many ride in the middle of the road, do not use hand signals, stop for lights or stop signs. Had one pull right out in front of me and when I blew my horn he and his wife/girlfriend gave me the finger and said they have the right away.. No they did not, they need to obey the road laws too. Having these
” parklet ” are stupid.AARP just wasted our money that we have to pay..
Every time we pass some of those flowers etc in the roads, my husband and I comment that surely they can find more important things to spend our money on. I have yet to meet a single person who is not a city official who thinks they are a good idea.
Look, sidewalks provide mobility along a linear path. But eventually, people need to cross roads and streets at intersections. These intersections, where the paths of people and vehicles come together, can be the most challenging part of getting where you want to go, safely. If pedestrians cannot cross the street safely, then mobility is severely limited, access is denied, and walking anywhere is discouraged.
If people driving say they can’t safely negotiate these turns with the bump outs in place, how could they drive safely before when the space where the bump out is now placed was filled with a parked car? The planters & bollards are all lower and easier to see through than a parked car, so both the driver and the pedestrians can see each other.
This isn’t rocket science. Regardless of whether you’re riding a bike or driving a car, the final part of your trip anywhere in town is likely on foot. We’re all pedestrians, and infrastructure like this just makes sense for everybody.