Even Quaint Towns Can Be Cutting Edge

Melissa Hege, AICP of South Florida-based Melissa Hege City Planning LLC. takes a trip to western Massachusetts and highlights affordable, easy-to-implement concepts for enhancing bicycle and pedestrian safety in the public realm.

Looks like they had fun with this one. A sort of variation on the London crosswalks which remind people to LOOK right, left, right. Perhaps a reminder to look up instead of down at your smart phone. Another important feature is the textured material placed at the end of the sidewalk ramp. It’s another way to remind people on their smart phones to look up because they are approaching moving traffic!

Well, it kind of works. At least the kids aren’t distracted.

Here’s it very clear which portion of the road is reserved by biking and which for cars. The broken line is a way of showing the approach to an intersection and reminds the guy on the bicycle that cars may be turning into their lane.

Another cool design element to point out is how the sidewalk extends out around the parking lane to narrow the intersection and create extra space to plant more green (or brown mulch).

All these upgrades were done within the past year. What I like about this sidewalk are the distinct zones for walking and sitting which are created with different paving material. The brick defines what we planners like to refer to as the “furniture zone”. Lights, trees and benches go here. The rest of the sidewalk is for walking. Slabs of concrete have been scored to create a more decorative paving pattern on the cheap. And I think it works quite well.

This photo was taken in front of Ruby’s Cheesemonger shop. It’s a converted bank with a cheese shop in front and a lovely sandwich bar in the back. Too bad the New York Times beat me to this shot in this month’s Sunday travel section featuring the Berkshires as a foodie haven.

And lastly a shot from Stockbridge, Massachusetts which is mentioned in James Taylor’s song Sweet Baby Jane and always gets a big cheer when he sings it down the street at the famed Tanglewood Music Center. If you don’t know what I’m talking about look it up!

Stockbridge must have applied for the same grant money at Great Barrington because they have newly painted bright green crosswalks. These are super effective because they’re so easy to see.

So what can we learn from this Miami? It doesn’t take a lot of money to make bold design moves that improve safety for people and bikes. Take more risks and if it doesn’t work Miami, we can always remove the paint!

Article originally posted by Melissa Hege, AICP at www.Melissahege.com.

Melissa Hege, AICP, LEED AP, practices planning and urban design in one of the Country’s most envied and envious iconic cities—the Republic of Miami. For more than a decade, she has enjoyed the juxtaposition of the region’s beauty and dysfunction, and continues to learn from it daily. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Brandeis University, her portfolio includes award winning plans which translate design based solutions into practical applications.

In her current practice, Melissa Hege City Planning, she straddles the roles of planner and community advocate by exploring infrastructure investments which add exponential value to cities. These include waterfront parks, bicycle and pedestrian trails, and complete streets—streets which have comfortable and protected zones for bicycles, pedestrians, cars, and transit. She is currently developing a waterfront pop-up installation on Miami’s Biscayne Bay to demonstrate the potential value of a permanently improved and connected waterfront trail in downtown Miami. Other recent projects include an interactive web based tool to visually track all multi-agency infrastructure improvements in downtown Miami and a Complete Streets forum for local municipalities in partnership with Miami Dade County.

Melissa is a board member of the Miami Modern (MIMO) Biscayne Boulevard Association, a 501c3 dedicated to preserving its architectural history and expanding commercial opportunities for this US-1 corridor. She is Past Chair of the Miami Section of the Florida American Planning Association, was Co-chair for the State’s annual conference and served on Miami-Dade County’s Transportation Aesthetic Review Committee. She has been published in the Miami Herald, Florida Planning, Planetizen and Panorama (University of Pennsylvania) and taught as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University. She developed a planning curriculum for middle school students at the Cushman School and is a regular speaker at the Florida American Planning Association’s annual conference.</i>