Town of Digby looking to make Water Street improvements
A Water Street improvement plan being prepared for Digby will look to make the downtown area a more welcoming place for people, says Digby Mayor Ben Cleveland.
Among other things, the idea also is to make the area safer for pedestrians.
A concept design was presented to Digby town council recently and the topic will be discussed further as the plan is reviewed and a final version is drawn up.
Two of the things driving the town in this direction, the mayor says, are the state of its sidewalks and accessibility issues.
“Our sidewalks do need to be renewed, so we’re planning on doing that,” Cleveland says. “The other thing that’s come into play is the new Accessibility Act that’s been passed in the province of Nova Scotia, which means, as part of improving our sidewalks, we have to make them more pedestrianfriendly, like at crosswalks, entrances and things.”
The overall improvement initiative hopefully also will lead to a façade program, he says.
“The whole conversation’s been evolving a little bit around how do we change our downtown from just being the commercial district to giving it sort of a village feel,” he says.
The idea is to have a place where people will want to come and spend some time, an area with benches, artwork, trees, modern light standards and so on, he says.
The town also wants to improve safety for pedestrians, notably at crosswalks. Presently, the mayor says, people crossing the street tend to need to be in the crosswalk before they’re visible.
Part of the work the town is looking to do, he says, “is going to narrow the street up some ... so that people can see as they’re driving, they can see the people entering the crosswalks. And the other thing it will do, it will slow traffic down, which needs to happen. People tend to drive way too fast on Water Street, so this is going to slow traffic down and make it more pedestrian-friendly.”
The broader improvement initiative likely will be carried out in two or three phases, he