Gateway proposal calls for parity between motorists, pedestrians
The Malvern Avenue Gateway Corridor and District Plan is an ambitious proposal, envisioning an approach into downtown that transcends moving vehicle traffic between two points by remaking the right of way into a conduit valuing driving, walking, biking and the social sphere in equal measure.
Stephen D. Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, told a gathering Thursday night at the Visitors Chapel AME Church the initial leg of the eight-block proposal is the easiest to implement.
“If you don’t have much money, trees are a great way to begin,” he said, referring to the tree-lined boulevard proposed for the Malvern Avenue stretch from East Grand Avenue to Garden Street. “This section of Malvern would be the easiest to build. Trees do a lot of work. Use the artwork a tree gives you. If you want people to populate the street, you have to reward walking.”
the Hot Springs Board of Directors in October, concluding obligations outlined in the $40,000 contract the city awarded UACDC in 2016. Thursday night’s presentation focused on what the proposal means for the Gateway Community Association and Pleasant Street Historic District, areas Luoni said can return to their former glory by remaking the right of way into a social space.
The boulevard concept would end at Garden Street, giving way to an outdoor museum in front of the National Baptist Hotel that pays homage to African-American musicians such as Count Basie, Pegleg Bates and Ella Fitzgerald who performed there in the era of racial segregation.
A sculpture garden would be a key feature of the museum, as well as a pedestrian table putting the street and sidewalk on the same grade and giving motorists, cyclists and pedestrians equal claim to the full width of the right of way.
“It’s a traffic calming device that forces motorists to behave socially,” Luoni said. “It raises the road to the level of the sidewalk. The pedestrian never has to step into the street. It’s a subtle thing, a 6-inch thing, but inches mean a lot in planning.
“Forcing motorists to move up on a table slows traffic to a reasonable speed, so motorists can make eye contact with pedestrians.”
Luoni compared the concept to the Fayetteville Town Square, where pedestrians have established parity with vehicles.
“It’s one of the best public spaces in Arkansas,” he said. “My traffic engineer friends hate it. They say the sight lines are terrible for motorists. There’s a jog into the square. The road is misaligned, but that’s on purpose.
“Pedestrians cross the street at any point in the square. Cars are slowed down to 15 miles an hour because the motorists enjoy the social aspect of the square.”
Luoni said Malvern Avenue needs to be put “on a diet,” with part of the right of way repurposed for biking, walking and spaces that showcase artwork.
“Between parking lots and streets, there’s a lot of underperforming asphalt,” he said. “That asphalt could be put to better use if it were a sidewalk or public space for landscape or art.”
The city’s budgeted $167,950 from its street, stormwater and urban forestry departments to seed money, funds that can be used for grant matches to bring the project into focus a block at a time.
The city’s fiscal year 2018 annual action plan for Community Development Block Grant funding allocates $42,679 for Malvern Avenue revitalization. It’s also applied for a $500,000 Federal Highway Administration Transportation Alternatives Program grant, earmarking $125,000 from the paving budget for the 20-percent match.
The city would reimburse the paving budget with money from its $7.3 million share of the $54.6 million bond issue voters approved in 2016 for road improvements. City Engineer Gary Carnahan told the gathering that ALTA Consulting has already been hired to develop plans that include burying overhead utilities.
Luoni said having a proposal in writing is a prerequisite for many grants, positioning the city for funds from the infrastructure bill introduced in Congress last year.
“It allows all the interests to apply for grants, to apply for funding,” he said. “In order to successfully win a grant, you need to have a plan. Most infrastructure money in America always rewards those communities with a plan, for having shovel-ready projects.”
Luoni said smart public investment in the right of way prefigures private investment in the adjacent areas, creating a multiplying effect benefiting commercial, residential and civic interests.
“If you want sustainable investments, the public sector has to get the public space correct,” he said. “When the public sector gets streets and spaces right, private investors see that as a cue that the public sector has done its work in investing and servicing an area, and it’s ripe for development. You could have an embarrassment of riches.”