Here's What *Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street

[M II A II R II K]

Here's What *Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street


December 3, 2020

By Daniel Herriges

Read More: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/...wn-main-street

.....

A city street should be a place for people to congregate, shop, socialize, and do all the human things that produce value for the community. A road or highway should be a high-speed, efficient connection between two places. These functions are mutually incompatible, because one requires fast movement and predictable driving conditions; the other requires slow vehicles for an environment that can safely accommodate chaos and serendipity. When you try to combine them, you get the worst of both worlds: the stroad.

- Bamberg, SC’s approach is a bit of a twist on the stroad theme. In the name of safety, they have simply sought to wall off the pedestrian environment from the motor vehicle one, and run a road, a high-speed vehicle thoroughfare right through the middle of the street a walkable destination lined with shops. The result is, still, the worst of both worlds. It kills everything that makes downtown downtown. — Small, idiosyncratic local businesses rely on walk-in visits by customers who stumble upon them while strolling, without any prior intention of shopping there. This will rarely happen in Bamberg. Access to these businesses is from back doors that open to parking lots; nobody is strolling these claustrophobic sidewalks. Anyone who wants to cross the street has had their walk extended by a block or longer. Drivers passing through town won’t be motivated to stop and explore, because there’s no easy, obvious way to do so. Hemmed in by that wall of railings, you just keep moving.

- The railings make sense as a safety feature only because cars are moving fast: in other words, only if you start from the assumption that speeding up the flow of traffic is paramount. Then everything else follows, and you might as well make things pretty while you’re widening the highway. At least Bamberg civic leaders thought so. — It wasn’t a major boost because fast-flowing traffic through your downtown doesn’t boost the economy of your downtown. Ever. It helps people leave it faster. And while Bamberg’s economy has struggled for many reasons not attributable to urban design or this road, it absolutely doesn’t help when a rural community prioritizes the convenience of those hurrying through it over those who live in it. — Downtown is the golden goose for most towns of this size: it is the greatest concentration of wealth by far, and even in a struggling town, downtown should be the absolute last thing allowed to go bad.

- Bamberg’s Main Street is part of US 301, a federal highway that extends from Florida to Maryland through countless towns like this. Its designation as a highway may sow confusion about its purpose, but let’s be clear: these few blocks need to be a street, not a road or a stroad. Cars should move slowly and cautiously, and planning priority should be given to creating a great destination. If drivers passing through have their trip extended by 1 or 2 minutes, so be it. It’s 1 or 2 minutes. — In Bamberg’s case, this would mean reducing Main Street to one narrow lane in each direction, possibly adding some curb parking, widening the sidewalks and eliminating those railings. Features like raised crosswalks, curb bulb-outs, and street trees would also merit consideration. — And there’s a big factor looming over all of America, not just small towns like Bamberg, that could make things much worse: autonomous vehicles.

.....

[memph]

It kind of boggles my mind that a place like this exists.

[xzmattzx]

It looks like a Disney World rollercoaster through a town setting. The railings are the extra layer of safety for people on the rollercoaster.

[Pedestrian]

I'm thinking the place must have been dead already or the businesses would never have permitted it. Small business people tent o hold a lot of power in a town like this and they almost never willingly give up parking in front of their shops for good reason.

Now show is the Walmart at the end of the road that killed it.

[memph]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I'm thinking the place must have been dead already or the businesses would never have permitted it. Small business people tent o hold a lot of power in a town like this and they almost never willingly give up parking in front of their shops for good reason.

Now show is the Walmart at the end of the road that killed it.

Not really. I mean this was a stagnant rural town with maybe 40% vacant storefronts in its downtown before the barricades were put in in 2007, but it's 90% vacant now, and the town went from being stagnant (approx -0.3% pop growth/year) to being in decline in the past decade (approx -1.2% pop growth/year). There's not even a Walmart at the end of the road for the town to draw taxes and jobs from, you have to go 20 miles down the road to the seat of the next county over for that (Orangeburg).

It seems like the South Carolina DOT was a major force behind this, and the barricades were initially sold as "beautifying" the main street.

Smart Growth America were hired as consultants for how to improve the downtown in 2016 and recommended enlisting the governor to push back against the DOT desire for the highway-like design. We will see if that results in any changes...

[Omaharocks]

^ Precisely.

Small towns in the black belt like Bamberg have very little political sway with SCDOT, which is an old-school state DOT if there ever was one.

Add extra through lanes for commerce (in this case, logging trucks) to easily move through, with no regard for downtown vibrancy.

I know this case well. I know this town well. As the story mentioned, the town has been actively trying to reverse what was done. More consultants have been brought in than SGA...

[memph]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

^ Precisely.

Small towns in the black belt like Bamberg have very little political sway with SCDOT, which is an old-school state DOT if there ever was one.

Add extra through lanes for commerce (in this case, logging trucks) to easily move through, with no regard for downtown vibrancy.

I know this case well. I know this town well. As the story mentioned, the town has been actively trying to reverse what was done. More consultants have been brought in than SGA...

It's not even that much of a major highway either, just a regional road. The main high volume long distance highways are I-20 and I-95 running parallel to it.

Like at least with the towns along the Trans-Canada, there's the excuse that it's the main highway from crossing Canada east to west, and even then they don't have barricades where it goes through towns.
Ex:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.70128...7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.21278...7i16384!8i8192
https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.30033...7i13312!8i6656

Also with the Trans-Canada - there would usually be a bypass of a town the size of Bamberg. If SCDOT really want to make this an important highway, building a new route just west of the town would even be a shortcut (distance well, let alone time-wise) compared to the current route, and it seems like it wouldn't be too expensive to do (ie no existing development in the way).

[benp]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I'm thinking the place must have been dead already or the businesses would never have permitted it. Small business people tent o hold a lot of power in a town like this and they almost never willingly give up parking in front of their shops for good reason.

Now show is the Walmart at the end of the road that killed it.

Looks too small for Walmart. Here's the Dollar General with the big parking lot just down the road, in front of the vacant storefront that once was a different dollar store.

https://goo.gl/maps/2D6TA5XnM9Svju519

[xzmattzx]

After looking at this town on Google Maps, it seems like it's not as bad as it seems (although it is still as strange as it looks). The guardrails are only for one block. The business district is also only one block long. The block immediately south of this block with the guardrails is almost completely demolished. There is another main highway going through town, going east/west, that intersects this highway at the north end of the block with the guardrails.

All in all, this town seems like your typical middle-of-nowhere, stagnant town that you'll find by the thousands all around the country. One block of guardrails did not really stifle any growth, because this town is no more depressing than the next 5 or 6 down the road.

In any case, there are some strange decisions that can be seen here. For instance, why have the middle be a turning lane when there's no place to turn with these buildings along the block? Why not have one lane in each direction, and give a half-shoulder on each side? And why put up these guardrails if all the buildings are empty? Who is there to protect?

[memph]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

After looking at this town on Google Maps, it seems like it's not as bad as it seems (although it is still as strange as it looks). The guardrails are only for one block. The business district is also only one block long. The block immediately south of this block with the guardrails is almost completely demolished. There is another main highway going through town, going east/west, that intersects this highway at the north end of the block with the guardrails.

All in all, this town seems like your typical middle-of-nowhere, stagnant town that you'll find by the thousands all around the country. One block of guardrails did not really stifle any growth, because this town is no more depressing than the next 5 or 6 down the road.

In any case, there are some strange decisions that can be seen here. For instance, why have the middle be a turning lane when there's no place to turn with these buildings along the block? Why not have one lane in each direction, and give a half-shoulder on each side? And why put up these guardrails if all the buildings are empty? Who is there to protect?

True, most of the towns in that part of the state are pretty stagnant, but their town centers are still in better shape than Bamberg's by and large, and it seems like Bamberg's was in better shape prior to the guardrails being put in place as well. Having 40% vacant storefronts is far from great, but it's still better than 80%.

[KB0679]

Ha! Bamberg is the next town over from my hometown (where I've been camping out since mid-summer riding out the pandemic) which I pass through whenever I decide to hit Atlanta up. Those railings really are a bit bizarre and a total waste of money since most of those storefronts are empty and there hasn't been any real effort to get them filled anyway. But for what it's worth, this recently completed Veterans Memorial Trail right around the corner on U.S. 78 turned out pretty nicely: http://www.bambergcountysc.gov/data/.../00_trail4.jpg

Originally Posted by memph

Smart Growth America were hired as consultants for how to improve the downtown in 2016 and recommended enlisting the governor to push back against the DOT desire for the highway-like design. We will see if that results in any changes...

The irony here is that the governor in 2016 was Nikki Haley, who is actually from Bamberg.

It can been a challenge getting the state DOT to prioritize pedestrians on urban thoroughfares that are under its control, which are entirely too many in the first place (SC ranks fifth nationally for miles of roadway controlled by the state but somewhere between 30-40th for total roadway miles).

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Ha! Bamberg is the next town over from my hometown (where I've been camping out since mid-summer riding out the pandemic) which I pass through whenever I decide to hit Atlanta up. Those railings really are a bit bizarre and a total waste of money since most of those storefronts are empty and there hasn't been any real effort to get them filled anyway. But for what it's worth, this recently completed Veterans Memorial Trail right around the corner on U.S. 78 turned out pretty nicely: http://www.bambergcountysc.gov/data/.../00_trail4.jpg

What's also odd is that if you absolutely must install guard rails along your Main Street, it can be done in such a way that it's actually pleasant, and enhances the urban environment.

[Crawford]

Has there ever been a country with so much wealth that worked so hard to destroy its urban environment? The U.S. has made so many bad choices.

Who came up with the insane "let's flatten our historic downtown and build a suburban-style mall in its place"? There's a great idea. I can think of a number of smaller cities that did this in the postwar decades. Now, after eviscerating the downtown, the mall is vacant. No downtown, just a vacant 70's shell surrounded by crumbling asphalt.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

What's also odd is that if you absolutely must install guard rails along your Main Street, it can be done in such a way that it's actually pleasant, and enhances the urban environment.

Those aren't actually guardrails though. Bamberg just wanted to waste money apparently.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Has there ever been a country with so much wealth that worked so hard to destroy its urban environment? The U.S. has made so many bad choices.

Who came up with the insane "let's flatten our historic downtown and build a suburban-style mall in its place"? There's a great idea. I can think of a number of smaller cities that did this in the postwar decades. Now, after eviscerating the downtown, the mall is vacant. No downtown, just a vacant 70's shell surrounded by crumbling asphalt.

Not nearly as wealthy, but:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematization_(Romania) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceau%C8%99ima

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Those aren't actually guardrails though. Bamberg just wanted to waste money apparently.

They're close enough for government work, although I honestly don't know what purpose the metal tubing in Greenville is actually supposed to serve. Still stands though, that Bamberg could have done their job better, and with a lot more consideration, if they wanted some kind of barrier along their curbing. Had they, they wouldn't be held up as a textbook example of terrible urban design.

[memph]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

They're close enough for government work, although I honestly don't know what purpose the metal tubing in Greenville is actually supposed to serve. Still stands though, that Bamberg could have done their job better, and with a lot more consideration, if they wanted some kind of barrier along their curbing. Had they, they wouldn't be held up as a textbook example of terrible urban design.

I think there's a few things that make the railings in Greenville work better. First, they only surround the flower beds, so psychologically it feels more decorative or intended to protect the plantings from getting trampled. Second, there's frequent gaps, so it doesn't really impede anyone's desire to cross the street.

And finally it's in the context of a street that has a much different design. The Greenville street has a bump out, on-street parking, street trees, a wide sidewalk, basically the typical design of a pedestrian friendly American Main Street. The Bamberg example feels like an attempt to shoehorn a highway through main street with the lack of on-street parking, left turn lanes, and relatively minimal pedestrian realm (only street lights, no trees, benches, bike racks, flowerbeds, patio tables...). All in all, the design emphasizes straight lines parallel to the direction of travel, with no irregularities or anything jutting out. IMO this is a very highway style of designing a road that draws the driver's gaze forward rather than encouraging the driver to be alert of things on the side of the road.

But even so I think the railings still make it worse. Psychologically, for the driver, it signals a hard boundary - the driver doesn't need to worry about what's going on beyond it - ie doesn't need to concern themselves with pedestrians, neither the possibility of a pedestrian wanting to cross into the driver's territory (the road) nor the opposite (the driver drifting onto the sidewalk due to inattention). Which imo encourages higher speeds. Meanwhile, for the pedestrian, it emphasizes the danger that the road presents, and walking along the edge of something that is made to feel very dangerous (like a cliff) is a bit unsettling. Also, if the cars and trucks pass by at speed, due to how close the travel lanes are to the relatively narrow sidewalk, it'll feel quite loud, and maybe the pedestrian will also get a gush of wind, which is not that nice.

[rbehs]

I stumbled across the same thing (randomly looking at Google maps) in Puerto Montt, Chile:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.470...7i13312!8i6656