Downtown Phoenix Planning Pedestrian Mall

The city of Phoenix might replace a downtown street with a pedestrian mall to improve walking traffic.

Eric Johnson, the city’s economic department program manager, said the pedestrian mall is planned for Adams Street between Central Avenue and 2nd Street.

The potential pedestrian mall is designed to provide better walking opportunities to downtown regulars and cater to downtown visitors, Johnson said.

He said the location of the future pedestrian mall was influenced by the proximity of the light rail station at the intersection of Washington Street and Central Avenue.

Johnson said many downtown visitors stay at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel and Hyatt Regency Phoenix along Adams Street and attend functions at the Phoenix Convention Center. As both hotels are among the busiest in the downtown area, providing better walking opportunities for visitors will create a better overall experience.

“There is a lot of people and a lot of activity,” Johnson said. “We want to create an inviting atmosphere representing an identity of Phoenix in the southwest to increase tourism and community activity.”

Johnson said the Phoenix City Council provided funding for the community and economic department to issue a Request for Proposal in December 2012.

The RFP will allow a city-appointed panel to choose and hire one consultant to conduct a study along Adams Street. In March 2013, the evaluation panel will decide who will lead the study.

The study will include an analysis of the street’s existing conditions to determine if the construction of a pedestrian mall would be in the best interest of downtown Phoenix, Johnson said.

Communications junior Justin Flores said the potential mall and the possibility of other pedestrian malls is inconvenient for drivers in downtown Phoenix, but pedestrian malls can bring more students and others to the downtown area.

“I think it’s great that (the city is) trying to do that,” Flores said. “It will help the city grow a lot more. There needs to be a higher population in downtown.”

Flores said he has lived in the Phoenix area for a while, and many ASU students don’t have the opportunity to walk around the traffic to see all that downtown has to offer.

“Downtown Phoenix is very underestimated,” he said. “There are a lot of people, and there are a lot of things going on downtown and people really enjoy it.”

Health science preprofessional freshman Carolina Lopez Prieto said she thinks the city of Phoenix should go through with the proposed plan for Adams Street and should continue to plan more pedestrian malls downtown to better the pedestrian experience.

She said many students at the Downtown campus prefer to visit Tempe, because there are more places to go and more opportunities to walk around than in Phoenix.

“It’s good that they’re doing this,” she said. “But Tempe has more stores and more variety. … If (the city does) build these pedestrian malls, they should add more stores and they’ll attract more students.”

Johnson said that is the plan for the pedestrian malls — to fill vacant areas and attract more people to visit and enjoy downtown.

Johnson said Phoenix has planned similar pedestrian malls in various parts of the city in order to improve pedestrian opportunities for all residents, visitors and city regulars.

“We are focusing our efforts in different areas,” Johnson said. “The city has been focused on trying to improve connectivity and pedestrian experience in downtown for a very long time.”

Source

Perhaps we can call this the Mercado Pedestrian Mall. Let's capitalize on similar past successes in creating a similar environment.

Does Nowakowski own land in this particular area or have a friend who does? I'm trying to understand why this is being pushed so hard.

Councilman Nowakowski has been advocating a pedestrian mall on First Street, not Adams. This is the first I've heard of Adams being considered for a pedestrian mall. Up to now, I've just heard about improving walkability on Adams without necessarily closing it to cars. Either way, pedestrian malls are a failed concept from decades past. Instead of banning cars, we need to restore the missing balance among cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists, allowing each mode to complement the others with which it shares roads.

ugh.

its like we take a good idea and put it into a machine and what is spit out is a horrible idea that does so much more harm than good.

I like the idea of a pedestrian mall, but it's got to be in the right place. I can understand their logic about Adams since it leads to the hotels and the convention center, but there is not enough retail on that street to make it "walkable". You've got Hanny's, a sandwich shop, a few other things and that's it. Now if they get some retail into spaces where the Matador was and build something with ground retail next to Hanny's there could be some possibilities. Hopefully, a shade component will be built into the design.

More bad news about Roosevelt St:

Most of the business owners are now fully behind the City of PHX plan. They're all anti-parallel parking because "we want this to be a pedestrian friendly area."

We're likely going to end up with 20' sidewalks (or more) and an urban fabric similar to 7th Ave/McDowell. Its not the worst thing in the world, but its certainly not a 'complete street' or a benchmark for a new way of doing things like the Streets Dept. originally promised.

Unfortunately, as much as the Community and local experts (who don't own buildings) have tried to show the benefits of parallel parking, its falling on def ears. No amount of data, studies, articles by experts, or examples from other Cities seems able to convince the anti Complete Streets crowd that they're wrong.

Which...is weird. I'm a logical sort, when you show me data, I tend to believe it. Its weird to me that people who own Restaurants and Galleries, but couldn't tell you who Jane Jacobs was think that they're experts on this topic.

On a personal note, this is probably the grimmest I've ever felt about PHX. I expect the Streets Dept to be nimrods, but when even the community is shooting itself in the foot, its very defeating feeling.

Ped Malls rarely work, getting the location right is the #1 thing. About the only place in Maricopa County that might work is Mill Ave. Especially once it has the Streetcar. But, Mill Ave is fine the way it is, so there's likely little reason to rock the boat and try a Ped Mall there.

And if we are going to be trying things like this, we ought to be following National standards which is to use "paint and planters". IE temporary solutions, try things out, see how they work, go from there. Instead the City is pouring cement and making permanent mistakes.

Pedestrian malls are generally a bad idea. There are very few places in the US where they actually work. In the town where I grew up, they spent millions installing one in the downtown area, only to tear it up and restore the street a decade later. It killed a lot of pedestrian traffic, and devastated a large number of businesses. It had the opposite effect of what the city was trying to accomplish.

I agree with hoover though. If you insist on installing one, at least give it a trial run before spending millions to make it permanent.

I rode by the ghetto subsidized future cockroach infested senior housing on 16th and Washington the other day, and there are walls going up already. Should be craptastic when they get it finished.

This is the grimmest you've felt? This Roosevelt business is admittedly stupid, but it's not anywhere near the lowest point for Phoenix.

I hate to be the cynical asshole, but I consistently see postings on here by people with admirable goals, but they are always exceedingly naive in my opinion. Of course the business owners don't know about urban design because that's not their business. We can argue whether they even understand business, but that's a different discussion. People tend to create preconceived notions and then they just find a way to fit the world into that preconceived notion. In some ways it is interesting that many of these business owners, who are the "creative class" who are supposed to be more educated and open to new ideas, are the ones championing the status quo.

The City doesn't surprise me at all. City leaders always side first with the property owners who are affected, and then when the owners are in dispute, the owners with the most money. Welcome to politics. There may be people in Streets or other departments who understand some things and want to shake it up, but their superiors in the Department want the status quo because that was the cutting edge when they got their degree in transportation or whatever way back in the 60s.

I'm wondering if the State Press got the Adams Street story wrong. This article from the Republic, which includes a video from one of the mayor's advisors, makes no mention of a pedestrian mall, just pedestrian improvements.

http://www.azcentral.com/insiders/ph...-street-study/

Exactly. I saw just what you describe happen in Providence, where I lived in the mid-80s. It's an experience repeated in countless cities around the country. For every success like 16th Street in Denver, there are dozens of failures. It's pure hubris to think Phoenix can beat the odds, especially on First Street.

The biggest problem is that pedestrian streets are thought up to improve pedestrian activity and retail. But the reality is that for these projects to be succesful, those elements have to be there to begin with. You cant create pedestrian environments, just enhance them.

The words "Pedestrian Mall" aren't in the RFP that went out. Now I suppose a consulting firm could propose one, but the City, to my understanding, isn't necessarily asking for one.


I didn't say its the lowest point. However, Roosevelt is really our only near term hope for an urban, walkable, retail street. Something that every good City has. If we fuck up this streetscape, we won't have another chance somewhere else for a decade at the soonest.


I agree, unfortunately PHX city policy dictates that adjacent property owners get to dictate the public realm and decide whether the ROW in front of them had parallel parking, or super wide sidewalks, or whatever.

Thanks. Maybe the State Press confused the First Street and Adams Street stories or took something out of context. Any firm that even mentions the phrase "pedestrian mall" (other than as an example of what not to do) should be fired immediately.

That's the real problem here -- this suburban idea that the curb is something owned by residents or businesses next to it. The curb is a public amenity and should be managed that way. Neighbors' opinions are important but should not override all other factors.

Pedestrian Mall
 

If they do proceed on a mall they need to incorporate the Date Palm Application like they have around the Convention Center and Sheraton but much denser. The Date Palms should serve as shade source and over canopy for colorful lush trees and plants, (so tired of 100% palo verde treens that look greenish/brown and tacky, a few are ok but not every freaking tree),the landscaping should be multi level with numerous water elements, little creeks etc. If they can't do it right they shouldn't bother.

Like at Scottsdale Quarter?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fPV0JtKwQH...le+Quarter.jpg

If shade is what you are looking for, palms are not the answer. Palo Verdes produce much more shade and are native, so they deal with the environmental conditions much better. Its hard to get a lush look in Phoenix without wasting a ton of water.

Ideally, we could capture all of the condensate from our AC systems and use it to irrigate local plants that are used to local conditions (like AZ Sycamores or Cottonwoods) and create micro riparian areas. But instead, all that moisture goes down the drain.

Sat on the patio of Bliss between downpours last night and had a fabulous view of the massive Roosevelt Pointe garage. Ugh. Will wait until it is completed because from other perspectives, I was rather impressed: heading south on 3rd, it has a great presence and the colors look less nauseating than original renderings and the south structure looks nice and dense. I just wish more thought went into designing for the neighborhood it sits in. That is a massive amount of space that has been essentially turned into a dead zone. The influx of residents is a definite benefit, as is the transformation of what was barren land, but a few additional retail spaces to soften the garage and eastern ground level would have made it an A+ project.

There are so few places in Phoenix where we still have a chance at making it work. Why can't we at least get it right there? Roosevelt is going to have massively unnecessary sidewalks, no street parking (thus, probably no reduction in speeds, foot traffic, etc.) and now the restaurants and organic scene to the south will be decimated with garage after garage - more are coming with the Bio campus.

Screw the waste of water on a limited area like this, the city needs an oasis area like the AZ Center where you can walk around even on warmer days and not feel like your head is on fire. So tired of 100% PC environmental water saving isn't 98% enough?

You would have a much beter argument if you were advocating for wasting water on true shade trees, rather than palms, which are more of a decorative plant than utilitarian/shade-producing. I don't care one way or the other, as I don't know enough about how much more water would be wasted by certain trees, the long-term impacts of the water waste, etc.

I do know that since this will likely use public funds that surely the landscaping will need to be as conscientious as possible. There is definitely a balance to be striked through a combination of trees and man-made shade that is both beautiful and comfortable. Unfortunately, most projects have seemed to fail at this. :(

On a positive note, has anyone been by The Canvas building recently? I only caught a glimpse as I drove by last night and the sign was lit up, some landscaping looked complete (with fun bicycle strcutures, etc.) and at least one of the spaces had its lights on. Any word on when the renovation will be complete - or is it compete now? Regardless, it looked great! What an improvement.

Seeing that project made me think of just how important the Roosevelt streetscape improvements will be. Everyone on this forum knows that much of our city was built with the automobile as king - even the Canvas building has a lot in front - but, there is SO much potential to make this area a great, urban, walkable area regardless. I can't wait to see that intersection in 5 years or so, with the retail at RPointe filled, the triangle complete with a unique sculpture, shade, etc. But, as I watched a pedestrian struggle to cross, I was reminded that these efforts really do need to create a safer pedestrian environment. 20' sidewalks won't do that. Creating a buffer for bicyclists and pedestrians through landscaped medians and street parking will.

The improvements will be just that - improvements - but, I just want to get this right. Everything left to private interests in that neighborhood has been working. With each new project or renovation, we inch closer and closer, and it is truly exciting to see! Now, it's time for the city and public projects to support these efforts. We are so lucky that funding is coming, and while I am grateful that anything will be done, I just wish the city would listen to those are knowledgable and are passionate about downtown because all it takes is a stroll down Roosevelt now to see that it has been working. /rant.

On one final sad note, any bets that the now empty lot on Roosevelt and 7th where the K was to go will just end up a gas station anyway, yet remain vacant for about a decade longer than it would have? I thought it had a shot had the buildings remained... Maybe, just maybe, someone would have seen potential once these other projects brought improvements closer and closer to 7th. But, with the buildings demolished, who cares now? :(