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invested in that district and want to make even further investments ,” Rewis said .
Jeffrey Siewert , one of Ayres ’ roadway leaders , described the roadway repurposing aspects to the project . To improve safety , the plan calls for reconfiguring the roadway and reducing it from five lanes to three . This would allow for a median in the middle , enhanced pedestrian safety and accessibility , streetscaping , and widened sidewalks . “ It ’ s a much safer way to get traffic where it needs to go and provide access to the businesses , but the beauty of that is it reduces the width of the overall roadway significantly . A lot of times then we can widen the sidewalk and actually double the width , which is huge , especially in that stretch where there ’ s businesses ,” Siewert said .
The same philosophy comes into play with Complete Streets projects , a transportation design approach that requires streets to be planned , designed , and constructed to facilitate safe access for all users of the roadway system and not just vehicles . A project reconfiguring an approximately half-mile segment of roadway on East Columbus Drive in Tampa featured multiple Complete Streets concepts , including 8-foot sidewalks on both sides of the street , onstreet parking , street trees , rectangular rapid flashing beacons , lighting , and a unique environmentally conscious concept involving “ tree wells ” to filter stormwater for reuse in irrigation .
“ All of these features aligned with the project being a real success ,” Siewert said . “ The City of Tampa fully embraced the public ’ s needs , and now it ’ s a signature project .”
Learn More
Scan the QR code or visit https :// youtu . be / RThwmG2kAOQ to check out the 2020 Ayres-sponsored webinar “ Complete Streets : Adapting for People , Places , and Networks .” Learn more about how communities can keep their streets safe but usable and hear tips on how to implement some of these concepts .
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