Monday, August 14, 2017

Newark's Main Street Rehabilitation Workshop set for 8/15 at 7pm

Project Overview:
The scope of work for this project includes the replacement of the existing bituminous concrete pavement, pcc curb, sidewalk, drainage improvements, signal upgrades, curb extensions, pavement markings and signage.
Visit the workshop page HERE for location and further details.

What a disappointment that advocates aren't pushing for this. We discussed the possibility with DelDOT's Mark Luszcz, Chief P.E. in Dec. 2016, and found that it basically requires the City getting on board with it, at least with a proposal.

An attractive and livable downtown for Newark will stay an impossible dream until traffic is sharply reduced (one lane, with serious bike lanes and sidewalks) or eliminated from Main Street. The congestion, noise, fumes, etc is oppressive, to say the least. This project won't change that. The City needs to reconfigure its traffic pattern to allow Main Street -- or at least a good stretch of it (i.e. Tyre to Academy) -- to close to motor traffic. It could become one of a growing number of Pedestrian Malls in the U.S.

Since everyone knows that this level of change -- one that would actually reduce motor vehicles on Main Street -- is too progressive for Newark, everything else must be considered. Treatments like a green sharrow lane will at least help bicycle (and indirectly, pedestrian) safety, and wonderfully compliment other traffic calming measures.

Most of the cars in downtown Newark are University of Delaware students that live nearby (within easy walking/biking distance) and out of town cruisers checking out the "scenery". What a waste. So many other cities are transforming their Main Streets now (Charlottesville VA, Cumberland MD to name a few) in favor of non-motorized traffic. Sad that Newark can't take lessons from them.

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