"That’s the kind of exciting destination that could help bring back [Madison's] State Street — and go beyond what it has been. Instead of a river of concrete for buses to rumble down, State Street could be a walkable park for people, who would be prioritized over vehicles. The mayor last week brushed off support among Downtown business owners for taking buses off State Street, calling them desperate and willing to try anything. That might be true, given how devastating the pandemic, weak economy, protests against police, smashed windows and looting were for store owners last year. But just as likely is that business owners have a better sense for what will work than the mayor. Rhodes-Conway also cited changing retail trends, with more people shopping online. But why is that a reason to run buses down State Street?... The mayor wonders aloud if keeping buses off State is an attempt to keep poor people away.... The mayor isn’t about to bring back regular vehicle traffic to State, she said. So in that sense, she does support a pedestrian mall the entire length of State Street — as long as it’s centered around buses. That vision is stale and unexciting compared to the popular and long-standing idea of creating a grand promenade and park."
From "Don't pit fast buses versus a State Street promenade — Madison can have both," an editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal).
I've lived in Boulder as well as Madison, and I love Pearl Street and have long wished that State Street could be like Pearl Street, especially since State Street is already halfway there, closed to almost all traffic... other than these giant buses that must barrel down the street, disrupting the playful, peaceful mood.
But it should be conceded that State Street is a very different place from Pearl Street. State Street has the University of Wisconsin at one end and the State Capitol at the other. Pearl Street is a few blocks away from campus (the University of Colorado), and there's nothing like a state capitol anywhere in the city. So there are far more intersecting interests connected to State Street.
Pearl Street is a nice little enclave over there, a place for visitors and city residents to shop and eat and fool around. There are some people who prefer a funkier downtown, and State Street is absolutely, centrally downtown.
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5 comments:
Whiskeybum writes:
It's been years since I've been in Boulder, so correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Pearl Street have intersecting traffic streets running perpendicular every block? If so, that's also like Lincoln Road in Miami/South Beach (which I recall is about twice as long as Pearl Street). At those intersections, the foot crowds are constantly fighting the cross-traffic; there are traffic lights to regulate these flows, but they are often ignored by the pedestrians. In an ideal world (or city), those cross streets would go under the pedestrian mall so that cars/pedestrians would never mix.
Yes, there are cross streets breaking up the Pearl Street mall.
Montgomery writes:
By pure coincidence with you posting about Pearl Street today, Mrs. Scott and I are in Boulder, CO, this weekend on vacation and we just got back from walking on Pearl St. I agree with your assessment that Pearl St. has much more in the way of activities, including people watching, than does Madison's State Street. I haven't been on State St. in about 5 or 6 years, but I would say after being on Pearl St. today, that in no way does State St. even come close to being what Pearl St. is. (I don't know if storefronts are still boarded up on State St., but nary a piece of plywood in sight on Pearl St.). Plus, with the Rockies a couple of miles due west, you can't beat nature's spectacular skyline.
John Whitehead writes:
Ann: I know both State and Pearl.
I am surprised that busses need to be routed down State Street. Why shouldn't they travel on the two one way streets adjacent to the south - Gorham/University and Johnson? Riders needing access to State Street could walk one or two blocks over to State.
Pearl Street can deal with intersections because none of the north/south cross streets is terribly busy - with the one exception of Broadway. And that street is not as used by vehicles as the main north/south arteries of 28th, 30th and Foothills Parkway - to the east of the "mall" area.
I heard one business owner say that the real reason for buses on State Street is that it's tied to some federal money grant. I don't know that for sure, but this shopkeeper thought the buses hurt business. I think — and you can see this in the mayor's comments — that politicians want to be seen pushing mass transit, and State Street is the main stage, so look at all those buses.
The shopkeeper mocked the notion that the buses were bringing customers to their door. What they want are people from a wide radius driving downtown. It should be and interesting, exciting experience, much better than going to a mall.
Even though the cross streets in Madison are busier than the Pearl Street crossings, we already have something on State Street that's dominated by pedestrians. There are just traffic lights and the pedestrians wait to cross. That's completely normal behavior. It does create a segmentation of the mall, but so what?
Begonia writes:
I am sympathetic to those who want State Street to be a pedestrian mall. I actually think that the inner Capitol loop should be one too. I mean, think of how many days of the year the Metro buses have to be re-routed from the inner Capitol loop because of Farmers Markets, Art Fairs, Concerts, etc.
State Street could be fully pedestrianized from Lake Street to Gorham Street without much impact on the bus network. And, if buses were rerouted from the inner capitol loop to the outer capitol loop, the 100 block of state by the Capitol could be fully pedestrianized.
However, the basic problem is one of geometry/street network. Looking at the Madison Metro route map (I'm linking to the weekend/holiday map for simplicity's sake) you can see that our bus system relies on the Capitol Square being basically a giant transfer point for nearly all buses that go through the isthmus, including routes 2,4,5,6, and 7. The problem, then, is in moving the buses from the Johnson/Gorham one way pair, up to the square, and then back to theJohnson/Gorham one way pair. The buses use Hamilton Street on the north corner of the square, and they use State Street on the west corner of the square. I don't really see a way around that problem, unless we give up on the transfer connections at the square.
As far as the federal transit funds...Meh. Yes, State Street is a dedicated transit-way, so there is probably some federal money that helps subsidize Metro's operation at a higher share of operating subsidy than the operating subsidy for the other routes. But that funding is not a barrier that prevents State Street from becoming pedestrianized, it's just a pretty small pot of funding that Madison gets for having dedicated bus lanes in certain places. That amount will shrink slightly if State Street is pedestrianized. It will have a minimal impact on the transit budget.
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