As part of the City of Columbus Downtown Action Plan, Burgess & Niple (B&N) designed the conversion of two downtown streets from one-way to two-way operation. Changing Front Street and Marconi Boulevard to two-way streets will slow traffic and improve traffic circulation. It also will make the streets more conducive to the ongoing housing, office and retail mixed-use development in the downtown area.
B&N coordinated the design with adjacent projects and worked closely with stakeholders, including the City of Columbus Police Department, the Central Ohio Transit Authority and tenants of the John W. Bricker Federal Building.
Features include:
- Traffic signal redesign
- Striping revisions
- Lighting design
- Minor storm sewer and fire hydrant adjustments
- Interconnect design
- Reconstruction of non-compliant ADA curb ramps
- Intersection improvements
Streetscape and aesthetic enhancements were also a part of this project. GIS and graphic design tools were used to represent these enhancements conceptually. This included buff wash sidewalks, brick crosswalks with concrete intersection centers, granite curbs, decorative street and pedestrian lighting, and planters with a variety of trees and plantings.
Final plans have been approved by the City and construction is expected to begin in 2015.
In 2015, this project received the Innovative Transportation Solutions Award from the Columbus Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).