Streetscape Plan for Farmington Avenue
The goal of the project is to improve how Farmington Avenue looks and functions as an urban arterial street. The streetscape project responds to the needs of a diverse range of corridor users, including motorists, pedestrians, business interests, and visitors.
Phase I roadway and streetscape improvements will be implemented in 2012 between Marshall Street in Asylum Hill and Denison Street in the West End.
Roadway Improvements:
- Revised
lane use to match traffic demand
- Creation of dedicated and shared turn lanes
- New curbing (where needed)
- Pavement resurfacing (where needed)
- Modified driveway aprons (where needed)
- Bus turnouts (buses will pull out of the travel lane)
- Roadway lighting (street light poles replaced)
Streetscape Features:
- Street trees (large street trees planted on edge of private
property)
- Planting areas (raised planters and beds)
- New sidewalk material (brick and tan colored pavers)
- Bus shelters (at every stop)
- Driveway apron treatments
- Trash and recycle receptacles
- Wider area of bicyclists in some locations but no dedicated
bike lane
Pedestrian Enhancements:
- Median islands for pedestrian refuge
- Sidewalk replacement
- Widened sidewalks (where possible)
- Additional crosswalks
- New sidewalk lighting (pedestrian lighting)
Views of Proposed Design
On June 14 URS presented a preliminary design of improvements
to Farmington Avenue for public review and comment. As the
design details are studied further revisions will be made as
needed. Below are links to the proposed roadway design, divided
into three sections.
The
following files are in PDF format, some of which are large
and may be slow to download.
Marshall
St to Woodland St pdf 302k
Woodland
St to Denison St pdf 273k
Denison
St to Kenyon St pdf
315k
New
street and pedestrian lighting will be installed. The “Hartford” style street poles and fixtures were
selected for pedestrian lighting. Street light poles will be
black to match pedestrian lighting and decorative “skirts” will
surround the base of the poles. All poles will be placed on the
inside edge (away from street curb) of the avenue’s sidewalks.
Lighting
for Farmington Avenue pdf
501k
Sidewalks will be re-done with concrete pavers
that resemble bricks. They will be predominantly red with a tan
accent in the middle of a basket weave pattern. There will not
be a tree belt or grassy strip between the sidewalk and curb.
Instead the sidewalk will be edged in a gray stone material on
each side to visually enlarge its width.
Sidewalk
Details pdf
581k
The streetscape plan proposes more vegetation on
Farmington Avenue. Some of the medians will be planted with trees,
shrubs and hearty plantings. The plan will attempt to enhance
the large tree canopy to the avenue where trees are sparse. The
goal will be to plant trees near the sidewalk on private property
every 60 feet. No new trees will be planted next to the curb
where growing conditions are harsh.
Marshall
St to Woodland St pdf 3mb
Woodland St
to Sherman St pdf 2.5mb
Sherman St
to Kenyon St pdf
1.3mb
Enlarged
view of street section pdf 2mb
Cross
section view of avenue pdf
860k
The
layout of travel lanes is proposed to change. Farmington Avenue
is mostly four lanes wide, except in the area between Lorraine
and Sisson Avenue which is five lanes. Some of the lanes are
now used for parking. In the proposed street design, medians
and turning lanes in selected areas of the avenue will channel
traffic as roadway use is re-arranged. The design team projected
the Level of Service (LOS) of the proposed roadway layout.
LOS is a grading system that uses letters A-F to assess how
long it takes vehicles to get through an intersection. In their
analysis LOS remained stable for most of the intersections,
although at peak travel time today some of the avenue’s
intersection get grades of D or F. An LOS grade of D is becoming “acceptable” as
a standard in urban areas because of traffic volumes.
Intersections pdf
217k
