Clayton, a rapidly growing town on the outskirts of Raleigh, wants to make over the streetscapes of its Main Street District. In recent years, their downtown has become a destination for festivals, street fairs, farmers’ markets, musical performances, and local art walks. While these have been successful events, the limitations of the District’s existing streetscape hinder the Town’s ability to accommodate future growth and create pedestrian safety conflicts. Additionally, the Town believes an improved streetscape will benefit the long-term economic development of its downtown.
Stewart was hired to assess the Main Street District’s streets, engage the public and downtown business owners around streetscape goals, make recommendations for improvements, prioritize streetscape projects, and provide a budget and plan for implementation. As part of the project, vehicular parking, bicycle connections and bicycle parking were also addressed.
The project goals were created around pedestrian comfort and safety, the needs of the downtown business owners and the needs of the Town. Project interventions included items such as midblock crossings, a widened pedestrian sidewalk zone, traffic calming elements, pedestrian-scale lighting, street trees, and bioretention planters.