<p>The Crafton Tull team was contracted by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) to complete an active transportation plan for Cole and Callaway Counties, Jefferson City, Holts Summit, St. Martins, Wardsville, and Taos. The project, which is in progress, utilizes GIS data, existing conditions evaluation, and public input to develop a bicycle and pedestrian network with an implementation plan identifying short-, medium- and long-term projects, as well as a methodology for project prioritization, and general opinions of probable cost.</p>
<p>As a part of the public engagement phase of the project, Crafton Tull has worked with CAMPO to present two multi-day public workshops inviting community members to provide their insight regarding active mobility desires and needs in the area. Crafton Tull also hosted a booth at Jefferson City&rsquo;s Living Windows holiday event, where residents were invited to share input on the draft active transportation network, guide implementation priorities, and interact with a project website with further engagement opportunities. Additionally, the Crafton Tull team has led walk audits throughout the city to familiarize stakeholders with the critical active transportation infrastructure needs of the area.&nbsp;</p>

Learn about Crafton Tull's work on Capital Area Active Transportation Plan.

Crafton Tull | Capital Area Active Transportation Plan

[X] Capital Area Active Transportation Plan

Education

Awards

ASLA

Learn more about Dave Roberts and his role and experience at Crafton Tull.

Crafton Tull | Dave Roberts

<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Dave is responsible for overseeing and contributing to site planning and urban design projects that include community redevelopment plans, corridor plans, campus master plans, parks &amp; recreation system plans, as well as bicycle &amp; pedestrian network plans. Dave often presents sessions at conferences in the Mid-South region on planning healthy communities, urban planning strategies, and the benefits of placemaking. His daily responsibilities also include administration of the marketing department and business development for the firm.</span></p>

<p>Walking is a relative term that means foot (or wheel) transportation. My teenage daughter uses a power wheelchair for mobility and her rolling fits under the category of walking. Often bike riding falls in line with walkability as well. Many urban and suburban dwellers have the benefit of utilizing bicycles as an option for commuting to work or to other amenities. Many think of cycling only in terms of recreation, and it can be, but a bicycle is also an alternative form of (active) transportation. While some communities are well-positioned for this influx in active transportation, others may not be.</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/walkability_score/walkabiltiy_pedestrian_safety.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="806" /></p>

<h2>Walkability</h2>
<p>Walkability is a planning term that measures an area&rsquo;s ease of connectivity via non-vehicular transportation. Walkability speaks to a location&rsquo;s walk score, which analyzes hundreds of&nbsp;routes to nearby amenities and produces a score based on those factors. In other words, walkability measures how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability factors include the presence or absence and quality of pedestrian facilities, amount of vehicular traffic and roadway conditions, surrounding land uses, accessibility, and user safety, among others. Sustainable urban design and walkability go hand in hand. A walk score helps us remember that streets are more than just a place for cars and trucks. A street is meant for all modes of transportation, and places with multiple mobility choices get higher walk scores. We should relish the process of transportation rather than trying to get somewhere as fast as possible. Ralph Waldo Emerson is purported to have said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the destination, it&rsquo;s the journey.&rdquo; Why not gain benefits from that journey? The outcomes of a good walk score are livability, which affects economic development, safety, health, environment, quality of life, and many other community benefits.</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/walkability_score/infrastructure_barriers.jpg" alt="" width="727" height="727" /></p>
<h6>Infrastructure barriers</h6>
<p>When things get back to normal, post-pandemic, what will we have learned from our walks? Will we realize that our legs and lungs are stronger from it, that our mind is clearer, and our perception of our neighborhood is now different? Alternatively, will we default back to our cars, forsaking this newly found joy that has been an important part of our daily routine? Life moves so fast when it&rsquo;s spent inside our glass and steel bubbles zipping from place to place. We often sacrifice so much for the sake of speed and convenience. Will we realize that our community&rsquo;s walk score is low because our communities have not fully embraced their transportation options? It is never too late to make changes to your town&rsquo;s built environment by adding options for active transportation. If infrastructure changes are needed, then a walkshop along with grants can help with planning, design, funding, and implementation.</p>

<h2>Walk score</h2>
<p>Does your community have a good walk score, or a poor one? What is the process a community takes to improve its walk score? Walk audits or Walkshops are a good first step (pun intended). Walkshops are interactive walking workshops with professional planners, community leaders, and advocates to develop placemaking concepts and solutions for alternative transportation (walking &amp; cycling) by analyzing an area&rsquo;s walkability, circulation, universal access, parking, safety, and sustainability. Often wayfinding, beautification, and community character improvements are also part of the inventory. Typically this occurs in a community&rsquo;s downtown or commercial area that is often surrounded by neighborhoods.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Have you ever visited a community&rsquo;s sleepy downtown and noticed it&rsquo;s in virtual hibernation as if the shops have not changed in decades, assuming there are many shops to visit? These downtowns often have a few open stores, maybe a restaurant or two, usually an insurance office, a bank, perhaps a florist, and plenty of empty storefronts. &nbsp;Typically, few cars are present and even less foot traffic on the sidewalks.&nbsp; What story does that tell a visitor to the area? Is it a story of growth, resilience, and expansion, or a tale of increased vacancy and decline? How does the infrastructure that supports the downtown contribute to that story? Are the crosswalks clearly marked, curb cuts present, and&nbsp;in appropriate locations? What&rsquo;s the quality of pavement on the downtown streets? Are there gateways into town and wayfinding to direct first-time visitors? Is the downtown walkable and does it support cycling as an alternative form of transportation?&nbsp;If so, is there a network in place that links your downtown to surrounding neighborhoods, parks, and schools?</p>
<p>I saw the downtown story of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, dramatically change in less than five years. Their &lsquo;Old Towne District&rsquo; was much like what is described above, with few cars and even fewer pedestrians frequenting only a handful of shops and one restaurant. It was off the beaten path (removed from I-55), seemingly a victim of big-box store displacement. The City brought in urban planners to help with a downtown master plan, and employed landscape architects and engineers to create streetscape plans that changed the district&rsquo;s focus from vehicular to more pedestrian. A few developers took a risk by adding some mixed-use, e.g., retail on the first floor and apartments on upper floors on one block, a new restaurant opened, and then a bike shop and in no time &ndash; everything changed. The key was the walkability afforded by the wider sidewalks and safe crosswalks. They even added a mid-block crossing using rapid flashing beacons to alert drivers of pedestrians ready to cross the street. The City rebranded the area as the &lsquo;Rose District, &rsquo; giving it an identity based on the flowers in the raised planters and the baskets that hang from the new lampposts. The before and after photos are great examples of how walkability is necessary for downtown retail to thrive.</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/walkability_score/crafton_tull_rose_district_broken_arrow.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="451" /></p>
<h6>Broken Arrow Rose District</h6>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/walkability_score/walkability_crafton_tull_rose_district.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="451" /></p>
<h6>Broken Arrow Rose District midblock crossing</h6>
<p>Walkshops, typically led by urban planners, are opportunities to share observations and provide possible infrastructure improvements. Attendees may include mayors or other elected officials, the city engineer or public works director, parks director, local healthcare agency directors, business owners, and community advocates. Those present must include people in the town that can effect change. They are the ones who need to see the issues and hear the solutions in order for commitment to take hold. There is no replacement for the firsthand experience of walking on existing streets and sidewalks to get an understanding of the issues a downtown is facing. That experience cannot be replicated from the seat of a car.</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/walkability_score/walkshop_crafton_tull.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="569" /></p>
<h6>De Queen Walkshop 2019 (Center for Community Development, UCA)</h6>
<p>A few years back, I led a walkshop in Broken Arrow&rsquo;s Rose District to show off the &lsquo;what and how&rsquo; rather than analyze what could be possible. The attendees were leaders from other communities who hoped to borrow some of the secrets they could take back to their own downtowns. After the walkshop, a technical report is often the deliverable with photos and a narrative that summarizes the on-site analysis that includes the opportunities and constraints identified at the event. The technical report may also provide funding sources and next step options, so the community leaders have a clear path toward improving their town&rsquo;s transportation infrastructure. The walkshop can be the first step in changing the downtown&rsquo;s story. Each of those changes will affect the community&rsquo;s walk score and, more importantly, make an impact on visitors and the locals, who live, work, and play downtown. Once the COVID-19 crisis is over, &nbsp;downtown businesses will need extra love to get back lost revenue from lack of foot traffic or online only sales. What better way to help restore small businesses that are vital to the community than by conducting a walkshop to set improvements in motion? We are here to help cities and towns organize, mobilize, and navigate the grant process to find the funds to do just that.</p>

Quality of pedestrian facilities, amount of vehicular traffic, among others, determine walkability.

Dave's Work

Learn about Crafton Tull's work on Two Rivers Park Trail Improvements.

Crafton Tull | Two Rivers Park Trail Improvements

AICP, ASLA

Learn more about Julie Luther Kelso and her role and experience at Crafton Tull.

Crafton Tull | Julie Luther Kelso

<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Julie is a Project Manager and Director of <strong>Planning </strong></span><span data-preserver-spaces="true">for Crafton Tull. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners as well as the American Planning Association and is a licensed Landscape Architect in both Arkansas and Texas. Julie&rsquo;s areas of expertise include large-scale comprehensive plans, bicycle and pedestrian plans, and park system master plans, as well as site-specific projects such as streetscape corridors, trail design, and campus planning projects. She has managed several award-winning projects varying in scale from a few city blocks to several counties.</span></p>

<h2><strong>A shift in focus</strong></h2>
<p>In 1940, with less than 20 percent of Americans living in rural or suburban areas, metropolitan downtown remained the hub of economic activity in the United States. Even families who lived outside of the city had to travel downtown for entertainment, including theatres, plays, restaurants, gathering space, and commerce. These figures changed drastically when the post-war automobile boom made it possible to live outside the city center where new suburban homes were being constructed at a rapid pace.&nbsp;By 2000, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Census Bureau</a>, half of the U.S. population lived in suburban areas.&nbsp;This mass exodus resulted in outlying shopping malls and big-box retail, with their ample parking and one-stop shopping appeal. They soon replaced downtown areas as the center of retail, culture, entertainment, and gathering space. Downtowns became increasingly neglected as local businesses couldn&rsquo;t compete with big box stores. Research analysts at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cowen and Company</a>&nbsp;published a study in early 2017 that found&nbsp;&ldquo;The number of malls in the U.S. grew more than twice as fast as the population between 1970 and 2015.&rdquo; Churches and entertainment venues also followed locating alongside the residential development of the suburbs.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/american_downtown/little_rock_main_street.webp" alt="Little Rock Main Street" width="800" height="1184" /></p>

<h2><strong>Downtowns re-emerge</strong></h2>
<p>Decades later, as communities grew with unimpressive, ubiquitous retail corridors, there was a renewed interest in downtowns and the sense of place found there.&nbsp;<strong>The homogeneity of &lsquo;Anywhere USA&rsquo; left people searching to rediscover the shared experience found downtown.</strong>&nbsp;In no place is this seen more clearly than in the retail sector. Research firm&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cushmanwakefield.us/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cushman &amp; Wakefield</a>&nbsp;published a study finding mall visits declined 50 percent between 2010 and 2013. Nine once formidable department stores filed for bankruptcy in 2017 alone. The result intensified an effort first brought about in the late 1990s and early 2000s to recreate downtowns on a national scale by reconfiguring the traditional indoor mall into new urban lifestyle centers that modeled downtown scale, walkability, and architecture.&nbsp; Ironically, due in part to the affordability of available space, actual downtowns became prime spaces for local businesses, retail, restaurants, and community destinations.&nbsp; In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau issued a press release stating &ldquo;Between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, metro areas with 5 million or more people experienced double-digit population growth rates within their downtown areas.&rdquo; The takeaway: it is time for cities to build on this momentum.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://api.crafton-tull.doc4.pro/media/uploads/insights/american_downtown/dscf7614-1509719920.jpg" alt="American Downtown - Broken Arrow" width="800" height="451" /></p>

<h2><strong>Development trends</strong></h2>
<p>Municipalities, large and small, see the need to help quell the longing for a sense of place; urban planners come in to lighten that load. Christopher B. Leinberger, in a research brief conducted for The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program explains &ldquo;Early progress must be made in building this expanded definition of infrastructure&mdash;along with a believable commitment to provide the rest&mdash;in order to attract the private sector developers and investors who will ultimately drive the downtown turnaround.&rdquo;&nbsp;<strong>Municipalities are hiring planning and design consultants to redesign public spaces, knowing that private investment will soon follow.</strong>&nbsp;These projects often start with streetscapes, pedestrian spaces, bike lanes, plazas and pocket parks. Revitalization comes about when the public and private sector interests align. As a result, young professionals have begun to flock to live, work, and play in an authentic environment with layers of architectural history and development over time, rather than the re-created, mass-produced copies on the outskirts of town.</p>
<p>With the renewed interest and eager consumers, planners focus on a community&rsquo;s cultural, historical, and natural assets to emphasize its sense of place. In the world of Amazon and online shopping, fashion and d&eacute;cor have become homogenized. With the shift back to downtown, embracing a local pride and an authentic vibe is a valued commodity.</p>

Cities are experiencing renewed interest in downtowns and the sense of place found in these importance spaces.

Julie's Work

Learn about Crafton Tull's work on Rogers Aquatics Center.

PROJECTS

Capital Area Active Transportation Plan