CONNECTING
BROADWAY-FILLMORE
ACCESS
The Future Broadway Fillmore: An Accessible Neighborhood
As the Broadway Fillmore Triangle develops, there are ample opportunities to create a built environment that is accessible to all. The diagrams, site plans and renderings developed during this phase are visual tools that may inspire the community and empower them to take next steps towards realizing their own goals.
The final site plan improves existing assets while intentionally designing features for greater mobility, amenities, housing and public space. Some of these features will be planned and designed in greater detail during the final phase. The future Broadway Fillmore Triangle is a vibrant, connected and accessible neighborhood that provides a better experience for those who live and visit the area.
ACCESS
A Vision that Addresses Accessiblity
While envisioning a more equitable and sustainable future for the Broadway Fillmore Triangle, a key aspect for development is urban access, or access to the built environment.
Based on research and analysis over several weeks, key challenges were identified as: limited housing options, scarce amenities, poor infrastructure for mobility, and an abundance of undefined greenspace in the public realm.
The neighborhood vision presented through the concept diagram illustrates how each of the goals plays out spatially. As a preliminary stage to a more detailed site plan, the conceptual diagram focuses on the distribution and variety of mobility options, amenities, housing and public realm features. Proposed ideas build off of current assets to illustrate the overall vision as it relates to current challenges.
ACCESS
Site Plan
The site plan shows existing assets and strategies chosen to address the four major challenge areas. The maps are shown at the block level to give a more defined location to each of the strategies.
Mobility strategies include better active transportation infrastructure, green infrastructure along major roads, a winding pedestrian pathway along Memorial Drive, parkways on Fillmore Avenue and Paderewski Drive, and wayfinding throughout the neighborhood.
New amenities focus on a new school, library and daycare, a spiritual center, and a garden center/tool library.
Housing typologies include large and small single-family homes, pocket neighborhoods with single-family homes, mixed use with residential apartments above commercial uses, tiny rowhouses and townhomes. Each type of housing is distributed throughout the neighborhood.
The public realm is redesigned with pocket parks and playgrounds within walking distance, a multi-modal path connecting the Broadway Market and Central Terminal, and a public art walk - improvements that will spur vibrancy and activity in surrounding streets, housing and businesses.
BLOCK AND STREETSCAPE DESIGN
Phase 0 and Phase 1
Once an overall neighborhood vision was created, the team took on specific parts of this vision to realization. Continuing strategies of access to mobility, housing, public space and amenities the team fully designed two blocks and an adjacent streetscape.
These designs were created in two phases. Phase 0 is a quick, economical tactic that could be done within a short time span and for a reasonable price. Phase 1 is a permanent phase in which the ideas from phase 0 would be implemented permanently with grants, fundraising or government money for infrastructural change.
CURRENT CONDITIONS-
BLOCK 1
Block one is bound by Playter Street, Paderewski Drive, Sweet Avenue and Broadway. It is dubbed the “Superblock” as it is a very long block roughly double the size of a typical block in the neighborhood. Due to this long, unbroken block, and the high vacancy, residents use this space for mid block crossings. This is evident through foot paths between lots. In order to created a more accessible path for residents, these paths must be designed accordingly. This is done by creating unique pathways that engage the community and surrounding them with housing to strengthen this engagement. One pathway is a nature trail which reconnects Kent street and the other is an art path. The art path with create opportunities for residents, and local artists to add color, vibrancy and personality back to this culturally rich neighborhood.
Homes positioned on this block are focused on transitional housing. This including homes for people coming out of homelessness, domestic abuse situations, people with disabilities, veterans, immigrants, low income individuals or those in recovery. The goal is to not marginalize these already disenfranchised people, but to engage with them and include them in the transition of their experience and the neighborhood as a whole. Positioning these homes into vibrant, public areas can create unique community driven environment that excels due to collective efficacy.
CURRENT CONDITIONS -
MEMORIAL CIRCLE & SURROUNDING STREETS
Analysis in Phase 1 found that overall, the streets and sidewalks in the Broadway Fillmore Triangle have fallen into a state of disrepair following years of neglect and disinvestment. On-site observation revealed that poor to medium conditions of sidewalks are common along the neighborhood’s two major internal roads, Paderewski Drive and Memorial Drive, and their intersection at Memorial Circle. Cracks and potholes are common obstacles on these roads. At the gateway of the soon-to-be revitalized Central Terminal, Memorial Circle is a wide paved area without an intentional design. The overbuilt travel area allows traffic to move through at dangerously high speeds, making it unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists. Lack of signage or lane markings add to the poor management of vehicle movement through the traffic circle. Grassy and planted areas at the center island and around the perimeter are overgrown with vegetation, showing a lack of maintenance and care. As one community leader put it, “Nothing says nobody loves me like that circle.”
PHASE 0
Quick and Inexpensive Strategies
BLOCK 1
Phase 0 - Art Path and Nature Trail
Phase 0 for the art path includes laying gravel on the trails of foot paths so that they are easier to navigate and avoid the missing of the current foot paths. Additionally, a low budget solution of plywood walls are erected along the path. These walls are up to the residents to paint and decorate at their discretion. They allow for creativity and community. Furthermore, this trail will be indicated on the street crossings with paint to allow drivers to be aware of his crossing and give way finding for users.
Phase 0 for the nature trail also includes laying gravel for better navigation. The gravel path is bound with recycled tires to be used as planters to bound the trail and add greenery and foliage. Within this trail, initial tree plantings are made in order to allow the trees to mature for phase 1. Similarly, painting crossings are made on the street for way finding purposes and to reimagine crosswalks for future use.
BLOCK 2
Phase 0
STREETSCAPE
Phase 0 - Memorial Circle
Interim actions that are quick and easy for community members to implement can help build momentum for permanent infrastructure improvements. Intersection Repair, a tactical initiative that began in Portland, Oregon, is a successful example of citizens using murals, landscaping and furniture to reclaim intersections as spaces designed and built for the community. According to the Tactical Urbanist Guide to Materials and Design, acrylic asphalt paint is appropriate for intersections and will last 1-3 years. To paint the 22,400 square foot paved surface of Memorial Circle with two coats of acrylic asphalt paint would cost approximately $16,500. The festive act of painting the intersection would encourage involvement within the community and the results could draw attention from around the world.
PHASE 1
Permanent, Long-term Solutions
BLOCK 1
Phase 1 - Art Path and Nature Trail
Phase 1 for the art path is replacing the gravel with permanent paving. There is a direct, straight path through the block and a secondary path that takes the user around large masses which are used for art pieces, sculptures and seating. At the apex of each curve is signage about the art and artists that contributed to the path. Art is commissioned for local artists and give them the opportunity to give back to the community while benefiting as well. Homes along this path are engaged in a vibrant, social, public space that reflects the community.
Phase 1 for the nature trail is to make the gravel path a permanent, textured pavement for the visually impaired, as well as porous pavers around homes with accessible paving leading up to homes along the path. Permanent plantings lay between the path and the homes for a barrier of privacy. Various plantings bring a natural vibrancy back to the lot and give a unique and accessible experience while crossing the block. Universal signage is added along the trail to give wayfinding instructions and locals postings for users. Homes along the trail are engaged into a public space for a unique social experience with paths community as well as neighbors. The initial street paintings transition to permanent sidewalks and bump outs for pedestrian safety and an additional shared street is created to connect the nature trail to the Broadway Market.
BLOCK 2
Phase 1
STREETSCAPE
Phase 1- Memorial Drive
The redesign of Memorial Circle offers exciting opportunities to create a people-friendly, well-functioning and impressive feature at the neighborhood’s gateway to the Central Terminal. Starting from its center, the central island will be raised several feet in height and expanded from 90’ in diameter to 150’ to reduce impermeable pavement and provide space for landscaping with tall grasses and perennials. A central large sculpture or sculptural fountain will draw positive attention, calm traffic, and serve as a wayfinding feature. By reducing the paved area, vehicle lanes are narrowed to a generous 16’, with an additional 10’ truck apron around the central island. Raised splitter islands channelize vehicle traffic as they enter and exit the circle. Pedestrians and cyclists are channelized along the perimeter within 5’ cycle lanes and 6’ sidewalks. Vehicles intersect crosswalks and cycle lanes at 90-degree angles to ensure visibility. Human-scale lighting and street furniture make this a safe and accessible public space. Studies by the Federal Highway Administration show that well-designed roundabouts significantly reduce pedestrian collisions when compared to other types of intersections. Prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist safety is crucial to a successful design.
THE FUTURE OF THE BROADWAY FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD
The designs presented here add a human scale to Broadway Fillmore’s neighborhood blocks and streets. They reflect the ways in which the neighborhood’s population is growing and changing while aiming to meet some of their diverse needs. Community residents and advocates for the community may feel empowered to take the ideas presented here and move forward with them in new ways, to create the neighborhood in which they wish to live, work and visit.
“There is a huge reservoir of space yet untapped by imagination”