The Broad Ripple Gazette has printed an article regarding a possible reconfiguration of Broad Ripple Avenue towards a more pedestrian friendly environment. The renderings are available here. There were two companies that made presentations: Storrow Kinsella, and Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf. Here are my amateur impressions:
- It seems like the first rendering by BDMD is based on realistic locations, while the SK rendering is more of a concept.
- I love the word pergola.
- Each plan would remove some parking spaces from the Avenue. It looks as though at least one of the plans would also include a multi-story parking garage. Yuck.
- The BDMD idea of narrowing the street at the crosswalk parallel to Carrollton Avenue is much needed. I also like the storm water planters.
- The rendering by Storrow Kinsella shows a bike lane, as well as a mention of a bus stop. It is rare in this city to see any attention paid to the bus stop, so this is great to see.
- This BDMD rendering shows a man standing in front of a parked car. This seems a bit odd to me. Also, the sidewalk does not look much wider than it is currently.
- These concepts will obviously need funding to get off of the drawing board. However, I’m interested to see where the Envision Group will go from here.
In addition, this is the schedule for work to be done on Broad Ripple Avenue next year (including the dreaded “widen” word).
Here’s the new IUPUI Master Plan:
http://www.iupui.edu/administration/chancellor/masterplan/
a parking Garage concept I don’t think is bad idea. I see small towns in Michigan (Livona, Novi, Terrance) all part of Detroit city expansion but a nice little village that is very packed with people and a lack of parking. The garage concept listed here isn’t bad, as long as the front level is retail, the second to thrid facades of the building are maybe office or apartments, and then the back of those buildings is a garage. Nothing as big as that, but we do need something that will still encourage people to come and help alleviate some of the parking suggestion. I have many friends who will not go because they end up having to park blocks away and then this upsets residents blocking their drive etc. Garage should not be as big and tall as they have envisioned.
The complaint about the lack of parking is always a frustrating one to me. Most people want to have
their cake and eat it to, meaning they want convenient free parking AND a walkable neighborhood with good urban character. In general, the two concepts do not mesh well with one another.
If they built that tall parking garage, it would be the tallest building in Broad Ripple. That’s pretty insane to me, and speaks to our outsized devotion to our cars. Also, I’m not sure where would this garage would go. It could be inviting a ton of traffic to an area where the streets are barely wide enough to handle cars moving in each direction.
Ideally, I’d like to see an increase in Bus service to Broad Ripple down College and Broad Ripple Avenues. Maybe even a circulator route that runs down Keystone and Kessler Blvd. Then, you wouldn’t need to add parking, and have the added bonus of giving party goers another safe way of getting home at night.