A transit friendly development...

Image via Wikipedia Previously, I have discussed how we can take currently auto centric areas that are not working such as 4500 South and State Street and turn them into a more pedestrian and transit friendly area. Not only would this make the area more pleasing but it would also help boost bus ridership giving people the opportunity to live near the transit lines.

Now, I want to take a little closer look at this proposal using this same area. There is already construction on TOD near the Murray North TRAX station so lets walk across the street and see what we can do.

Since the new Deseret Industries building has already been built and is pretty auto centric, we will look at the couple of blocks north of 4500 South.

First of all you would need to rebuild a few blocks of Main Street that are not very pedestrian friendly. With the construction of the new developments by the TRAX station, this will increase the need for a more pedestrian friendly environment.

Then you will need to design the housing. If you look at the successful old cities compared to what we have now with suburban cookie cutter developments, you will notice that there is a range of prices. This has worked well in Daybreak were there is everything from Condos all the way up to expensive homes all located in the same area. In other words there is no economic segregation that creates walls between people.

I have also discussed the need to have affordable units so that people who need transit can access it easily. As part of having affordable housing is the need for work/live units. While these are going to be part of the Cottonwood Mall development, these of course will out of the price range we are talking about. As I have mentioned many times when new developments are built smaller locally owned businesses are usually the first to get the boot. By building affordable work/live units, this will give people new opportunities to have their own businesses and control their own destinies.

Finally you also need to have retail shops such as markets so that people living in the complex can walk to shopping. Like the housing, these should have affordable units so that locally owned businesses can afford them and develop their own businesses.

Once again there is many spots were this type of development could work such as along Redwood Road all the way from Interstate 80 to SLCC, the area around 900 East/4500 South, and many others.

The City Creek Skybridge...

Image via WikipediaThe Mayoral candidates for Salt Lake City are talking about the proposed skybridge that would cross main street. Lets look at the good and the bad of the bridge and the complex itself.

Good:

1. People will be able to cross Main Street without having to deal with TRAX or automobiles.
2. People on the second floor of the complex will not have to head to the lower level.

Bad:

1. The Skybridge will keep people in the City Creek complex instead of sending them to Main Street and other shopping opportunities.
2. In Spokane the Skybridge system in downtown caused pedestrian traffic on the streets to become none existent. While this is only a single bridge it can have the same affect.
3. It will create a wall between street level and the City Creek complex.

While I am trying to keep an open mind about City Creek, I do see things that concern me. It appears to be very auto centric despite it's downtown location and it is being designed to bring people into the complex and keep them there.

We still have several years before the complex is finished and my fears will not be realized. However, this is the reason why we need a stronger planning force in the city, one that works hard to provide pedestrian and transit friendly buildings so that transit becomes a choice to use and not an obstacle course.