NORTHAMPTON — Main Street got a makeover Saturday, if only for a few hours.
The Complete Streets Demonstration Day, part of a larger city planning initiative to make Northampton more pedestrian and bike friendly, transformed Main Street in front of City Hall with small parks, narrowing a portion of Main Street to one lane and setting up a buffered bike lane from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Mayor David J. Narkewicz estimated hundreds of people stopped by throughout the day, offering input and testing out the temporary street design.
A standout suggestion of the day was a plan for a buffered bike lane, where bicyclists would be separated from the road by parked cars along Main Street. The mock bike lane ran in one direction from Cracker Barrel Alley to Center Street, marked by traffic barrels.
“People seem to like the protected bike lane,” said Mayor David J. Narkewicz. “Now that they can see it and understand what it’s really all about.”
The temporary changes to the street were marked with traffic barrels and a tent was set up where residents could view a series of maps that show potential solutions to problems affecting bicyclists and pedestrians. Two small parks, called “parklets,” were outfitted with potted plants. People sat at cafe tables scattered around the site, eating and chatting.
According to Narkewicz, the long crosswalks near City Hall can be dangerous. Shortening the crosswalks by narrowing Main Street like at the demonstration would make walking through the city safer, he said.
The demonstration was designed to garner resident feedback, so attendees were encouraged to write feedback on Post-It notes and stick them to the maps.
“I strongly approve of narrowing Main St. resident (Valley St. Ward 3)” one note read. “Widen the sidwalks,” read another.
The city is working to better accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists with the help of a public health grant. Alta Planning + Design, a Cambridge-based consultant, has been working with the city to generate a list of recommended projects through forums, interactive events and feedback tools on the city website. Narkewicz said the goal is to have a master list of suggestions by September so the city can start to prioritize projects.
“We’re going to take back the comments and synthesize them,” said Tom Doolittle, a representative from Alta Planning + Design. “We try to understand how people react and why.”
According to Northampton police, traffic was not impacted by the narrowed portion of Main Street on Saturday. Narkewicz and Doolittle said the demonstration did not account for those who may have sought an alternate route to avoid traffic at the event.
“Traffic is like water; it’s always going to seek another route,” Narkewicz said.