NORTHAMPTON — An ideological battle is raging between Northampton residents who believe the $43.3 million downtown overhaul known as Picture Main Street will poison the city, and those who see it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in downtown infrastructure. Caught in the crossfire: Main Street business owners.
Picture Main Street has drawn controversy from its inception. Supporters praise it as an infrastructure upgrade that will improve pedestrian safety and revitalize downtown, while opponents raise concerns that the project is too costly, and could worsen traffic congestion and hurt businesses.
The project would widen the sidewalk on both sides of Main Street between Bridge and Elm streets, narrowing the roadway from four lanes to two. It includes bike lanes, tree plots and public spaces with dedicated turn lanes in the center of the road.
Construction, beginning with water and sewer infrastructure upgrades beneath the roadway, is expected to start in spring of 2028, with completion estimated four construction seasons later. Businesses along the downtown corridor are bracing for change.
The neutral
Months ago, Anna Bowen, the owner of Main Street’s Strada Shoes, was assisting a customer with selecting a pair of shoes. After finding the right pair and trying them on, Bowen said the customer had one condition for buying them: she wanted assurance that Bowen supported Picture Main Street.
“At the register, [the customer] sort of pulled the backs of the shoes toward her and said, ‘You know, I really want to support you, but I really need to know your position on Picture Main Street,’ and it was that moment that I realized that I have the unfortunate position of living in a fishbowl,” Bowen said. “I can’t afford to go through all the hard work of helping someone select a pair of shoes only to have them hold my personal opinions against the business.”
Most of Bowen’s concerns with the project center on the construction period’s potential disruption to her inventory shipments and foot traffic.
Since she orders her shoe inventory roughly a year in advance, Bowen said she needs to know which weeks or months her distributors will face obstructed access to Main Street. She said she could likely absorb a 20% downturn in profit, but any greater loss than that would put her business at substantial risk.
“What I need is really good communication every step of the way. Since we buy our shoes a year in advance, I can only survive the construction part if I’m not overextended as far as what I owe my shoe manufacturers,” Bowen said. “I do need to know almost down to the week or the month that there’ll be limited access to this part of Main Street.”
Concerns aside, Bowen said she feels “cautiously optimistic” that the project will be good for the city. She said city officials involved in Picture Main Street have listened to and seem to take her concerns seriously.
Bowen added that hearing honking and brake screeching on Main Street right now brings her excitement that the project will lead to a more pedestrian-safe downtown.
“A lot of people who really love our community have thought long and hard about making it a really safe and special place. I have a lot of excitement just to see what it looks like on the other side of all of this,” Bowen said. “I am not a city planner. I am not a biker. I don’t have a degree in any of this, so I am trusting that the people who have designed it know what they’re doing. I have no reason to think that they don’t.”
Similar viewpoints were raised by Will Brideau, who owns the Jackson & Connor men’s clothing store on the third floor of Thornes Marketplace. Brideau expressed overall excitement about the project’s promise of safety and economic vitality, mixed with concern about the anticipated economic blow expected during construction.
“I have a lot of different feelings about it. On one hand, I see very clearly that Main Street needs to be completely redesigned — there needs to be some significant infrastructure work done on Main Street,” he said. “On the other hand, I am also concerned about the city’s approach to the whole process … the I’s haven’t been dotted and the T’s haven’t been crossed. It’s a little bit of a mixed bag, but overall, I’d like to see it go in the right direction.”
Brideau said he still has unanswered questions about the city’s plans to mitigate the financial hardship expected on businesses during construction, and, given his business’s location in Thornes, worries about customer access to his store during the sidewalk repairs.
“This building has relied on both Main Street and also people parking in the E.J. Gare parking garage — that’s been under construction for a little while and needs to be in fine fettle in order for us to weather the storm if Main Street is ripped up,” he said. “We’re part of Main Street, and we’re also kind of our own entity here in Thornes Marketplace.”
Concerns aside, Brideau explained that ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been putting money aside in anticipation of hard financial times. He said that, one way or another, he expects the project will ultimately benefit the city.
The opposition
As Picture Main Street made its way through various municipal meetings in the last five years, growing in estimated cost and plan details, so too has a group of vocal, staunch opponents to the project emerged. Numerous residents, business owners and others have taken to the public comment portion of municipal meetings and to social media to vocalize their opposition.
One of the more prominent local movements in opposition to the project is the Western Massachusetts Policy Center (WMPC), a Northampton-based think tank led by Lauren Rollins. The center published a petition to repeal a City Council vote supporting Picture Main Street.
“I take issue, representing the policy center, with several things, not the least of which is that it’s overwhelmingly unpopular. The more research we’ve done, the more we have found that an overwhelming majority of the Northampton area is not in favor of Picture Main Street,” Rollins said. “This is the brainchild of a very few people, and those few people have wanted this for a long time … the tax-paying citizens and the residents of Northampton, by and large, across a very diverse political spectrum, are not in favor of it.”
Rollins said the policy center is abandoning its petition and instead pursuing legal action against the city, with the hope that it would be more effective.
On a recent walking tour of Main Street, Rollins was joined by fellow Picture Main Street opponents, including Ward 6 City Councilor Christopher Stratton. She raised concerns about the project’s conversion of angled parking spaces to parallel parking spots and about its cost, which has grown from an initial projection of $26.3 million two years ago to $43.3 million.
Rollins argued that traffic congestion caused by narrowing Main Street to two lanes, combined with drivers repeatedly attempting to parallel park, would lead residents to avoid Main Street altogether.
“For me, it’s the lack of parking and the length of time of the project — I think it’s going to put many, many businesses out of business,” Rollins said. “People who actually do business downtown need to be able to get in and out.”
Stratton, an avid cyclist, said the inclusion of bike lanes on each side of the road would put cyclists at increased risk of colliding with turning cars. Pointing to a spot at the top of Main Street near a Smith College driveway where a cyclist was killed by an armored truck more than 20 years ago, Stratton argued that riding with the flow of traffic is often safer than riding alongside it.
“The [proposed] bike lane continues right in conflict with this right turn,” Stratton said, referring to the intersection of Main and Maple streets. “In the latest version [of plans for Picture Main Street] they’re going to put a curb between the bike lane and the road, but you’re still going to have through traffic — that’s bikes on the wrong side of turning traffic.”
Stratton said that when traffic is congested going down the hill, a driver turning left from the opposite direction would likely not anticipate a cyclist coasting downhill on the other side of the road.
Both Rollins and Stratton acknowledged that the Picture Main Street project would bring needed infrastructure repairs, such as repaved sidewalks for increased disability accessibility, though neither believed the rest of the project was necessary for general sidewalk upkeep.
Chong Noh, owner of Main Street Cleaners, also raised concerns about cyclist and pedestrian safety, as well as traffic congestion and a lack of parking, in a written communication to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation that is laminated and on display at the business.
“Adding bike routes and scenery is an idyllic dream that Northampton does not have the space to support. If we implement those median strips with trees, clearing snow on the bike baths will be difficult during winter months,” Noh wrote. “Accidents between cyclists and motor vehicles are rare and spending a large budget on a project that will hurt our dwindling economy is nonsensical.”
Judy Herrell, who owns Herrell’s Ice Cream & Bakery on Old South Street right off Main, also voiced her opposition to the project. She agreed that downtown needs some infrastructure and safety improvements, such as speed bumps, clear signage, restriping and curb extensions, but raised concerns about the construction’s impact on local businesses.
Herrell said she believes the city did not do enough to be transparent about the project, and that she was only made aware of the plans and given a chance to voice her concerns after they were already set in stone.
“We’re looking at three years plus timewise, and we’ll only do one side of the road at a time, so there will be part of Main Street open all the time,” Herrell said. “Well, that’s all well and good, but there’s going to be traffic. And ask yourself: If they’re going to be digging up the road on Main Street, are you going to try to drive down Main Street, or are you going to try to bypass it?”
Perhaps one of the most visible and outspoken acts of opposition to the project came from Bob McGovern, who placed a large banner outside Packard’s, his Masonic Street business, reading “Picture Main Street Business Killer” next to a cartoon depicting the grim reaper.
McGovern, who said he is involved in efforts to sue the city to stop the project, said that while he agrees sidewalks need to be repaired and maintained, he doesn’t consider the sidewalk elongation necessary, and believes it could complicate trucks pulling in and out of loading spots and deal a blow to downtown businesses.
“This will create a traffic jam that will just blow your mind — they don’t know where they’re going to put the snow. Right now, the deliveries work perfect, the big trucks parking in the middle of Main Street and cars have room to drive around,” he said. “Our sidewalks need to be repaired, but in the ’80s and the ’90s, we had mobs of people, and these sidewalks were just fine. Right now, I think we’ve got 30 somewhat vacant storefronts, and people are afraid that if they pull the trigger and open up a new store or a restaurant, this project, if it goes through, will crucify them for five to seven years.”
The proponents
As Picture Main Street first took off, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra joined the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce (GNCC) and the Downtown Northampton Association (DNA) to launch Pardon Our Progress, or “POP,” an initiative focused on supporting Main Street businesses once construction is expected to begin in spring of 2028.
In a 2025 survey of 149 downtown businesses, POP reported that roughly 24% of businesses had “low confidence” in the project, while 16% reported “high confidence,” 13% reported “no confidence,” 23% had neutral views on the project and 24% reported being “somewhat confident.”
“Opposition resonates when it speaks to survival. Parking loss, customer access, and closures drive the strongest arguments,” the survey results state. “Only 16% feel very
confident in adapting, while over a third lack confidence.”
Chamber of Commerce President Vince Jackson, in an interview with the Gazette, explained that amid business owners’ concerns that the construction phase will severely damage their revenue, the GNCC aims to work through mitigation efforts to ensure no single business is impacted by roadway construction for too long.
Jackson explained that using other cities and towns’ similar renovation projects as a model, the chamber has implemented a number of mitigation strategies to help reduce the project’s financial blow to local businesses.
One such strategy will be to stagger construction in different phases and segments so that no stretch of the road will be impacted for a prolonged period of time, Jackson said. He noted that construction will stop in November, allowing businesses to profit from the holiday season without interruption.
“It will be done in phases and in small increments, like a block or two at a time, versus the whole 1.5 miles of Main Street being torn up on both sides for 12 months,” Jackson said. “There may be a week or two of traffic detours or workarounds in a certain block that was only so many feet of disruption. I am told by the planners and the engineering company that it won’t get any worse than that for most of the work.”
Jackson also brought up plans to implement financial incentives, such as discounts or gift cards, for residents to shop locally while the construction project is underway. He said the idea was inspired by mitigation efforts during a similar downtown redesign project in Middlebury, Vermont.
“We have a best-in-class Greater Northampton Chamber gift card program. We’re looking at how can we leverage our already strong gift card program … knowing that there will be some kind of win-win for not only local businesses that are part of the program and consumers,” Jackson said. “That’s one example of what might work for our community that we could learn from a similar program that was effective in another municipality.”
Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage it had on local businesses, Jackson reassured those with concerns about the project that just as the city survived the financial impacts brought on by the pandemic, it will also survive this construction project, which he said “pales in comparison.”
“I see [Picture Main Street] as a huge improvement — not only does it give us the foundation around beautification, and of course, safety, … but beyond that, we already know that Northampton is a downtown kind of city,” he said. “There’s a lot happening downtown, and we know that with good weather, and beautification, and good reasons for people to come downtown and visit us as well.”
Sitting outside the Ana Bandeira Chocolates cafe on a section of Main Street that only comprises two lanes of traffic, POP Chair Jim Nash argued that the project will likely not cause further traffic congestion.
“Right now, we are on the busiest part of Main Street. More cars per day travel through this portion of the city than that portion of the city and this area is only two lanes,” said Nash, a former city councilor. “There are not four travel lanes here, and this works rather well. We have parallel parking on both sides of the street.”
Nash went on to add that the project is expected to add a level of vibrancy similar to that seen on Strong Avenue to the rest of the city’s downtown corridor.
Discussing cyclists’ safety in the proposed bike lanes, Nash explained that while avid cyclists such as [Councilor] Stratton may feel comfortable riding their bicycles with the flow of traffic — and are welcome to continue doing so — the bike lanes are intended for the average cyclist to get around the city.
“For somebody like Councilor Stratton, who’s an avid bicyclist, he can bike here to Greenfield and that’s great — bike lanes are not designed for those folks or for the folks on e-bikes to go blowing through town,” Nash said. “The bike lanes are intended for the less-experienced bicyclists.”
Sciarra, in an interview with the Gazette, echoed other proponents’ remarks that the project will bring about places for the public to gather safely, enhanced accessibility for people with disabilities, and increased walkability and bikeability downtown.
The mayor went on to explain that the sides of streets will include designated loading and unloading zones for trucks to put an end to trucks parking in the middle of the road to unload inventory. She added that the plan will also include enhanced outdoor dining for restaurants and outdoor retail space for businesses.
“I would say there is a tenacious group who are opposed and I’m not sure that it’s as large a group as they say, but they are committed to this idea that it’s not a project that will be helpful,” Sciarra said. “This is a really important project for so many reasons … I do understand people are scared of construction. Nothing about this project is being done for the first time — all of these improvements have been done elsewhere, and you know the communities have seen great improvements from them.”
Sciarra went on to explain that construction for the project will be completed in phases to mitigate the anticipated blow to businesses, and noted that the bulk of the project’s cost will be covered by MassDOT. She clarified that traffic mitigation and water and sewer enterprise funds are restricted to their uses and cannot be allocated toward other purposes.
“We believe really strongly in small independent businesses in Northampton. During the pandemic, people really rallied around supporting different restaurants and businesses, so this is another time where I hope that people are going to walk their talk and really turn out to support businesses,” Sciarra said. “This project is about creating a safe, accessible, successful, welcoming environment for everybody. It’s about supporting all who want to be downtown now and for the next generation.”
The city will host a presentation on Picture Main Street Wednesday at the Senior Center, followed by one-on-one questions with the Toole Design Team. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.
