On October 20, the Planning Commission held its 34th Annual Planning & Design Awards presented by Tampa Electric & Peoples Gas. An Award of Excellence for the Cass and Tyler Streets One-way to Two-way Conversion with a Two-way Cycle Track and Share-the-Road bicycle facilities was given to the City of Tampa Department of Transportation and Stormwater Services, the City of Tampa’s Planning and Development Department, and CH2M Hill.
A collaborative process that embraced and celebrated the Hillsborough River and the waterfront, the InVision Center City Plan developed in 2011 for downtown and the surrounding residential communities proposed a larger connected district of livable places, connected people and provided mobility. Neighborhood charrettes with stakeholder input called for enhancing the pedestrian and bicycle environment linking residential neighborhoods with downtown. Downtown improvements included the modification of Cass and Tyler Streets into two-way streets from Doyle Carlton Drive to Jefferson Street. The improvements included construction of a segment of the Green Spine two-way cycle track from Gasparilla Plaza to Nebraska Avenue and shared lane markings.
The judges thought this project was f
ully on track with promoting safe walking and bicycling while creatively drawing millennials who desire to live and work in that environment. Taking Tampa’s investment to the next level, state-of-the-art facilities and innovations like the activated signals foster a better sense of place for Downtown and will foster continued economic growth.
The City of Tampa and Florida Department of Transportation were also honored with the Chairman’s Award for the recent completion of the 21st and 22nd Streets Urban Modification Project that included:
[list type=”bubble”][li]wider sidewalks and bike lanes[/li][li]on-street parking and granite curbing[/li][li]historic lamp posts[/li][li]street furniture and landscaping[/li][li]new A D A compliant sidewalks and pedestrian crosswalks[/li][/list]
Read about all of the Planning Commission’s Planning & Design Award winners.