5th/6th Street Livability & Circulation Study
Pedestrian Elements
Pedestrian elements are those features in the landscape easily recognized by the person walking, jogging, or strolling along the corridor. These elements are easily visible, usable, and can affect the pedestrian. They are the details which the vehicular passenger or bicycle rider along 5th/ 6th Street may not notice or be affected by.
Shade/Pattern
Mentioned in several sections, shade is an important element along 5th/ 6th Street corridor for pedestrian comfort. Trees and/or built structures (i.e., arcades) can provide shade. Use of structures should be limited to special uses and/or areas. The majority of the corridor should have trees to provide shade.
- Variety of texture, color, patterns in pedestrian pathways provide interest
- Material changes on the sidewalk can add interesting details, reflect the character of the particular area, or provide an opportunity for the neighborhood to make a statement
- As much as possible, provide continuous paved sidewalks along the corridor
- Pedestrian pathways should reflect and complement the character of the area (i.e., historic, residential, commercial)
- All pedestrian pathways need to be shaded
- Shade may be accomplished via built or landscape materials
Nodes – Seating
Walkable communities provide seating areas where people can rest, meet friends and neighbors, or simply watch the traffic go by. Neighborhoods along 5th/ 6th Street have an opportunity to capture nodes to design and express their neighborhood character.
- Provide seating opportunities for pedestrians along walking corridors
- Neighborhoods should be allowed to identify, adopt and/or create seating nodes along the corridor where space permits and they deem appropriate
Scale
Scale of objects differ when designing for different viewers. Elements placed along the edges of the 5th/ 6th Street corridor need to consider the pedestrian, the bicyclist, and vehicular driver. Drivers will not be able to discern details and need to keep their focus on driving.
- Scale pedestrian pathways to fit the surrounding residential, commercial, or industrial nature
- Commercial areas will tend to have greater pedestrian traffic and pathways should be wider, 8-12 feet wide
- Residential areas may not have as much foot activity and pathways can be narrower, 6-8 feet wide
- There may be areas along the 5th/6th Street corridor that will not be able to meet the City’s minimum standard of 6’ wide sidewalks and treatment along these excepts need to be evaluated on an individual basis
Crosswalk Pattern
Safety is always a concern where pedestrians, bicycles, and motor vehicles cross paths. This was a safety concern expressed in several different visual assessment categories by the CCAG. It is important to provide as many visual, textural, and structural cues to provide ample warning for all entering a crosswalk zone.
The City of Tucson Department of Transportation has their safety standards that need to be incorporated into the design element of the crosswalk. Many of these traffic calming treatments are currently being utilized in and around other parts of the City of Tucson or other communities in the southwest.
- Visual cues may include pavement striping, signage, pedestrian activated stop light, change in landscape patterns or vegetation
- Textural cues may include change in paving within the crosswalk, change in elevation of the crosswalk (i.e., similar to a speed hump)
- Structural cues may include providing refuge areas and/or medians within the roadways or creating bulb-outs at the intersections
- Particular attention needs to be given to crosswalks associated with the education institutions
Sense of Place
There are a number of listed neighborhoods along the 5th/6th Street corridor. All have been actively involved in this study. The neighborhoods have their district characteristics and can be expressed through the design choices they make along sections of this corridor.
- Public art is one of the strongest elements to quickly create identity and sense of place to an area
- Sit specific public art can be integrated into the landscape as paving pattern, seating benches, decorative walls, celebration banners, street lighting/bollards, interpretive signage, bus stops, and all other elements in the landscape the imagination can dream up