Church Street makeover

A recent post on the PCC blog linked to a Christmas day article in the Greenville News about “a $5.1 million project to transform Church Street into a tree-lined boulevard with bike lanes.” The article points out that the project, which has been on the drawing board for several years, “will remake Church with trees, bike lanes, sidewalk setbacks and crossings running from University Ridge to Augusta Street.”

If you click the direct article link above, it will redirect you to the Greenville News subscription page (if you are not a subscriber). You can Google the title of the article though- Church Street on Cusp of Makeover. For some reason, the Google link will let you bypass the subscription page and read the article in its entirety (a nice work-around while it lasts).

Downtown Master Plan Work Shop

For those of you who haven’t heard about this workshop, here is the some of the official information from the press release:

The City of Greenville has hired Sasaki Associates, an international planning and design firm based in Boston, to help establish a comprehensive vision for downtown and to develop a master plan that will provide a framework to guide future development activities.

As part of the planning process, the public is invited to participate in a two-day design charrette, or workshop, to share ideas and suggestions to help shape the future of downtown. A variety of sessions will be held over the two-day period and participants are welcome to attend all sessions or choose the ones they are most interested in. The meetings will take place on Tuesday, June 26 and Wednesday, June 27 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Regency A Ballroom. Refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there!

For additional information and a complete schedule of events, check out this pdf file on the City’s website.

Though this workshop is not specifically related to bicycling, it will be a great opportunity for the cycling community to voice opinions, share ideas, and to help shape the future of downtown Greenville. The consultants in charge of next week’s design charrette, Sasaki Associates, are focused on fostering bicycle and pedestrian friendly environments. You can check out their website to learn more about them. If any of you are able to attend a few sessions next week, I encourage you to do so. I won’t be able to make it to the daytime sessions, but I hope to be able to attend the later sessions both days. It should be quite interesting.