The Remington Greenway is a pilot project that the city is implementing this summer between East Mountain Avenue and Spring Park Drive along Remington Street. The goal is to test some infrastructure improvements and to increase the safety and comfort of pedestrians and cyclists along the corridor. There will also be landscaping improvements, artwork, and stormwater improvements that will enhance the overall look and feel of the corridor.

There are five main components to the project:

• Adding buffered bike lanes
• Pedestrian improvements at some intersections that will include sidewalk bulb outs
• Pads for future Transfort bus stops
• A rain garden in front of the Arts Center
• Converting three signalized intersections – one to a roundabout and two to 4-way stops

Buffered bike lanes will be added by removing the center turn lane that currently exists in order to use that space for cyclist safety. All current parking will remain as is.

Cement pads will be poured for future Transfort bus stops in response to neighborhood requests for improved transit access. The route and timing haven’t been worked out yet, so there’s no word yet on when that route will be put into place, nor where it will travel. But stops are being included in this project in anticipation of a transit solution.

The rain garden is created by digging out a few feet of ground and filling it with a pourous material which filters the water before it is absorbed into the ground. It’s called a “garden” because sometimes these storm water runoff tools have a garden planted over them, although that doesn’t seem to be included in this case.

Three intersections are going to be changed. The intersection of Pitkin and Remington is going to see the stop lights removed and replaced by a 4-way stop. The sidewalks, curbs, and other aspects of the intersection will remain largely the same except for the change from lights to signs.

The intersection of Elizabeth and Remington is also going to see the stop lights removed and replaced by a 4-way stop, but there will be additional changes made to the sidewalks and curbs in order to create bulb outs for improved pedestrian safety.

The biggest change will happen at the intersection of Remington and Laurel where a mini roundabout will be installed. The size of the intersection will not be expanded as one might expect for a roundabout. In fact, with bulbouts at this intersection, the overall width will be shrinking. The roundabout itself will essentially be a raised pad that motorists will drive around, but large trucks that can’t navigate the turns will be able to simply drive right over.

Cyclists will have the choice of merging with traffic in order to navigate the roundabout, or they can enter the sidewalk bulb out and navigate the roundabout through the pedestrian crosswalks. (If you scroll up to the top image in the post, it looks like cyclists are directed only towards the sidewalks as they reach this intersection. But I’ve confirmed with a couple different city staff that the signage and paint striping will make it clear that cyclists have a choice of taking the lane or taking the sidewalk.)

Landscaping will be added to the bulb outs and artwork (likely a pattern in colored cement) will be on the surface of the roudabout. Jill MacKay is the artist that has been selected by the city for this project. She will also be putting artwork at the rain garden near the Art Center (former FCHS building).

This project was first identified in 2010 as a priority by the community and is being funded through the Budgeting for Outcomes process. It is projected that this project will take 8 – 10 weeks to complete.

Remington currently sees about 3,500 cars a day and that is not expected to change after this project is completed. The goal is not to increase traffic, but to provide safer and more comfortable means for multiple forms of transportation to occur along this corridor.

To celebrate and enjoy the changes that are being made, FC Bikes (the city’s bicycle transportation department) is planning an Open Streets event in September that will take place along the newly updated Remington Greenway.

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Sources for this article:

Timothy Kemp, the project manager, gave a presentation to the Landmark Preservation Commission at the March 11, 2015 regular meeting. All images were taken from the LPC agenda for that night. All information included here is either from Tim’s presentation or from the materials provided in the agenda.