Owen Bailey has a vision for safer, more attractive downtown street layouts originally designed as automobile-centric thoroughfares.
With the rise in pedestrian use, especially in a town with high tourist traffic, safe and attractive modifications to our streets should become a primary objective, he says.
Bailey, the Town Project Manager for Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and a member of the Chestertown Planning Commission, wants to enhance the widths of sidewalk zones at intersections and has his eye on the south end of High Street and Water Street as being a perfect pilot project.
Widening the sidewalk areas by adding “bump-outs” at its intersections narrows the width of the crosswalks, slows traffic, and enhances the town’s pedestrian appeal.
A temporary set-up using safety cones would be used to test traffic flow.
Bailey sees the intersection project as a template for other pedestrian-unfriendly areas in the community. If successful, the change can become a “cut and paste” application for other intersections in the community.
Once approved by the community, Town and State, if applicable, these cost-effective modifications could occur when the roads are next paved.
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is comprised of avid conservationists, outdoors people, agriculturalists, environmental scientists, public servants, urban development professionals, and a variety of other stakeholders in our communities.
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