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To effectively plan for the future of Churchman’s Crossing, the project team has begun conducting extensive public outreach with community and business stakeholders. An Advisory Committee has been helping to presentations. Interactive virtual public workshops were held in September of 2020, and March and June of 2021. an overview of the study and offered the opportunity for us to get feedback about any issues the residents and area workers wanted to have included in the study. We also asked attendees what they’d like to see in the future as growth occurs at Churchman’s Crossing.
The team then began working to develop a program of multimodal as well as potential land use changes to make it easier for the area’s employees to live in Churchman’s Crossing. The project team then worked to analyze how different transportation projects and development patterns will impact the area as it grows. During the second public workshop, we presented this analysis for feedback.
During the third workshop, the project team presented the results of the initial analysis (including public feedback received during the second workshop) and introduced a draft Project Evaluation Matrix, which will help us to compare the costs and community priorities.
To learn more about the Churchman’s Crossing Plan, view recordings of all previous workshops, or sign up to be
alerted of future public workshops, please visit www.wilmapco.org/churchmans.
Work on Transformation of Union Street Enters Next Phase
Union Street is a commercial corridor on the West Side of Wilmington that serves as a “main street” for the area’s neighborhoods. But the existing roadway, initially designed to be wide to serve automobiles, is not comfortable for those walking and biking.
The Union Street Rapid Recon-
a grassroots-led project to reduce Union Street from three lanes to two, add a bike lane, and convert the parallel parking on the east side to back-in diagonal parking. The project was designed to reduce travel speeds and make Union Street safer and more convenient for pedestrians and bicyclists. Following extensive public outreach and numerous community workshops, a design for the street was determined and implemented. Since the change, we have received many positive comments, but many are not comfortable with the back-in parking, the street still experiences high vehicle speeds, and conditions still do not feel safe for pedestrians and bicyclists. It is important to know intended as an interim step, with additional work expected to complete
the community’s vision.
City administration and the community have expressed their desire to see Union Street grow and evolve from an “exit from Wilmington” into a premier main street for the West Side of Wilmington. Union Street has the opportunity for change that can transform the corridor into a more pedestrian- and business- friendly street that can support more shopping and restaurant options and serve as the center of the community.
uration and Streetscape Improvement Study will be the vehicle that allows the Wilmington Initiatives Partnership (DelDOT/DTC, Wilmington, and WILMAPCO) to engage the community in developing permanent improvements to transform Union Street into a safe, walkable, bikeable, commercial center for the surrounding neighborhoods and theregion.
To guide this process, an Advisory Committee (AC) has been formed, consisting of city and state elected meeting was held on April 22, and a Public Visioning Virtual Workshop was held on May 19. Through this outreach process, there has been an interactive atmosphere that has allowedresidentsandbusinessowners to share their ideas for improvements. Community input will be relied upon as we develop draft concepts to transform the corridor. Our team will bring these concepts back to the AC and the community in the next phase of meetings and workshops.
To stay informed or sign up for project updates, please visit the project website at www.wilmapco.org/unionstreet.
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