Cracker_Barrel_Alley_parklet_alley_restoration_WF9-9-2017
Cracker Barrel Alley: Parklet and Alley Restoration
Project Summary (September 9, 2017)
Summary
Cracker Barrel Alley Parklet and Alley Restoration is designed to serve multiple public benefits:
1. Improve the walking and relaxing experience downtown through pocket parks and parklets,
as part of the City’s Unloved Pavement to Loved Parks program.
2. Improve pedestrian safety and visibility at the Cracker Barrel Alley‐City Hall crosswalk, the
downtown crosswalk with the poorest line of sight (for westbound vehicles) by pivoting the
northerly side of the crosswalk further west.
3. Reduce rear end vehicle crashes at the Cracker‐Barrel‐City Hall crosswalk.
4. Eliminate a vehicle/pedestrian conflict from one of only four Main Street curb cuts.
5. Eliminate a vehicle/vehicle/pedestrian conflict at the Alley‐Masonic Street parking lot.
6. Eliminate cars hitting the buildings that abut Cracker Barrel Alley.
7. Create a truck loading area at the north end of Cracker Barrel Alley.
8. Create relief for urban area by greening more spaces
9. Create an urban trail that connects different downtown blocks, green spaces, and
neighborhoods.
Relevant Studies and Plans
Open Space, Recreation, and Multiuse Trail Plan (2011‐2018)‐‐Pavement to Parks
“Pavement to Parks would reclaim developed areas that might best be used as parks or
restoration of natural systems.” The Unloved Pavement to Loved Parks program is part of the
Open Space Plan, adopted or endorsed, after an extensive public forum process, by nine city
boards.
The plan specifically identified a small park in front of City Hall and left undetermined other
sites. The essence of Unloved Pavement to Loved Parks is that key sites soften the urban
environment and make it far more desirable for residents, workers, and visitors.
Downtown Transportation Charrette Recommendation‐ Nelson Nygaard (2011)
The report recommends converting Cracker Barrel Alley to a pedestrian walkway, ending the
curb cut on Main Street and allowing a much wider crosswalk that extends to the southerly side
of the alley.
Downtown Safety Study‐ MassDOT and Walk Boston (2016)
The report recommends closing Cracker Barrel Alley to cars to prevent the conflict with
pedestrians on the sidewalk and rear end crashes and pedestrian safety issues on Main Street.
Video studies: Day‐in‐the‐life of a crosswalk and Day‐in‐the‐life of an alley (2016)
Time lapse photography shows pedestrian use is a major demand on Cracker Barrel Alley and a
significant number of times where cars are not yielding to pedestrians, especially westbound
cars, highlighting the problems with the line‐of‐sight.
Walk/Bike Northampton Comprehensive Plan‐ Alta (2017)
The report recommends closing Cracker Barrel Alley to cars, closing the curb cut to the alley,
and moving the northerly side of the crosswalk to the southerly side of the alley.
Route 9 {Main Street} Safety and Livability Study Northampton‐ PVPC (2017)
The report identifies crash clusters at Main Street and Cracker Barrel Alley and recommends
curb extensions to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance and improve pedestrian visability.
Community Conversations
Complete Streets Demonstration Day (2016)
During the one day complete streets demonstration, the city closed Cracker Barrel Alley and
extended temporary curb extensions. Several dozen residents stopped and gave comments
that were overwhelming in support of both aspects of the project.
Parklet field testing (November 2016)
The city’s temporary Dero Parklet was installed for a month, blocking access to Cracker Barrel
Alley and converting it into a pedestrian only alley. Public comment was very strongly in
support of the project and time lapse photography documented heavy use of the parklet.
Therapists in the building on the east side of the alley expressed concern about increased noise
disturbing their clients. Owners of the One Amber Lane building reported much less traffic
conflicts, with cars no longer coming down the alley and conflicting with vehicle movement in
the parking lot and Amber Lane.
Crowdfunding (fall 2016)
77 people contributed to a crowd funding campaign for Cracker Barrel Alley, raising $10,000,
leveraging a $10,000 state grant, and absorbing strong community support for the project.
Abutter Stakeholder Meeting (12/6/2016)
The City invited all property owners abutting and near Cracker Barrel Alley and most tenants
immediately abutting the alley and within a couple of hundred feet to a forum to engage their
input. One couple in a mixed use building were very supportive of the project “small gestures
collectively make huge changes downtown,” but three therapists on the east side of the alley
expressed concerns. Specifically, concerns that a parklet will generate:
1. Noise, especially the alley but, to a lesser extent, from activity at the street edge, into
abutting buildings.
2. Panhandling and visitor perception of safety.
3. Smoking, that will infiltrate nearby buildings
4. Critical mass from a parklet that does not occur from random benches downtown.
5. Truck delivery routes being limited.
Suggestions for mitigation impacts included:
1. Limiting seating capacity
2. Not including seating opportunities deep in the alley
3. Including soil mounds to absorb sound
4. Including a sound deadening canopy
5. Enforcing no smoking
6. Focus on the southerly section of the alley
7. Notify abutters of any planned construction
Resulting Design Considerations
1. Reduce amount of impervious surface
2. Do not include barriers that people can sit on within the parklet
3. Limit formal and informal seating opportunities to sidewalk mouth of the alley
4. No seating opportunities more than five feet north of the sidewalk.
5. Explore canopy option
6. Explore soil mounds to absorb sound without creating attractive seating opportunities.
7. Maintain trail of sufficient width for snow removal and handicap access (five feet?)
8. Create as a park so that smoking will be banned (per existing city health regulations)
9. Install lattice structures on walls with plants or sand to green the alley and absorb sound
The resulting design, from Berkshire Design, will be tested in a fall community meeting.