North Washington to open to vehicles

[sabatoa]

Crews on Saturday will begin work to open the 200 and 300 blocks of North Washington Square to vehicle traffic.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...NEWS01/70615010

[RustTown]

Here is the full article from today:

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...EWS01/706160341

Crews begin to reopen Wash. Square

But instead of antagonizing motorists, city officials hope this latest road project will actually make it easier to get around.

Crews today will begin removing the last blocks of a failed downtown pedestrian mall, reopening the 200 and 300 blocks of North Washington Square to cars for the first time in nearly 30 years

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It's great to hear that they are including rain gardens along this part, as well. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too happy with the restoration of the 100 north block of Washington Square. It's really sterile (no trees), so I'm glad to here these two blocks will include both trees and raingardens in addition to the other streetscape improvements.

[sabatoa]

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It's great to hear that they are including rain gardens along this part, as well. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too happy with the restoration of the 100 north block of Washington Square. It's really sterile (no trees), so I'm glad to here these two blocks will include both trees and raingardens in addition to the other streetscape improvements.

[RustTown]

It was reopened in 2001. One of the defining features of that block was an interesting sculpture that was right at the south end of the block that was supposed to move, but rarely ever did. I think it was put into storage. I have an old photo I need to scan showing what the block looked like back then.

[sabatoa]

It was reopened in 2001. One of the defining features of that block was an interesting sculpture that was right at the south end of the block that was supposed to move, but rarely ever did. I think it was put into storage. I have an old photo I need to scan showing what the block looked like back then.

[RustTown]

Still trying to find the picture, but here is an aerial I had put together a few months back, courtesy of Google Maps, showing the parts of Washington Square that remain a ped mall. The two southern blocks within the highlighted are what's currently being restored.

The upper three blocks run through the heart of the Lansing Community College campus, and were ceded, by the city of Lansing, to that institution in November of 2003.

[RustTown]

Some views I got this afternoon of the reconstruction, which is well underway. They are wasting no time. I was instantly struck by how much this will visually open up the the northern end of downtown to the southern end. It's a much great effect than I'd even imagined. There was a time long before I was born where Washington Avenue had a "big city" feel to it. From what I've seen, continuing to open the mall lends some of that feel back to the square.

300 North Block

200 North Block

My only gripe is that even reopening the mall will do nothing to make up for the loss of all of the structures demolished along North Washington Square. There is not one historic building left in this entire two blocks, and most of the modern ones, IMO, are terrible-looking. Without the ability for ground-floor retail, and no residential along the block, there won't be much that can be done to revive the area until some of these structures are brought down, and that's still many years/decades off, IMO.

[sabatoa]

I noticed the huge increase in the sight line too. I wasn't expecting that.