1. Memorial Drive Revitalization:
Connecting the Pioneer Valley
City of Chicopee, MA
Emily Anyzeski, Pei-Yu Chen, Noam Goldstein,
Stephanos Koullias, Jesse Regnier, Elena Shulman
Hills House Planners
2. Memorial Drive Corridor
● 3.7 miles long
● “Crossroads of New England”
● Mix of ‘Big Box’ retail, shopping
centers, restaurants, medical
offices, and residences
4. Tasked Issues
● Land use and current zoning constraints
● Redevelopment potential
● Analysis of vacant parcels
● Opportunities and constraints near rotaries
● Improve transitions
● Improve pedestrian access and crossings
● Route, signage, lighting and wayfinding options
● Green infrastructure options
21. Traffic Volumes
Vehicles Traffic Counts
annual averages
Britton ² 20,000
Northern Rotary¹ 27,000
North of Southern Rotary¹ 30,300
Southern Rotary² 30,800
Marketplace² 27,300
South of Marketplace² 19,400
Deady² 12,700
Southern Memorial Drive¹ 12,900
● A Freeway in the middle of the city
● 7 out of the top 100 intersections with most car accidents in Western Massachusetts *
*=Source: PVPC(2013)
¹ = 2000; ² = 2001, ³ = 2002
Source: MassDot
22. Bus Routes Bus lines' performances
G-19 R-22 G-1
Length in miles 15.8 7.1 7.4
Annual ridership¹ 44,558 76,929 822,22
1
Daily trips 10 13 63
Weekend trips 0 10² 32/11
¹ = FY2010
² = Saturdays only
Source: PVTA
● G-19 is the 2nd longest line in
Chicopee (the longest makes 42 daily
trips)
● G-19 is the only line serving Memorial
Drive in its entirety.
● Only 1 mile of G-1 and R-22 run in
Memorial Drive
23. Transportation
● Road Diet - reducing car’s speeds
and exclusive lanes (without
reducing travel time)
● Add sidewalks, bike paths and
elevated crosswalks
● Turn rotaries into multiple lane
roundabouts
● Expand G-19 frequencies
● Synchronize traffic lights (Green
wave)
26. Green
Infrastructure
● What is Green Infrastructure?
○ Rain Gardens
○ Bioswales
○ Planter Boxes
○ Urban Tree Canopy
○ Permeable pavements
○ Green parking, etc.
● Benefits?
○ Sustainability
○ Stormwater overflows
mitigation
Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency
30. Green Infrastructure
Encourage Green Parking
● What is Green Parking?
● Benefits?
o Reduces stormwater runoff
o Filters pollutants
o Urban Heat Island Mitigation
o Cost-effective
o Aesthetically pleasing
o Walkability
Source: Ontario Association of Landscape Architecture
Source: Cawrse & Associations, Inc.
33. Conclusion
● Performance zoning &
wayfinding
● Identified priority areas for
redevelopment
● Redesign of rotaries
● Pedestrian access & crossings
● Bike path
● Green parking
34. Thank you
Your attention is appreciated, and we
welcome all questions and feedback.
hillshouseplanners@gmail.com
Notas do Editor
About transportation, the existing conditions show patches of non existing sidewalks, few crosswalks and plenty of ROW space.
The traffic volumes vary throughout the different locations where MassDot has counted. This differences in the traffic volume show how some areas of Memorial Drive can be busier than others. The traffic becomes heavier after I-90 crosses Memorial Drive and meets the biggest businesses. Memorial Drive also has a high number of car crashes.
The bus inventory showed that there is only one line serving Memorial Drive in all the extension - the line G-19. And this line has few daily trips making it hard for the bus public to rely on this service solely.
proposing multi-family unit, redesigning the rotary, bike paths, bike lanes, adding more efficient crosswalks