WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA DOWNTOWN WALKASILITY ANALYSIS. SUBMITTED SEPTEMGER 3, 2014 JEFF SPECK AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, HON. ASLA SPECK & ASSOCIATES LLCsPECK &€ ASSOCIATES LLeE WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA DOWNTOWN WALKABILITY ANALYSIS Table of Contents OVERVIEW 3 Approach 3 ‘The Purpose of This Document 4 PROLOGUE: THREE ARGUMENTS FOR THE WALKABLE CITY 6 ‘The Economic Argument 6 The Epidemiological Argument 9 ‘The Environmental Argument u PARTI BACKGROUND: WHAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO WALK? 15 A Safe Walk 15 A Useful Walk 2B A Comfortable Walk 25 An Interesting Walk 26 PART IL A SAFE WALK: STREETREDESIGN 27 ‘A Strategy for Street Redesign 28 North-South Thoroughfares 31 East-West Thoroughfares 50 One-Way Reversion 63 ‘Traffic Signals 64 Hidden Parking 66 Cycle Facilities 67 PART IIL A USEFUL, COMFORTABLE, AND INTERESTING WALK: n ‘The Downtown Trolley a Parking Policy B AHigh-Impact Development Strategy 76 All Aboard Florida 87 Street Trees 92 Wayfinding, 3 IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST 95 ‘ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 101 2sPECK &€ ASSOCIATES LLeE OVERVIEW Approach By applying a design strategy centered on walkability, this study asserts and attempts to demonstrate how a limited mumber of relatively small planning interventions can exert a ‘profound influence on the livability and vitality of downtown West Palm Beach. ‘The study area for this exercise is principally the heart of the downtown, bounded by Clear Lake to the west, the Intracoastal Waterway to the east, 7* Street to the noxth, and the Norton museum of Art to the south. Conditions beyond these borders are considered in this report’s recommendations, but all recommendations are limited to this area, with the exception of street re-striping proposals for Flagler Drive, Rosemary Avene, and South Dixie Highway. ‘This document begins with a discussion of the four components of walkability, describing how most people will only make the choice to walk if that walk is simultaneously useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting. ‘Those four criteria are then used as a basis for the recommendations that follow. ‘These recommendations are organized into three sections. ‘The first section, General Recommendations addresses the street network—specitically its one-way pairs—the bicycle network, and the location of the transit hub. ‘The next section, Street Redesign, establishes a strategy for building streets within the downtown, and then demonstrates how that strategy could be used to improve almost every downtown street, In most cases, suggested street improvements make use of restriping rather than reconstruction in order to conserve funds ‘The final section, Setting Priorities, applies an “urban triage” methodology to determine where walkability is achievable in the short run and integrates these findings with an analysis of important anchors and paths in order to designate a Primary Network of Walkability in the downtown. This Network indicates where the fewest investments in infrastructure are likely to have the greatest impact on people’s choice to walk. This ‘Network is then used as a means to prioritize both the recommended street improvements and the redevelopment of adjacent properties. Finally, a strategy is suggested for allowing underutilized parking structures to leverage the construction of new downtown housing ‘The report concludes with Next Steps, highlighting the few short-term physical interventions that can be expected to have the most immediate impacts on the walkability and vitality of downtown West Palm Beach, 3