Since 2014, the Planning NEXT team has been dedicated partners with the City of Mobile, Alabama, beginning with the development of their comprehensive plan, Map for Mobile. This was the City’s first comprehensive planning effort in over 20 years. 10 years later, we are grateful to have continued our relationship with the City and support them in the implementation of the Map for Mobile.
One of the transformative projects underway to implement Map for Mobile is the “complete streets” initiative for Broad Street. This project aims to provide safe pedestrian and bicycle-friendly access, reconnect severed neighborhoods, and reconstruct aging underground infrastructure.
The current phase of the Broad Street project is a major milestone. It involves the reconstruction of 1.2 miles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, considered the City’s historic African American main street. It is also the first time that a “complete streets” initiative is reaching the City’s neighborhoods beyond downtown. The design features a bike lane in both directions—buffered from vehicle lanes—strategically placed on-street parking, stormwater drainage improvements, utility relocations, and pedestrian crosswalks, signage, and traffic signal upgrades. It is also a segment of the larger Mobile Greenway Initiative.
The City asked Planning NEXT to support this phase by helping to convey the project’s importance and details of the design to the public. We prepared 10 before and after photo renderings to illustrate notable design elements such as on-street parking, pedestrian crossings at schools, and how the new street will impact Mardi Gras parades (it won’t change anything!). We then helped prepare City staff to facilitate a number of community meetings, and supplied detailed, graphically rich boards to present at community events. On the project website, visitors can view certain points on the street and its current condition, then use the sliding bar tool and see the same image of the street with the proposed design upgrades. This visual tool offers residents the opportunity to see and understand exactly how the planned developments will impact their street.
See the Broad Street Design renderings on the Map for Mobile website.
Planning NEXT is honored to support the City of Mobile as they continue to work towards preservation, revitalization, and growth.
