Read on to learn more about the West Wayne installation process and the amazing people who made this project a reality.

Video footage of the West Wayne project courtesy of Asheville on Bikes.

The Street Tweaks Team and tactical urbanism

This project would not have been possible without the Street Tweaks Team and their approach to creating more safe and vibrant cities. Asheville Street Tweaks is a coalition of local non-profit organizations including Asheville on Bikes; the AARP, North Carolina, Mountain Region; and the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, whose goal is to make public spaces more accessible, safe, and functional for all users.

The Street Tweaks Team accomplishes this goal through tactical urbanism, an approach that allows a city to make widespread, lasting improvements by funding and implementing a variety of smaller, cheaper, quick-turnaround projects. City officials are often reluctant to approve large-scale infrastructure projects because they aren’t sold on their benefits or they’re overwhelmed by the required investment; tactical urbanism allows them to test a project before committing to a long timeframe or spending a lot of money. Larger cities like New York City and Seattle have had great success implementing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects, which has led smaller cities like Memphis and Asheville to embrace this approach.

Help from our Asheville community partners

There were many organizations outside of the Street Tweaks team who helped make the West Wayne project a reality. These include:

• Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions
• UNCA’s STEAM Studio
• Art of Belonging
• East West Asheville Neighborhood Association
• West Asheville Business Association
• People for Bikes
• The City of Asheville

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of these partners who invested their time and talent.

Why did Street Tweaks choose this intersection?

Simply put, it’s dangerous. Asheville has the most pedestrian deaths per capita in North Carolina, and the Westwood Place & Waynesville Avenue intersection is exceptionally dangerous due to its high volume of mixed-modal traffic and lack of crosswalks. 

Another reason Street Tweaks and the City chose this location is because it’s a very wide intersection, which makes it ideal for accommodating traffic fixtures and pedestrian flow.

What’s the inspiration behind the artwork?

Asheville-based artist Leslie Rosenberg was commissioned to design and implement the street art based on her role as studio technician with UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio and her experience as an artist. In order to develop the idea for the artwork, Rosenberg polled neighbors to find out what they’d like to see portrayed. Overwhelmingly, residents said they wanted to memorialize Christopher’s Garden, which was known for its goldfinch, blue bottles, and milkweed. 

If you’re wondering why the Street Tweaks Team includes street art in their projects, consider that street art has been shown to increase mental well-being and boost tourism revenue.

Where else has tactical urbanism been used in Asheville?

Before the West Wayne project was underway, the Street Tweaks Team spearheaded the Coxe Avenue project in 2018. Funded entirely by the Street Tweaks Partnership, the Coxe Ave project was Asheville’s first foray into tactical urbanism and, according to the project’s follow-up report, was a huge success. The installation, which featured new stop signs, crosswalks, widened pedestrian paths, a temporary street mural, and bike lane dividers, was able to reduce traffic speeds by over 28% and increase pedestrian & bike use. 

From the get go, the project was intended to be temporary (a main tenet of tactical urbanism projects). It was installed in November of 2018, with an understanding between the Street Tweaks Team and the City of Asheville that it would be removed after 2 years. But while the butterfly mural was removed in August of 2020 (it was beginning to fade from vehicle use), the City extended the project due to COVID-19 because it helps support social distancing.

Is the West Wayne project here to stay?

The West Wayne project is designed to remain in place for a year with the possibility of being extended if it receives direct support from the City, neighbors, and local businesses. The best way for you to show your support for this project is to use it, share your experiences about it, and write to Asheville City Council.

Check out photos & a video recap of the installation.

The post The West Wayne Project is Officially Complete! appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Short summary: We are removing the mural and blue painted section of the project this coming Monday morning, with paid support from the City of Asheville. There will be a full street closure on Monday, 8/24, ending when work is complete. This work includes a parking closure for the on-street spaces between Buxton and Banks, effective from the evening of 8/23 through the day of 8/24. This work area is adjacent to Wicked Weed, the Chemist, Tasty Beverage, 150 Coxe Avenue, the Lofts, and Swannanoa Cleaners. Please do not park in those spaces during the parking closure. The mural is being removed because it has continued to fade to the point that it has become an eyesore. The rest of the Coxe Avenue tactical urbanism project is holding up well and is to remain in place, as per the request from the City of Asheville.

This project successfully lowered the average and top speeds of traffic on Coxe Avenue, without affecting throughput, while creating additional space in the public right of way for walking and biking. You can read all about it in the project report.

Notes from recent project history

As originally planned, this project was intended to be a temporary project, to be removed as part of the City’s work to rebuild Coxe Avenue. Our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Asheville lasts for two years and it expires in November 2020. As time has gone by, the City has delayed its planning work on the Coxe Avenue redesign, and though that redesign is still planned, the timing of the street rebuild is not known.

Because of that delay, and because of requests sent to the City of Asheville from the South Slope Neighborhood Association, on Feb 26, 2020 the Multi-Modal Transportation Commission and the City of Asheville formally asked the Street Tweaks team to remove the project. As we prepared for that work to begin, the City reversed that position and asked the Street Tweaks Team to leave this project in place because it allows for easy social distancing and functions as one of the most pedestrian-friendly streets in downtown Asheville.

We are pleased that this project, in addition to providing the benefits documented in our study, is also able to serve double duty and allow for safer social distancing in the public right of way. There is no compelling reason to remove the multi-use path or other remaining safety elements of the project at this time.

Mural removal

Even though the project continues to function as designed, providing increased safety and quality of life benefits to all users of the street, it’s very obvious that daily traffic is wearing out the butterfly mural. After complaints from the South Slope Residents Association about the fading mural, the City of Asheville asked the Street Tweaks Team to remove the street mural as part of our support of the project.

The Street Tweaks team has evaluated several different removal options for the mural, including sand blasting, traditional pressure washing, painting over the mural with asphalt-colored paint, application of graffiti-removal sprays to weaken the paint, and heated pressure washing. During the course of evaluating those options, it became obvious that some of the most expensive and difficult to source equipment was already owned by the City of Asheville. As a result, the Street Tweaks team agreed to hire the City of Asheville as a contractor, to provide heated pressure washing equipment with scrubbers and a vacuum truck for the day of removal. The City of Asheville is being fully compensated for their work at market rates and we appreciate their willingness to assist the project as a paid contractor.

This work will begin in the early hours of the morning on Monday, 8/24/2020, and will remove only the mural as it exists between Banks and Buxton.

Future of the project

We’re happy that the project has lived on to provide additional benefits on the corridor during this pandemic. Thank you for your support and patience as we remove the mural.

The post Coxe Avenue Project Update – Mural Removal on 8-24 appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Read all about this project:

Coxe Avenue tactical urbanism project in Asheville, project home page.
Coxe Avenue mural removal update, after 1 year on the ground.
Coxe Avenue paint removal update, as we modified the project to fix problems during the first winter of the projects install.

The post Coxe Avenue Tactical Urbanism Study Released! appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Summary:

We apologize without reservation for the failing paint on the multi-use path during the winter of 2018 – 2019. The Street Tweaks Team, including many Asheville on Bikes and AARP volunteers, corrected this failure during multiple site visits, tests, and work sessions. We fully repainted the multi-use path during the summer of 2019.

Status of the project as of Summer 2019.

This project is ongoing and functioning as designed. This is what the corridor looks like as of September 2019 after the repaint of the multi-use path:

Asheville on Bikes, AARP, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, and Street Plans stand behind this work.

The Street Tweaks Team stands behind this work, and that is the first thing to know: This project is fully supported. The Street Tweaks team and our volunteers began cleaning the corridor within 24 hours of learning the extent of the paint problem, and we have continued supporting the project as needed.

We welcome your comments, and you should freely express your concerns and hopes about the project. We’ve left the comments open on this page, and you are welcome to email Asheville on Bikes directly with any specific needs, as part of our support and mitigation plan for the project:
mitigation-plan@ashevilleonbikes.com

History of the paint used

Our multi-use path paint was provided by U.S. Specialty Coatings, along with paint consulting advice, as part of the design phase of our project. We followed their recommendations for our install process, but we ultimately found that advice to be flawed and the products they provided failed in our application. If you are a paint nerd, as we are now, feel free to hit us up and we’ll share the spec sheet details, along with more of our frustrations with this vendor.

What has happened so far?

The tan paint has begun flaking and separating from the roadway, after going through multiple freeze/thaw cycles following our recent snow. Some of those flakes moved to the sidewalk and adjacent parking areas. The Street Tweaks team removed nearly all loose paint in the roadway during work on Dec 18th, 2018 and Dec 19th, 2018, including some of the loose paint that flaked onto surrounding properties. This paint removal work intercepted the bulk of the loose flakes trapped along the curb before they could spread further.

What happens next?

The Street Tweaks team has assembled a rapid response team who are capable of further clean up work as the remaining paint continues to flake off. We will have one or more further workdays until we reach a point where we have removed nearly all of the tan paint from the multi-use path, the roadway, the sidewalk, and parking areas of any adjacent businesses. With the paint removed, we will wait for warm weather before cleaning and repainting the multi-use path, using paint and consulting advice from a new vendor.

Is this an environmental problem?

The paint that is flaking is dried latex paint. Though the flakes of paint look bad, they are less harmful than other materials that already enter our storm sewers this time of year, like the salt used on our roads after each snow. Further, most of the flaking paint was intercepted and removed using a street vacuum before it had a chance to spread from the immediate area. Even though the flakes are unlikely to cause environmental harm, we are committed to removing them, before they can enter the storm drains on the corridor in any significant amount.

Is the street going to be closed for any of this work?

At this time, we do not anticipate any street or parking closures as we execute our paint removal work. The loose paint removal work on the corridor on 12/18/2018 and 12/19/2018 went smoothly with no street or parking closures.

What should you do if your business is affected by flaking paint?

Contact our team by using this email address, mitigation-plan@ashevilleonbikes.com. We will respond via email and send someone to your business to assess the problems, plan work, and remove flaking paint. Depending on the extent of the problem, those three steps may all happen during one visit.

Relevant timeline:

11/1/2018 Project install begins.
11/4/2018 Project install finishes.
11/6/2018 Initial partial failure of paint in multi-use path. New paint provided by manufacturer.
11/10/2018 Repaint of multi-use path with new recommended paint.
12/9/2018 First major snowfall in Asheville, followed by freeze/thaw cycles for the next week.
12/17/2018 We were notified about chipping paint on the Coxe Ave project.
12/17/2018 Initial assessment reveals extent of the problem; all multi-use path paint is failing, in the form of flakes lifting off road surface.
12/18/2018 Removal of failed and loose paint on corridor.
12/19/2018 Removal of failed and loose paint on corridor.
12/22/2018 Removal of failed and loose paint on corridor.
12/24/2018 Removal of failed and loose paint on corridor.
1/1/2019 Failed and loose paint removal substantially complete.
1/2/2019 – 3/1/2019 Spot mitigation, periodic cleanup in response to direct requests.
3/29/2019 Test of paint removal methods and new paint adhesion, in preparation for repainting.
6/23/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
6/30/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
7/7/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
7/14/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
8/10/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
8/11/2019 Work session, repaint multi-use path, no street closure.
8/11/2019 Corridor multi-use path repaint complete.

Thank you for your patience as we cleaned up, repainted, and kept tweaking this project.

Further reading about this project – why it exists, what it is, and how it helps our City:

1. What the heck is tactical urbanism?
2. Street Tweaks project home page
3. Kickoff Workshop for Coxe Ave Tactical Urbanism Project
4. The Street Tweaks Team Hosts Open Studio for Coxe Ave. Redesign
5. Letter to Council RE: “Asheville, One of the Worst Cities for Crashes,” and Coxe Avenue Tactical Urbanism

The post Update on Coxe Avenue paint problems appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Dear City Council,
Joel Burgess’s recent article in the Asheville Citizen Times, “Asheville, one of worst cities for crashes, looks for fixes,” coupled by the most recent hit-and-run incident which resulted in the death of Bradley Christopher Barnes, highlights our community’s ongoing struggle to provide safe transportation facilities.

Asheville on Bikes supports the establishment of “an equity based Vision Zero Task Force,” referenced in Burgess’s article, and encourages city council to approve the Street Tweaks Team tactical urbanism project slated for Coxe Ave., which is on the agenda for the Oct. 9,
2018, meeting.

AoB stands firm in its commitment to establishing a safe and robust active transportation network in the City of Asheville. Through the Street Tweaks partnership with AARP and Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, we’re demonstrating that our community is prepared and equipped to take innovative steps to improve access and mobility for all residents and visitors. As AoB continues to grow we are eager to partner with the City of Asheville, North Carolina Department of Transportation, and community stakeholders to improve our transportation network

Furthermore, AoB encourages city council to institute the following recommendations to advance the establishment of safe streets:

• Formally adopt National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) standards, which have already been endorsed by both the city’s Bicycle / Pedestrian Task Force and Multi-Modal Transportation Commission.
• Develop and adopt a tactical urbanism policy and permit process so that community members are empowered to build and test active transportation facilities.
• Make it City policy that all transportation-related requests for qualifications (RFQ) and requests for proposals (RFP) include a request for Complete Street and NACTO design experience.

Asheville on Bikes is a committed partner in improving our transportation systems. We look forward to working more closely with the city in addressing our transportation needs.

Respectfully,
Asheville on Bikes

Link to pdf version submitted to City Council members.

The post Letter to City Council RE: “Asheville, One of the Worst Cities for Crashes,” and Coxe Avenue Tactical Urbanism appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Who: The Asheville Street Tweaks Team is a group effort between AoB, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, and Asheville’s AARP, working together to deliver this project.

What: Design, install, and track months-long experimental changes to Coxe Ave, to test street design ideas, using a community-driven process for both planning and building.

Where: Coxe Avenue from Hilliard going south to Southside. Here is the Google Maps link.

When: First meeting is the June 21st workshop – RSVP here. Project to be installed Fall 2018

How: By rallying the community to design and install a test of better infrastructure, installed with proper permissions from the City. Street Plans and Tony Garcia have been hired to help run this project. They are famously good.

Why: Because if we test incremental changes to our streets, we can save money as a city and have better streets that serve all people. We want to demonstrate a fiscally responsible test→evaluate→build approach to street design. We are coordinating with the City of Asheville, and our test results will directly inform the pending redesign of Coxe Avenue, which is planned in the near future.

Important date: Our tactical urbanism street design project begins in Asheville with June 21 public workshop. Please attend. The Workshop is June 21, 6 – 8 PM at 207 Coxe Ave, Asheville Area Arts Council. Please RSVP here. Light refreshments will be served.

“The tactical urbanism approach invites participation from all community members through every step of the process,” said Mike Sule, Executive Director of Asheville on Bikes, describing the process of this project. “Not only do citizens provide input on design, they also show up to build it. The process works to empower community to revision and rebuild their infrastructure. It’s an inclusive process that is proven to yield inclusive results. The street transforms to reflect the needs and values of the community.” You can read more from this blog post, What the heck is tactical urbanism?

Come to the June 21st workshop and participate in a historic moment in our city. This project represents a number of firsts for Asheville:

• It is the first time the City of Asheville has considered working with community groups to design a long term test of actual infrastructure, outside the scope of their normal street design process.
• It is the first time Street Plans and Tony Garcia  have been hired to work in Asheville. If we listed the top 10 urban design firms in the world, they would be at the top.
• It is the first time a large section of a City street will be altered for the purpose of gathering data that is then incorporated into a design for the future street.
• It is the largest project budget-wise that Asheville on Bikes has spun up to date. We are making a big commitment and we are determined to help our City use the process of test/evaluate/build. We are putting our money where our mouth goes, so to speak!

This project is a combined effort from AoB, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, and AARP.

We are happy to introduce you to the Asheville Street Tweaks Team and very thankful to be part of a group that is bringing this project to life. We could not deliver this work without the help of Blue Ridge Bicycle Club and Asheville’s AARP – and the combined supporters of all three non-profits. Thank you!

Because this project is bigger than Asheville on Bikes, we have created a new entity to describe our group. The “Asheville Street Tweaks Team” is Asheville on Bikes, BRBC, and AARP working together with an outside consultant, Street Plans. This project is not about bikes, per se – it is about getting a good street design from a community-driven process and testing that design before committing to more permanent infrastructure. Come to our first meeting, participate, and you will see your ideas built during this project!

About Street Plans and Tony Garcia

We are very excited to have hired a team of outside experts, the Street Plans Collaborative, led by Tony Garcia. Their expertise is vast and on point. By delivering this test project, our partnership is bringing extraordinary resources to Asheville. The Street Plans team will run our June 21st meeting and assist throughout the project.

How good are they? Tony Garcia co-authored the book Tactical Urbanism and, with his team at Street Plans, has successfully completed over 100 tactical urbanism projects and assisted in the transformation of more than 50 cities, including his native Miami. Tony’s business partner at Street Plans and book co-author, Mike Lydon, is listed as one of the top 100 urbanists of all time, along with Frederick Law Olmstead and other names you will recognize. Tony spoke in December 2017 at the Building Our City lecture series, sponsored by the Asheville Downtown Association and several other local groups. Mike delivered the keynote talk for the September 2016 Bike Walk Summit, held at UNCA.

Asheville on Bikes is determined to learn from the best in the world and we are demonstrating that resolve by working with this wonderful team.

Why Coxe Avenue?

When we evaluated locations for our first tactical urbanism project, we approached City staff with our ideas at the very beginning of the project. Our conversations with City staff highlighted Coxe Avenue because of several time-based factors that are unique to it, when compared with the other locations we considered.

• Coxe Avenue is in the middle of a larger planning area, the South Slope, and the Asheville community is already providing feedback to the City for changing the street designs in this area. We benefit by listening to that feedback and coming alongside that process with our test.
• The City of Asheville Transportation Department has already secured funding for redesigning Coxe Avenue and changes to this street are coming down the pipe. By selecting Coxe for our first project, we get to test ideas that come from the community and feed those test results directly to the City staff who are about to rebuild the street. This means our test can directly affect a street rebuild.
• Coxe Avenue is in transition to a multi-modal environment. With more residential uses on the South Slope than ever, and more on the way, it is clear that Coxe Avenue is already changing from “Asheville’s first motor mile,” to a more multi-modal environment where people walk, bike, or drive to the businesses on the South Slope. We want to test and find out the best ways to make that easier. You can read more about the history of the South Slope and Coxe Avenue in Pack Library content, “Asheville’s First Motor Mile,” or in the South Slope Visioning website and South Slope survey results.

How is the City of Asheville involved? Is this a guerilla project?

The City of Asheville is involved in our planning process and has been from the beginning – this is not a guerilla project that is going to pop up in the middle of the night. In fact, as we go through our own planning process, this effort will rise to the level of a City Council vote, where council decides to formally allow our test on Coxe Avenue [Edit: Council voted unanimously in favor on Oct 9, 2018]. At that point the project, if the vote is in favor, will become the first time the City has authorized an outside group to help design and run an ongoing test of an actual changes to a City street!

What does this project need in order to be a success?

Here is our list of needed items in order to deliver a successful project:

1. Budget and resources from multiple non-profit and community stakeholders (done)
2. A good, meaningful location to test (done)
3. World class outside experts to assist us (done)
4. Ongoing collaboration with the City and a clear path to eventual City approval (done)
5. You! RSVP for the workshop here.

Conclusion: Why is this a good idea?

The process of tactical urbanism enables our city to implement innovative street treatments in a cost effective way while empowering the community to play an active role in transforming the streetscape. Our city is ripe for a tactical urbanism approach.

Content you may also enjoy, about this topic:

1. What the heck is tactical urbanism?
2. The Street Tweaks home page
3. Open letter to City Council about Street Tweaks
4. Announcement of 2nd public meeting about the project

The post June 21 Kickoff Workshop for Coxe Ave Tactical Urbanism Project appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

What would you do: try a lot of different recipes and decoration schemes on small bike cakes ahead of time, so you can see what works and what doesn’t, or just wait and bake the big cake using a recipe you haven’t tried before, hoping everything turns out fine? To most of us, the answer is obvious. We’d rather test out options on a smaller scale to minimize the impact of failure, learn what’s worth implementing on a larger scale, and reap the benefits of smaller successes in the meantime.

This approach makes sense any time we have a huge goal in mind—say, making all of Asheville’s streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure safer and more accessible for cyclists and pedestrians—and it’s the philosophy behind “tactical urbanism,” a newer approach to infrastructure planning, which this booklet from People for Bikes does a good job of explaining.

Tactical Urbanism = Small Changes + Smart Long-Term Strategy

Basically, tactical urbanism allows a city to make widespread, lasting improvements by funding and completing a variety of smaller, cheaper, quick-turnaround projects, so they can see what works and what doesn’t without investing too much time or money and with minimal disruption to people’s lives.

And it works. Towns and cities that have embraced tactical urbanism, including New York, Portland, and Memphis, have seen small-scale or even temporary improvements evolve into more expansive, permanent plans for more (and safer) bike lanes and sidewalks and more green spaces.

One of the more exciting things about tactical urbanism is that it’s helping urban areas overcome the catch 22 of infrastructure planning. For instance, city officials may be reluctant to sign off on a large-scale bicycle-friendly infrastructure project without proof of its benefits—so start small and show them how bike-friendly areas improve safety and create economic benefits. Watch this great video to see Tactical Urbanism in action (and the difference it makes!):

Transform Your City With Tactical Urbanism from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

If a small project fails for whatever reason, it may sting a bit—but better to find out on a smaller scale and adjust as needed to until you have success and can work towards larger goals.

Coxe Avenue: In early November 2018, we installed our first Asheville project

A coalition of nonprofits (AARP, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, AoB) worked together to plan and install a tactical urbanism project on south Coxe Avenue in November 2018. This project has been left in place at the request of the City of Asheville. The project balances the needs of businesses, auto traffic, pedestrians, bicycle riders, transit users, and people with disabilities. The project includes:

• Two new stop signs
• Six new cross walks
• Asheville’s first parking-protected multi-use path, effectively widening pedestrian areas to nearly 10 feet
• A temporary street mural
• Armadillos and bollards as delineators of non-auto spaces
• Asheville’s first use of bicycle boxes
• Ongoing feedback through informational signs on the corridor

You can read more here:

• Project Home Page: All about the Street Tweaks team
• Why Coxe Avenue?
• Letter: Other things Asheville City Council can do to make streets safer

WestWayne neighborhood traffic circle in West Asheville

In June 2021, we installed our second project, a neighborhood traffic circle in West Asheville. You can read all about it here.

Like what you’ve read? Here’s an easy tactic you can apply now

Thanks to the efforts of the Street Tweaks Team, including Asheville on Bikes members and sponsors, Asheville is poised to embrace tactical urbanism, and with your help, we can make it our city’s M.O. By joining Asheville on Bikes, you’re telling our elected officials and city planners that having safe, accessible multi-modal infrastructure is important to you. It takes just a few minutes to become a member. Join now!

The post What the Heck is Tactical Urbanism? appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.