Pershing Complete Streets Plan
Summary of Project
Several decades ago, the businesses on Pershing Boulevard, from Evans to Logan Avenue developed as a neighborhood commercial area to serve new residential subdivisions that were emerging east and north of the downtown area. As Cheyenne continued to grow, Pershing Blvd became an important east west artery.
Currently, Pershing is a principal arterial carrying about 22,000 cars per day. It also generates foot traffic to local businesses that serve the surrounding neighborhoods. The City of Cheyenne and the Wyoming DOT have recently completed resurfacing and reconstruction of two sections of this major transportation corridor which have improved pedestrian safety in certain sections along the corridor. However the pedestrian environment is still perceived to be challenging and unsafe by local businesses and members of the public who traverse and cross this corridor frequently.
The need for the Pershing Complete Streets Plan became evident following concerns expressed by the neighboring businesses, general public and individuals with disabilities during the City’s recent resurfacing project. What was largely heard from these concerns was that people on foot, bikes or wheelchairs don’t always feel safe traveling on or crossing Pershing Blvd. to access homes and businesses in that area.
Latest Updates
Project Goals
To look at options to make it safer, easier and more pleasant to walk and ride on and across Pershing Boulevard by:
- Creating a better environment for businesses and their customers
- Creating safer options for bicyclists, pedestrians, and wheelchair users to cross the street
- Creating options for road users of all ages and abilities to travel along Pershing Blvd. safely
Project Timeline
- Concept Alternatives – June/July 2014
- Preferred Concept Plan – August/September 2014
- Draft Report – September/ October 2014
- Design Plan Presentation – October/ November 2014
* No construction is currently funded or scheduled for design improvements
Tasks Completed
Walking Audit, June 18, 2014
A multidisciplinary audit team observes walking conditions by Dairy Queen on Pershing
Public Meeting 1, August 20, 2014 at Frontier Access and Mobility
Residents provide feedback on Pershing Blvd
To view drawings shown at this meeting, click here
WHY COMPLETE STREETS?
Complete Streets Help Keep Kids Safe
When streets are designed only for cars, they become barriers for children, who cannot safely walk or bicycle along or across them. Unfortunately these safety fears are well founded – pedestrian injury is a leading cause of unintentional, injury-related death among children, age 5 to 14. As a result, many children end up in the back seat of the car, missing out on opportunities for independence and physical activity.
Complete Streets Help People with Disabilities
Streets in communities must allow safe and comfortable travel for everyone, including people with disabilities. Yet, they often are difficult to navigate for people who use wheelchairs, have diminished vision, cannot hear well, or for people who move more slowly. Nearly one in five Americans faces at least one of these challenges. Streets that are truly “complete” provide all of us with a choice of mobility options. They allow everyone to travel to and from work, school, and other destinations with the same level of safety and convenience, whether or not they have mobility, vision, or cognitive disabilities.
Complete Streets Improve Mobility for Older Americans
In 2008, older pedestrians were overrepresented in fatalities; while comprising 13 percent of the population, they accounted for 18 percent of the fatalities. Complete Streets policies offer the opportunity to improve travel options of people of all ages. A transportation system that prioritizes fast automobile travel has created roads that are difficult to navigate or unsafe to travel by foot, bike, or public transportation. Crossings are long, intersections are expansive, sidewalks are absent, and transit stops offer no place to sit. These roads are especially trying for older adults, even when behind the wheel.
Complete Streets Promote Good Health
When streets are designed only for cars, they deny people the opportunity to choose more active ways to get around, such as walking and biking. Complete Streets provide opportunities for increased physical activity by incorporating features that promote regular walking, cycling and transit use into just about every street. A report prepared by the National Conference of State Legislators found that the most effective policy avenue for encouraging bicycling and walking is incorporating sidewalks and bike lanes into community design.
Complete Streets Stimulate the Local Economy
The total savings from biking, walking, or taking transit instead of driving can really add up across a city, ranging from $2.3 billion in Chicago to an astounding $19 billion a year in New York City. This “green dividend” means that residents can spend that money in other ways, such as housing, restaurants, and entertainment that keep money circulating in the local economy. And it’s not just big cities that see these impacts: in Wisconsin, economic benefits from public transit alone are $730 million. Better bicycle infrastructure can create jobs directly, too. Cycling adds over $556 million and 3,400 jobs to Wisconsin’s economy through increased tourism, bicycle manufacturing, sales and repair, bike tours, and other activities. Similarly, there’s a $90 million benefit to the city’s economy from Portland, Oregon’s bicycling industry, and the state of Colorado reaps a benefit of over $1 billion each year from bicycle manufacturing, retail, and tourism.
Complete Streets Improve Safety
Over 5,000 pedestrians and bicyclists died on U.S. roads in 2008, and more than 120,000 were injured. Of pedestrians killed in 2007 and 2008, more than 50 percent died on arterial roadways, typically designed to be wide and fast. Roads like these are built to move cars and too often do not have meet the needs of pedestrian or bicyclist safety. More than 40 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred where no crosswalk was available. A Federal Highway Administration review of the effectiveness of a wide variety of measures to improve pedestrian safety found that simply painting crosswalks on wide high-speed roads does not reduce pedestrian crashes. But measures that design the street with pedestrians in mind – sidewalks, raised medians, better bus stop placement, traffic-calming measures, and treatments for disabled travelers – all improve pedestrian safety.