Downtown Planning

Everything comes together downtown, where cars, buses, bikes, trains and pedestrians compete over the most limited space for access to the greatest number of retail stores and services. Nelson\Nygaard’s unique planning tools help downtowns carefully balance each mode of transportation to help downtowns achieve both economic growth and livability goals. 

Tools and Typologies

Tools that are useful in the suburbs are not always sufficient downtown. Nelson\Nygaard can help downtown planners look beyond simplistic “arterial,” “collector” and “local” street typologies by more specifically defining the functions of downtown streets, and by measuring each street’s importance in terms of retail, transit, pedestrian, or service access use. Similarly, we can help engineers supplement conventional measures of operational success to include Level of Service indicators for all modes.

Accommodating Growth

If streets are already congested, how can a downtown continue to grow? Nelson\Nygaard helps cities calculate precisely how much mode shift is necessary to allow for continued economic development – and what projects and programs can achieve such a mode shift. Travel in single occupant vehicles consumes at least 10 times as much roadway space as other modes, so even slight modal shifts provide room for significant growth.

Investment Strategy

Nelson\Nygaard works with all downtown stakeholders to determine the capital projects and operating programs that are the most cost-effective tools to expand access to downtown for shoppers, employees, visitors and residents.