Changes are coming to downtown streetscapes, but more work is needed

It appears that final­ly, after many delays, the Main Street High Side project is under­way.  Indications are that, if accept­able bids are received, actu­al con­struc­tion could begin imme­di­ate­ly after the 2024 Pioneer Festival.

While some may applaud the project there are obvi­ous­ly oth­ers who are cha­grined to see it begin­ning.  Some of the rea­son for that dis­may may be the fact that the steps that exist all along the high side, from Lexington Avenue to Broadway, have been there for as long as most cur­rent res­i­dents can remem­ber.  The famil­iar­i­ty of the steps breeds a nos­tal­gia that is dif­fi­cult to disregard.

It is also like­ly true that some or most of the busi­ness­es on that side of the street are con­cerned about how their busi­ness will fare dur­ing con­struc­tion, a valid concern.

It is hoped that there has been care­ful and ade­quate con­sid­er­a­tion giv­en to the con­struc­tion process to assure that the entire block is not under­go­ing ren­o­va­tion at the same time, that sec­tions will be dealt with, leav­ing access to all the busi­ness­es even if some­what lim­it­ed at times.

The design for the work is a good design.  It improves the safe­ty for pedes­tri­ans as well as motorists and will pro­vide for enhanced access to stores on the high side as well as added oppor­tu­ni­ties for street ameni­ties such as out­door din­ing and sit­ting areas.

Some have com­plained that the exist­ing steps pro­vide the per­fect set­ting for peo­ple to watch the parades which peri­od­i­cal­ly adorn Main Street.  Well, the steps are not a “per­fect” solu­tion to parade watch­ing by any means and the revi­sions will allow many to view the parades from high up at the side­walk lev­el and oth­ers from down at street lev­el.  In addi­tion, there are pro­posed sta­di­um-type steps planned for a sec­tion just across from the courthouse.

As part of this work, hand­i­cap access at the cor­ner of Main and Broadway will be added, a long-over­due improve­ment.  Hopefully the inclu­sion of that ramp area will also address the rather severe side­walk slope that exists from the south end of StrengthFix to the cor­ner.  At least lev­el­ing a por­tion of this sec­tion of walk across the front of Laura’s Mercantile would pro­vide a safer access to that busi­ness and reduce the haz­ard to impaired walk­ers and those in wheel­chairs as they approach Broadway.

A num­ber of years ago, when the traf­fic lights at the Main Street inter­sec­tions were being changed, it was per­haps pos­si­ble that cor­ner post traf­fic lights could have been uti­lized rather than the hor­rid black extend­ed-arm poles that were used.  Had that option been pur­sued and insti­tut­ed, there would be less over­head clut­ter at the inter­sec­tions.  And the post-type lights could have blend­ed well with the his­toric street light­ing which now dec­o­rates Main Street.

While all this is going on, just around the cor­ner on Broadway is a stretch of road­way that des­per­ate­ly needs an upgrade as well.

Older res­i­dents of Winchester can remem­ber when the store­fronts on the north side of East Broadway housed a gro­cery store and at least two shoe repair shops and was a high­ly fre­quent­ed location.

While a cou­ple of new pubs have recent­ly locat­ed there, the store­fronts have suf­fered griev­ous­ly over sev­er­al decades and have most­ly lost the charm they once had.

Added to the lack of atten­tion paid to the facades along this por­tion of the street is the added com­pli­ca­tion of a pletho­ra of pow­er poles, cobra-head light fix­tures and over­head pow­er and tele­phone lines.

It’s regret­table that the vast amount of work that recent­ly occurred along this stretch of road­way did not include an attempt to deal with the over­head util­i­ties, but the empha­sis of that work was direct­ed toward drainage and street­way issues and no funds were avail­able to expand the scope of the work.

Much is being done to make down­town a great des­ti­na­tion.  Once the high side work is com­plete it is like­ly that many of the now-vacant store­fronts will attract new own­ers and new businesses.

There will be a peri­od of some pain while the ren­o­va­tion work is under­way.  We expect that the end result will be well worth the discomfort.