Main Street Revitalization Plan & Design Idea Book
Bridgeport, California
Making Main Street a place again
In August 2012, the Opticos team traveled to the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains to the small town of Bridgeport for a particularly memorable charrette event. The project provided an opportunity to create a vision for Main Street, to make it a more welcoming environment for pedestrians and bicyclists, and to promote its revitalization.
With the help of what seemed to be the entire community in attendance (collaborator Dan Burden referred to a meeting with Main Street business owners as “quite possibly the best meeting we have ever had”) and creative and active participation by Mono County planners and representatives from (project sponsor) Caltrans, the team designed a “road diet” for Main Street that will create a safer pedestrian environment, calm traffic as it passes through the community, and generally create a better environment for Main Street businesses.
In what has proven to be the most rapid implementation we’ve experienced, the first phase of roadway improvements was implemented only nine weeks after the community charrette.
Additionally, local business owners are eager to improve their building facades as recommended in the Design Idea Book.
The project was completed for Mono County with the collaboration of Local Government Commission, the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, Nelson\Nygaard, Mono County Planning, and Caltrans.
