Cracker_Barrel_Alley_alley_restoration_chronology-WF7-2-18Cracker Barrel Alley Restoration
Summary
Cracker Barrel Alley Restoration is designed to serve multiple public benefits:
1.Improve the walking and relaxing experience downtown: Unloved Pavement to Loved Parks.
2.Improve pedestrian safety and visibility at the City Hall crosswalk, the downtown crosswalk
with the poorest line of sight (for westbound vehicles).
3.Reduce rear end vehicle crashes at the Cracker Barrel‐City Hall crosswalk.
4.Eliminate a vehicle/pedestrian conflict from one of only four Main Street curb cuts.
5.Eliminate a vehicle/vehicle/pedestrian conflict at the Alley‐Masonic Street parking lot.
6.Eliminate cars hitting the buildings that abut Cracker Barrel Alley.
7.Create a deliver truck loading area at the north end of Cracker Barrel Alley.
8.Create relief for urban area by eliminating car/alley foot traffic conflicts
9.Create an urban trail that connects different downtown blocks and green spaces.
For a year and a half, we had multiple community conversation about Cracker Barrel Alley and its
intersection with Main Street and the City Hall crosswalk. Multiple traffic studies suggested
closing the alley to vehicles to reduce conflicts in the crosswalk, the sidewalks, and the alley. We
have explored various options and heard a wide diversity of opinions.
Based on diverse community input, the city has found what we hope is a compromise. We will
address the traffic safety concerns and make the area more attractive, achieving our primary
goal of alley repair. Out of respect for immediate abutters, we will not build a park in the alley.
Following a number of safety study recommendations, we will close Cracker Barrel Alley to
vehicle traffic with new curbs, sidewalk, and wheelchair ramp, and an enlarge the green area
around the one tree. We will also realign the Main Street crosswalk from City Hall to the alley,
bringing it to a right angle to the street and improving sight lines. Cracker Barrel Alley will remain
a passage way, only now only for foot and bicycle traffic. We are not going to build a park or add
alley seating, both of which created deep concerns from the abutters. We will continue to work
with those abutters to see if there is some combination of low level lighting and awning that can
address their concerns about noise and abuse.
Relevant Studies and Plans
Open Space, Recreation, and Multiuse Trail Plan (2011‐2018 and 2018-2025)‐‐"Unloved
Pavement to Beloved Parks"
The 2011 plan specifically identified a small park in front of City Hall and left undetermined
other sites. The essence of Unloved Pavement to Loved Parks is that key sites soften the urban
environment and make it far more desirable for residents, workers, and visitors.
Downtown Transportation Charrette Recommendation‐ Nelson Nygaard (2011)
The report recommends converting Cracker Barrel Alley to a pedestrian walkway, ending the
curb cut on Main Street and allowing a much wider crosswalk that extends to the southerly
side of the alley.
Downtown Safety Study‐ MassDOT and Walk Boston (2016)
The report recommends closing Cracker Barrel Alley to cars to prevent the conflict with
pedestrians on the sidewalk and rear end crashes and pedestrian safety issues on Main Street.
Video studies: Day‐in‐the‐life of a crosswalk and Day‐in‐the‐life of an alley (2016)
Time lapse photography shows pedestrian use is a major demand on Cracker Barrel Alley and a
significant number of times where cars are not yielding to pedestrians, especially westbound
cars, highlighting the problems with the line‐of‐sight.
Walk/Bike Northampton Comprehensive Plan‐ Alta (2017)
The report recommends closing Cracker Barrel Alley to cars, closing the curb cut to the alley,
and moving the northerly side of the crosswalk to the southerly side of the alley.
Route 9 {Main Street} Safety and Livability Study Northampton‐ PVPC (2017) The report
identifies crash clusters at Main Street and Cracker Barrel Alley and recommends curb
extensions to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance and improve pedestrian visibility.
Community Conversations
Complete Streets Demonstration Day (2016)
During the one day complete streets demonstration, the city closed Cracker Barrel Alley and
extended temporary curb extensions. Several dozen residents stopped and gave comments
that were overwhelming in support of both aspects of the project.
Parklet field testing (October-November 2016)
The city’s temporary Dero Parklet was installed for a month, blocking access to Cracker Barrel
Alley and converting it into a pedestrian only alley. Public comment was very strongly in
support of the project and time lapse photography documented heavy use of the parklet.
Therapists in the building on the east side of the alley expressed concern about increased
noise disturbing their clients. Owners of the One Amber Lane building reported much less
traffic conflicts, with cars no longer coming down the alley and conflicting with vehicle
movement in the parking lot and Amber Lane.
Crowdfunding (fall 2016)
77 people contributed to a crowd funding campaign for Cracker Barrel Alley, raising $10,000,
leveraging a $10,000 state grant, and absorbing strong community support for the project.
Abutter Stakeholder Meeting (12/6/2016)
The City invited all property owners abutting and near Cracker Barrel Alley and most tenants
immediately abutting the alley and within a couple of hundred feet to a forum to engage their
input. One couple in a mixed use building were very supportive of the project “small gestures
collectively make huge changes downtown,” but three therapists on the east side of the alley
expressed concerns. Specifically, concerns were raised that an alley project will generate:
Noise, panhandling, smoking, a critical mass of activity and noise, limits to truck deliveries.
from activity at the street edge, into abutting buildings.
Suggestions for mitigation included: limiting or not including seats in the alley, using soil
mounds to absorb sound, including a sound deadening canopy, enforcing no smoking,
focusing on the southern curb entrance to the alley, including abutters in conversations of
alley work.
Stakeholder Meeting (4/17/2018)
The City invited all property owners, the business community, and stakeholders who have
opined about the alley project. Two commercial property owners opposed opening the alley
to traffic. Other abutters opposed creating a park in the alley. Several speakers, business and
otherwise, spoke in favor of removing traffic from the alley and potentially creating a park.