#3... Canton Street

image: Roswell Historical SocietyWhy We Love It..

Canton Street is an excellent example of what we are about here at NUR.  It incorporates elements of mixed-use (residential, commercial, retail, restaurant, park) all along one walkable street.  The key to it's success if having all of these uses in close (walkable) proximity of each other.  It defines our City and is our centerpiece.  It was recently won the 2011 Great Street award given by Georgia Planning Association.  They dubbed it the "hottest scene outside the perimeter."  I'd tend to agree with them.

The street is innately historic and has incorporated a great deal of adaptive reuse in the buildings.  Former homes now host a wide variety of businesses and shops.  Former businesses are now restaurants, shops and salons.  Uses they were never intended to have but they work because they weren't designed to do just one thing forever.  Do you think any of our suburban subdivisions will have this kind of success 80 years from now?  It's probably unlikely.  The nature of the place is what has made it successful.

The street is home to some of Roswell's most successful events such as Alive After 5 and the Roswell Criterium which bring a steady draw of visitors to the area.  It is also home to one of the greatest concentrations of unique and tasty restaurants in suburban Atlanta.

Add to all of this, the fact that it is insanely picturesque and you have a successful street that is serving as an example to many other places in our region.

What We Would Change..

Hard to Say.. It's difficult to argue with its success.  We'd like to do something with the parking lot at the intersection of Canton and Magnolia and figure out a way to get the old Antiques building outta there and bring a development to the street.  Additionally, a parking deck solution might eventually be warranted but we're not 100% convinced that it's needed yet.

Update from The Cone Zone

I check the Cone Zone update on the Roswell city website at least once a month to get an update on what is going on with transportation projects around town.  I was really excited to see an update to the upcoming project list this month that gives more detail on the sidewalk improvements that are on tap for the area around the square.  Here's what the site says...

SR 9/Atlanta Street at SR 120/Marietta Highway - This project, slated to begin in January 2012, will make several improvements at the intersection of SR 9 and SR 120 at the Historic Square:  1.  the project will modify the turning radius from SR 9 southbound to SR 120 westbound to prevent large trucks from hitting and damaging the wall at the Historic Square; 2.  the outside receiving lane on SR 120 westbound will be turned into a truck apron to give drivers passive guidance to turn deeper and avoid striking the wall.  In addition, this improvement will force turning traffic to yield rather than allowing unsafe free-flow turning movements; 3.  brick paver sidewalks will be added along the Barrington Hall wall along SR 120 and SR 9 and along the north side of SR 120 to Bulloch Hall connecting to existing sidewalks; 4.  the crosswalks at the intersection will be upgraded to improve pedestrian connectivity in and around the Historic Square; and, 5.  the traffic signals will be placed on mast arm poles (similar to SR 9/Sloan Street) to improve the aesthetics in the Historic Square area.

The addition of sidewalks along 120 down to Bulloch Hall will be excellent along with the sidewalks around Barrington Hall.  The mast arm poles replacing the wired traffic lights should be nice as well.

Now, let's hope that we can encourage some more viable businesses to locate around the square.  

Quote of the Week: Craig Voth on Transportation

Cars. There's too many of them.

Craig Voth, Roswell City Council Post 3 Candidate, when asked at the Roswell Candidate forum last week what he thought was Roswell's biggest transportation problem.

I love his answer but personally, I'd rephrase it.  Here's what I'd say:

Subdivisions. There are too many of them and not enough true neighborhoods where people don't have to drive for every trip they need to make.