North Main Street Cultural Connector

Project Story

This project includes the reconstruction of a five-legged intersection in the City of Elmira with a modern roundabout. Project elements include environmental screening, work within a commercial corridor, pavement evaluation and design, utility coordination, extensive public outreach, signing and pavement marking design, signal design, and ADA compliance. Fisher was responsible for project base mapping, preliminary design, final design, and construction phase services. The project corridor is located within a heavily developed commercial corridor. The existing 5-legged intersection had a wide expanse of pavement with poor travel lanes and pedestrian crossing delineation. Fisher Associates developed a roundabout design to improve the operational characteristics of the intersection and accommodate the large trucks (WB-60s) that service the neighboring manufacturing and retail properties.

Fisher utilized a traditional pavement boring program to ascertain existing subsurface conditions and design a pavement structure to support the City’s desired service life. In addition, we performed a field assessment of the existing sidewalk to identify if any sidewalk segments were in good condition and could remain in place. We then incorporated the results of this assessment into our project design to ensure the final pedestrian facilities provide safe continuous passage for pedestrians and meet ADA standards.

Because of the significant geometric and operational changes associated with replacing the existing 5-legged intersection with a modern roundabout, an extensive public outreach program was conducted by Fisher Associates in collaboration with the City of Elmira. This program included public informational meetings, business focus group meetings, and one-on-one property owner meetings. The program was successful in ensuring that adjacent business operations were not adversely impacted and that the public understood the safety improvements that would be realized with the roundabout, thereby resulting in public support.