New master plan to transform Route 13 into Salisbury Boulevard
New master plan to transform Route 13 into Salisbury Boulevard
Four miles of Route 13, starting at Salisbury University and ending at Columbia Drive around the auto dealerships on the north end of town.
JMT Consultants outlined the potential for this strip of roadway in an 88-page master plan. The transformation would include improving curb appeal, widening roadways, putting in sidewalks, and bike lanes.
Essentially transforming Route 13 into Salisbury Boulevard a place where visitors will want to stop and enjoy what the area has to offer.
"I think we found over time that Route 13 is more a road you go on to get somewhere else and the plan has been an attempt to bring it together and make it a destination," explains planning director Jack Lenox.
A year in the making, the master plan breaks down the corridor into six sections. Within those sections, specific goals and plans that fit that area of town with a continuous feel throughout.
Salisbury City Council listened to JMT's presentation Monday. Lenox says this master plan has been a long time coming, but Salisbury is still a long way off from making any of these things happen.
"This will provide a good guidance for budget in the future, but will also provide a good guidance for private property owners in terms of where we are directing development to occur and where they have the most opportunities to thrive."
Lenox admits this plan is something Salisbury could look like in 20 to 50 years and it's too early to speculate on the cost of this amount of improvements.
Although, he adds, "It's the roadmap that will help guide us in the future."
After the work session, City Council President Jack Heath agreed that it was too early to have questions about the proposal, since its quite the comprehensive plan.
He tells 47 ABC he will need more time to look through the documents before he can comment on them.
