Show focus on recreation walkways, improved connectivity and safety
By Hayleigh Gowans
Staff Writer
The results of a survey administered following the Elevating Erie ideas competition show the public would like to put an emphasis on creating bicycle and pedestrian walkways, as well as improve connectivity and safety for future projects along the Erie Canal corridor in DeWitt and Syracuse.
Elevating Erie is a joint effort between the city of Syracuse, the town of DeWitt, Onondaga County and New York state to help stimulate and guide future development of the 14-mile gap of the Erie Canalway trail starting at Erie Boulevard in DeWitt through the city of Syracuse.
The Elevating Erie ideas competition brought more than 60 submissions of plans that would revitalize and transform the corridor. In May 2016, the winners of the four key areas — the boulevard, branch, block and bridge site — were announced. During the summer in 2016, a survey was created to get feedback and prioritize the types of projects people thought would be suitable for the four locations.
On July 11, results from the public survey were released at an event downtown at the Erie Canal Museum. More than 1,200 people took part in the survey, with over 3,800 visitors to the survey site from 38 states and 50 countries around the world.
Sam Gordon, director of planning for DeWitt, and Owen Kearny, assistant director for Syracuse city planning, have been with the Elevating Erie project since the beginning and explained the survey was distributed as a way to gauge how the public would prioritize the types of projects they want carried out in that area.
Results released showed participants put the biggest priority on projects that would bring pedestrian and bike transportation, and improved connectivity and safety of the corridor. Following those two areas of focus in order of most prioritized to least were: economic development, eco-friendly design, community character, history and culture, parks and recreation, and transit alternatives.
“The survey is a critical component of this project,” said Gordon. “We wanted to get a better understanding of what the people would like to see here. We learned what to emphasize when it comes to the future of the Erie Canal corridor here.”
“We need to know where we should focus our investments in the future,” said Kearny.
Participants were also asked to prioritize individual areas of focus for each of the four areas included in the ideas competition.
The boulevard site is a four-mile stretch that represents part of the 14-mile gap of the Erie Canalway Trail. Survey results showed people would like to see a median greenway along that site.
The block site is a section of right-of-way that is the widest portion of Erie measuring over 180-inches between Teall Avenue and Peat Street in Syracuse. Participants in the survey said they were most interested in revealing the canal in that location.
The branch site is an area of widewaters located at the intersection of Erie Boulevard East and Towpath Road, which is where the Erie Canalway Trail will officially connect with Erie Boulevard. The survey showed people would like to see work on DeWitt’s Widewaters park to occur in this area, which is something Gordon said the town government hopes to invest in in the near future.
The bridge site is situated at the terminus of the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park over Interstate 481 to Towpath Road. Participants in the survey said they would like to see a green bridge be built here on Kinne Road.
For more information about Elevating Erie and to see more of the results of the survey, go to elevatingerie.com.
