Thursday night at the Madison Senior Center, community members were shown the recently updated designs for the reconstruction of State Street.
The project has undergone several changes since the beginning, and the community has been involved in many steps of the reconstruction design plan. Last night marked the final public hearing of the reconstruction plans. With final plans due Jan. 1, 2004, the consultant team has less than two months to finalize community and business concerns.
Some entrepreneurs at the meeting voiced concern about how construction might affect their businesses, but civil engineer Mike Statz from the Municipal, Architectural and Planning Services has developed a staged construction plan. This plan focuses on staging the construction throughout the duration of the reconstruction plan so that businesses are able to operate at normal hours and will not be subject to negative effects, such as no running water or electricity, according to Statz.
Part of the staged construction also focuses on protecting many of the trees growing along State Street.
“One of the project obstacles of planning was to look at existing trees throughout the construction of this project,” landscape architect Ken Saiki said.
Despite careful and strategic planning to preserve many of the mature trees, some will be removed due to construction.
New architectural features on State Street will include bus shelters and newspaper stands designed from the new State Street logo. The new logo, or thumbprint, will be the overall icon of the new project.
The unique logo of State Street is identifiable and is not an off-of-the-shelf idea, according to the creative director of ZD Studios, Mark Schmitz.
The logo will be used in updated signage and to direct the public. The logo will also be used on colored banners, which will hang from new lampposts. Each block of State Street will have a colored banner associated with its location.
When discussing the color-coding of individual State Street blocks, Schmitz said it gives the street “a new sense of place when you enter each one of the blocks.”
Several community members voiced their opinions regarding the color-coordinated system of State Street blocks by saying that tourists or out-of-towners might not even notice the color changes and that the color system would not unify the entire street itself.
However, Schmitz said he believes the system to be not only distinctive but also helpful to business owners.
“It’s a way for business owners to guide people to their area … We can show people how to get there with the banner system, ” Schmitz said.
In addition to the new logo, State Street will undergo several architectural facelifts. The project also includes new granite pavement for sidewalk corners, the addition of more black metal benches to the 100th block of State Street and Mifflin Court, moveable planters instead of the current, large, permanent planters, circular tree grates, and more bike racks. Local artists will also be able to affect the final outcome of the project because the consultant team feels it is important that permanent pieces of art become a symbol of State Street.
Work for Phase II of the 200 block will continue in the spring of 2005, and the final stage of construction will occur in spring 2006 on Henry Street. Construction on Henry Street has been pushed back to 2006 to compensate for current construction occurring at the Overture Center.
The reconstruction plan encompasses several aspects of State Street. Phase I incorporates the 100 block of State, which includes North Fairchild, West Mifflin, North Carroll and West Dayton streets and some construction on the upper end of the 200 block.
The State Street Design Project was adopted in April 2002 by the Madison Common Council to continue to keep State Street as identifiable now as in future years. The hearing focused on the reconstruction of the 100 block of State Street and upper portion of the 200 block is to begin in April 2004.
