Downtown Pittsfield Circulation Study

In 2004, the City of Pittsfield and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission contracted with Fuss & O'Neill to perform a traffic circulation and parking study of downtown Pittsfield. Completed in 2006, the Study developed recommendations for improving North-South travel through the downtown area, and also to enhance the safety and mobility of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The recommendations were used to establish a list of prioritized recommendations , which the City and BRPC will use as a Master Plan for the downtown roadway and parking infrastructure. Implementation of the Master Plan will enhance the ongoing efforts for economic revitalization, support existing business and commerce, and will meld with the City beautification and streetscape projects.

The study area included the three major North-South corridors:

Center Street/Seymour Street corridor from West Housatonic to Wahconah Street

South Street/North Street corridor from West Housatonic to Stoddard Avenue
Route 7 (First Street) from East Street

and the East-West corridors:

West Housatonic Street, East Housatonic Street, West Street, East Street, Fenn & Depot Streets, Columbus Eagle Streets, Linden & Maplewood and Tyler Streets

The study included extensive data collection of traffic and pedestrian data, as well as an inventory of downtown parking and observations of parking occupancy during peak periods. An extensive pulblic involvement process was also conducted in conjunction with Working Group sessions with BRPC, the City of Pittsfield and MassHighway, and input received was a vital part of the project, providing insight into key downtown assests and providing direction.

Fuss & O'Neill prepared a list of impovements to address the existing and future capacity and safety deciencies, and a preliminary screening process was used to eliminate alternatives which did not meet the stated goals of the project, or were ineffective and/or infeasible, and the remaining alternatives were organized into a set of comprehensice plans, or "Downtown Action Plans." These plans were subjected to more detailed technical evaluation, and the Working Groupprovided technical review as the final recommendations were developed. After a final public meeting, the Preferred Downtown Action Plan was developed.

The Preferred Downtown Action Plan contains improvement recommendation broken down into short-, medium-, and long-term improvements, in order to provide a phased timeline which the City of Pittsfield can use as a plan for improving mobility within the downtown area.

Downloads

Final Report [pdf 1.7 MB]

Data Tables [pdf 53 KB]

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