Urbanism Lessons from the Great White North

September 15, 2025

Did you know that Syracuse is the only place in the world that experiences winter?

Yeah, me neither.

But when you talk about ways to improve the City and create more comfortable places to walk, bike, and take transit, many people like to bring up snowy, cold weather as the reason we can’t do what other cities do. We can’t have protected bike lanes because the snow plows won’t be able to clear the streets. We can’t have outdoor oriented spaces because its cold for a few months out of the year. We need to be able to drive everywhere because its too cold, snowy, or wet to walk, ride bikes, or take transit.

While our cold, snowy, and rainy weather can make these things less appealing to some, often the way to overcome these obstacles is to double down and create environments that can be embraced year round. It is with this in mind that I reflect on my recent travels to Toronto, Ontario. To be fair, our trip took place during a beautiful late summer weekend, with temperatures in the upper 60s and blue skies. But we would be surprised at how often our own weather is just as nice and just as pleasant. Think back to the first nice day in spring, when the temperature is barely in the 50s, but the sun is out and so is every single person in Syracuse looking to enjoy themselves. These are the days we should plan for, with adaptations that make the same spaces function comfortably in the cold, winter months.

Toronto is a massive city, with nearly 3.3 million residents in the city proper and over 10 million in the wider region known as the Golden Horseshoe. Even though the scales are very different, there is still a great deal we can learn.

A recurring theme through all of my writings is the importance of density. When we think of dense neighborhoods often we think of Manhattan with its skyscrapers and residential towers. Toronto has plenty of neighborhoods that embrace this development pattern as well, typically following the path of its subways, but it also embraces a more gentle density you may associate with Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, and other older, Northeastern cities. These communities have a mixture of townhouses, row houses, multi-family homes, and small apartment buildings. These structures often blend into neighborhoods, yet add enough density to create a critical mass for nearby businesses to flourish.

When residents live close to amenities, such as retail shops, groceries, pharmacies, bars, restaurants, etc., it gives them options in how they get around. The best way to encourage people to walk instead of drive is to provide a walk that has a purpose, feels safe, is comfortable, and is interesting. Gentle density helps provide this experience by bringing the needs of residents closer to their home and ensuring more people are acting as “eyes on the street.” When you look at the residential streets above, its hard to argue that they’re not pleasant places to walk around. Even in winter months, being only a block or two away from many of your daily needs makes walking to your destination more appealing. As the Nordic saying goes, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” A warm winter coat, or rain slicker and umbrella, can help make the walk a pleasant one, even on the worst days.

Now some will argue against density, believing urban spaces are too loud and unpleasant. Again they are thinking of traffic clogged streets in our downtowns or noisy neighbors. But Toronto demonstrates an interesting way to address those concerns.

While traffic clogged streets are still common throughout Toronto, many local streets are extremely quiet and pleasant. This has been achieved through alternating one-way streets. Toronto, similar to many older industrial cities, has a gridded network of narrow streets. As a result, many operate as one-way streets with parking along one side. When these streets intersect with larger thoroughfares, their direction changes, preventing drivers from cutting straight through the neighborhood. This design does add some additional traffic onto the arterials, but it helps keep many streets quieter with slower traffic that is perfect for walking and biking.

In fact, many of these one-way streets are home to bike lanes. Contraflow bike lanes (lanes that let people ride their bike in the opposite direction of traffic) are often found opposite the parking lane, with sharrows provided for people riding in the direction of traffic. The narrow streets, parked cars, and tree lined environments all act to slow cars down through the neighborhoods. It also doesn’t hurt that the speed limit on these side streets is 30 kph, or roughly 18 mph.

These neighborhood bikeways offer up an extensive network of quiet streets within inner-city neighborhoods just outside of downtown, but people still need access to the high streets, where businesses are located. Along these corridors, Toronto has implemented an extensive network of protected bike lanes (which are currently being demonized by the conservative government of Ontario, but they still exist for now). These protected facilities used raised concrete curbs or short barriers, known as Toronto barriers, to separate bikes from cars. At times, these lanes are raised even with the sidewalk to provide additional protection, which may also aid in clearing them in winter as they can be cleared alongside the sidewalk. Many of the Toronto barriers have also been used to beautify their neighborhoods, with artists painting murals on them.

While many of these high streets have protected bike infrastructure on them, their most important feature is the transit network. Toronto has an extensive gridded network of streetcars which run frequently and are easy to use. Their gridded network allows for riders to transfer with ease from north-south routes to east-west routes. While the sheer scale of the streetcar network is impressive, it unfortunately runs in mixed traffic for most of its length. By forcing streetcars to share the road with cars, transit riders often find themselves stuck in traffic, especially when a car is waiting to turn left from the same lane. When you look up travel times for walking, transit, and driving, driving is still twice as fast, if not faster, on many routes. And this can be attributed to the streetcar’s inability to maneuver around cars obstructing its path. When the streetcar approaches downtown, dedicated right-of-ways begin to appear, speeding up the trains and making the travel experience more pleasant and efficient. All transit benefits from dedicated right-of-ways, especially rail transit.

Good transit, with sheltered stations, makes it easy to travel no matter the weather. It reduces safety concerns that come with driving in snowy, rainy, and icy conditions. But it needs to be efficient to cut down on how much time you spend waiting for your ride.

Even though we want to cut down on our time waiting outside for transit in poor weather, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be embracing the outdoors in all weather. Although we were visiting at the end of the summer, we were still impressed with the number of places throughout Toronto that are oriented towards the outdoors.

Kensington Market, a business district just north of downtown, opens up its streets to people walking and biking on the weekends by restricting car access. This is something many other cities across the country do often, including famously 34th Ave in Queens which first opened up during the Covid pandemic and has been sustained through community advocacy. What makes the Kensington Market interesting is how so many businesses are opened up directly to the street. Shops and cafes are fully open to the elements, while other bars and restaurants have large patio spaces that were filled with customers. These businesses understand that people want to be outside and enjoying the atmosphere in nice weather, and that even winter offers up days where its pleasant to be outside (as long as there’s a heater nearby).

This mentality can be seen throughout other business and entertainment districts in Toronto as well. One prime example of this is the Distillery District. The Distillery District took an old industrial landscape and brought life to it through residences, shops, restaurants and bars. As you walk in through the main entrance, a stage is front in center hosting music artists. You walk down the brick streets and see street performances and public art. Lining the brick streets are restaurants and bars with large outdoor patios, which on the night of our visit were filled. When we were sitting at dinner, taking in the outdoor atmosphere, all we could think was that this is what we wish Franklin Square was in Syracuse. Both neighborhoods are so rich in architectural character and history, but only one has looked for ways to invite in the public and activate its streets (which may ultimately be a topic for a later post). The Distillery District also sits at the end of a streetcar line, making it easy to have an entirely car free experience while visiting, or if you’re lucky enough to live nearby.

Before I let this get too long, I did want to highlight one more thought I had while visiting, and that is the importance of providing queer spaces. Like many larger cities, Toronto has what some call a “gayborhood,” that is lined with bars and restaurants that have created safe spaces for those in the queer community to come together. The crosswalks are often painted rainbow, with rainbow lights, signs, and flags hanging lining the streets. As the LGBTQIA+ community has become more accepted, many of these spaces have begun to disappear, with Syracuse only having 1.5 gay bars left at this point in time. But there is still a significant need for them, especially in the Trump era. The current political culture has once again renewed attacks on the queer community, especially individuals who identify as trans. Gayborhoods have always been safe spaces that have celebrated both the visual and performing arts, allowing for creative expression that reflects the unique perspective of historically marginalized communities. If you build a strong queer community in your cities, you help to create a vibrant art scene as well, attracting visitors and residents alike. We should look for more opportunities to highlight these histories and encourage the development of new queer spaces moving forward.

In the end, the main takeaway we can embrace from any city visit is the need to embrace urbanity. Weather does not dictate how we use spaces or restrict us in how we move around. If we provide people with legitimate options outside of a car, and bring people closer together, our snowy city can be a place that is more enjoyable for all.

The Valley of the Sun - A Land of (Sub)Urban Extremes

March 21, 2024

The desert - a place we often associate with vast, seemingly empty space. Where animals are often nocturnal to avoid the daytime heat and cacti have adapted to live off the minimal amounts of rain that comes each year. It's more associated with surviving than thriving. And yet, one of the United States’ fastest growing cities has sprung from the desert.

Phoenix, Arizona is sometimes derided as a suburban hellscape. Just an endless sea of sprawl that reaches for miles in all directions, sucking up the few resources that surround it, resulting in never ending conversations around drought and water supply. Yet, while it receives harsh critiques, many of which are warranted, there are signs that things are changing and a more sustainable version of the Valley may be on its way.

As I like to do when I visit different urban environments across the country, let’s take a look at what’s working, what’s not working, and some of the promising changes greater Phoenix is experiencing. While you’ll be hard pressed to find a city more different than Syracuse in terms of climate, that does not mean there aren’t things we can learn from it. It is also important to remember that these are really only first impressions, as no amount of short visits can tell the lived experience of the region.

With that in mind, let’s start with the bad - Lanes, lanes, and more lanes.

Los Angeles, often considered a car centric city with its wide highways cutting through the Hollywood Hills and its bumper to bumper traffic, is nearly 3x as densely populated (8,304 people/sq mile) as Phoenix (3,104 people/sq mile) when just looking at the central cities. Daily transit usage is roughly 8x higher in Los Angeles while the metropolitan area is home to roughly 2.5x more people. As a result, Phoenix amplifies these roadway issues as nearly everyone drives. Many neighborhoods are bordered by major arterials with 5-7 travel lanes and vehicles moving at 40+ mph. Add on top of that the incredible amount of highways that criss cross their way across the region. Traveling across the Valley, you run into multiple highway expansion projects, a signal that the region is doubling down on car infrastructure, enshrining personal vehicles as its primary mode of transportation into the future.

Not only are the streets and roadways built for ever increasing car traffic, your destinations are increasingly oriented around never leaving your car as well. Drive-thru salads, cafes, and even liquor stores line many of the main streets outside of the city center. Cars queueing up to wait 10-30 minutes wind their way onto side streets, backing up traffic and block crosswalks. In many ways, suburban Phoenix shows what suburban Syracuse is approaching if changes aren’t made soon. Tully’s has proposed a drive-thru version of its restaurant and Chick-fil-as are sprouting up with increasing frequency throughout our suburbs.

As a result of these development patterns, it should come as no surprise that Phoenix and its neighbor, Mesa, are considered two of the 10 most dangerous cities to drive in, ranking 6th and 8th respectively. In my short time in the metro area, multiple car crashes blocked intersections and rerouted traffic. Fast moving cars, weaving across multiple lanes are simply a recipe for disaster.

On top of the dangers for drivers, Arizona is ranked as one of the deadliest states in the country for people walking. As dangerous as it is for drivers to traverse multiple lanes in order to turn, the extremely wide intersections leave people on foot and on bikes exposed to danger for longer. Multiple turning lanes also make it difficult for people walking to be confident that all cars are stopped, reducing the feeling of safety. Ultimately, when you do not feel safe walking, you work to find another way to get around, often in a car, leaving the streets more dangerous for those without any other option. Most people in Syracuse would choose to avoid walking on Erie Blvd E or Genesee St in Fayetteville or Rt 31 in Clay. But when your neighborhood is encircled by roadways of that scale, it is hard to avoid.

While sidewalks are almost always present, providing a dedicated space for people to walk, bike lanes are still expanding their reach. Where they do exist, the quality ranges dramatically. For every wide, protected lane, there are multiple skinny lanes pushed into the gutter that drop out suddenly before reappearing hundreds of feet further down the road. This is not just a problem around Phoenix, Mesa, and Tempe, but across the country. This problem is especially acute on the multi-lane arterials where drivers are racing, leaving people riding bikes vulnerable whether they are riding in a painted lane or on the side of the road. In Tempe, which has a Vision Zero program, at least one of its Safety Corridors, W University Dr, does not do much to prioritize safe movements of vehicles and includes very little room for its bike lane. I’ll come back to this area again later in the piece as there are some really positive things happening nearby.

And the final piece of bad news before we start looking at the positives - never ending seas of car storage.

As a metropolitan area that is dedicated to the personal vehicle, there’s an overwhelming need for car storage at all destinations. Angled street parking was a common sight around Mesa, but often that parking simply lined the curb outside of a parking lot. Even the roomy parking-protected bike lane primarily ran next to businesses surrounded by their own parking lot, reducing the likelihood of cars acting as a barrier between riders and moving vehicles. To give you a sense of the problem, there is an estimated 2.4 million cars register in the State of Arizona, but there are over 12 million parking spaces in just the Phoenix metropolitan area. All of that asphalt not only makes it unpleasant to walk in most parts of the metro area, but it also intensifies the incredible heat the area experiences during the summer months. Anyone who has ever walked through a parking lot in the summer knows just how hot it can be, but now imagine that walk when its 115 degrees out and there are no trees to shade you. The heated asphalt can even result in severe burns to those unfortunate enough to touch it with their bare skin.

But this is where we start to see some positives, and it comes from an historic form of architecture - the stoa.

Mesa - Covered walkways

Tempe Marketplace

Stoa are covered walkways often found in ancient architecture in Greece, Rome, and Spain. Downtown Mesa, which exudes traditional southwest charm in its architecture, employs stoa throughout. The coverings create pleasantly shaded paths and often include both public benches and outdoor dining opportunities. While the stoa are used to help combat the intense sunshine and heat the Phoenix area experiences, the same technique can and should be used in our colder, wetter climates to provide people walking with cover from rain and snow. In New York City, sidewalk sheds, while intended to be temporary, often provide this benefit during storms. Downtown Syracuse has lost many of its awnings and coverings over time, which becomes apparent when you see historical photos and paintings of the area.

While stoa offer up much needed shade, they also help to expand outdoor dining opportunities for bars and restaurants. As a city that enjoys sunshine nearly all year round, outdoor dining and drinking is a common occurrence - on sidewalks out front, patios in the back, and roof tops. While northern cities like Syracuse can’t as easily provide this level of outdoor activation, we can do more than people often think. By including more covered spaces, outdoor patios and rooftops can be activated for most of the year, especially if heating lamps are strategically placed throughout. Unlike Phoenix, whose residents are spoiled with sunny days, our northern cities see all available outdoor spaces filled from the first sunny day in spring to the last grasp of warmth in the fall. We should identify ways to make these spaces work in all weather.

Sticking to this desire to be outside in social settings, suburban Phoenix has increasingly embraced outdoor malls with pedestrian centers. Tempe Marketplace, while surrounded by a moat of car storage, provides a dense, walkable environment for visitors. Yes, at its core it is simply a mall, primarily occupied by national chains and privately controlled, but it offers the possibility of becoming more than just a mall. As the need for housing expands, the large parking lots that surround the shopping center can easily be developed into housing, allowing residents to live within easy walking distance to many of their daily needs. Enclosed malls can also see some of this infill and conversion, but the focus on interior access makes redevelopment more difficult.

Now I may have been harsh on mobility across the Valley, and rightfully so, but there are some bright spots that deserve some attention.

Let’s start back with that parking protected bike lane mentioned earlier. This concept is not new and has been used extensively throughout New York City and other cities across the country. But I want to highlight the use of this technique in Phoenix, one of the most car obsessed metro areas in the country, in contrast to Syracuse’s reluctance to explore their use after neighbors caused an uproar over one near Syracuse University over a decade ago. While the execution of that bike lane was less than desirable, it is beyond time to revisit their use as a low-cost and effective way to protect bike lanes throughout the city.

In Tempe, some neighborhood streets are utilizing raised intersections to slow vehicles, making it safer for people to ride bikes and walk across the street. By spreading these intersections along a street, cars are never able to pick up speed before they need to slow down once again, reinforcing safer speeds. Similar techniques have been used closer to Syracuse, with a high profile example in Philadelphia’s City Center neighborhood. Concerns will always be raised about maintenance, especially regarding impacts on plowing, but those concerns are truly unfounded. Similar to raised intersections, the City of Syracuse has been piloting speed cushions on neighborhood streets throughout the city. After 2 years, there has been no documented evidence of issues with plowing. If anything, a fully raised intersection may be even easier to navigate for plows as they should be moving through intersections at slower speeds to begin with.

Tempe - Raised intersection

Tempe - Scooter drop zone

Mesa - Valley Metro Rail station

Valley Metro Rail

Beyond improving the movements on our streets, Tempe is setting an example of how to handle dockless scooters. In spring 2022, social media around Syracuse was lighting up with complaints over where the new e-scooters were being left - blocking sidewalks, in parking spaces, on front lawns, etc. Since then, there has been little movement on providing better spaces for scooters to be left when they’re no longer in use. In contrast, Tempe has taken action in its downtown core by creating simple drop zones near intersections. These drop zones are painted spaces with a scooter symbol in areas already signed for no parking. As a result, they act as an additional reinforcement to daylighting regulations, where cars are prohibited to park in order to enhance visibility within an intersection. Similar techniques have been used with great success in Hoboken, NJ, which has not seen a traffic death in over 7 years. To encourage the use of these new drop zones, Tempe has worked with the e-scooter providers to enact fees and penalties for not leaving their scooters within the designated areas. Syracuse, and other cities with micro mobility options, should explore similar policies once drop zones are implemented and widely spread across neighborhoods.

All of this begins to add up to some of the more promising projects occurring around the region, all of which are building off the investment the region made in light rail. While Valley Metro Rail is fairly limited in scope, dense development has followed in its wake.

Five and six story residential buildings are popping up across the Valley within easy walking distance of the light rail corridor. While they are primarily residential only, some mixed-use development is popping up as well, with many buildings facing the main corridor while placing whatever parking they do provide in less visible locations.

Culdesac interior street

Culdesac bar / restaurant

Culdesac secure bike parking

Other housing construction near Culdesac

As a sign of what may be possible in the near future, a much talked about new development, Culdesac, is aiming to show that even in this car dominated region, you can live car free. This development, located directly at a light rail station, emphasizes car-free living, providing secure bike parking throughout, narrow pedestrian only streets, small courtyards, and commercial/retail outlets sprinkled along the first floor of many buildings. While the development was in soft launch mode while we walked around in early March 2024, you could get a sense of what the place was aiming to be - a fully integrated community. The small shops are meant to serve not only residents of Culdesac, but also the hundreds of apartments popping up nearby. A bar/restaurant sits at the entrance to the development as you cross from the light rail station, with outdoor seating lining the sidewalk. This choice emphasizes the need for social third places for neighbors to come together.

Now this type of development may not be possible everywhere, but its staking out a claim in a region that has been hostile to pedestrian and transit oriented developments. As the Syracuse region eyes significant growth for the first time in decades, we should look to ambitious developments like Culdesac for ideas on how to increase walkability even in more suburban environments. Locate your developments where transit investments are occurring, emphasize access to daily needs, and create spaces that are human scale.

Even though the Valley of the Sun mostly remains a cautionary tale in terms of urban development, there are plenty of lessons we can learn, both good and bad, from its growth. Let’s make sure we learn the right ones.

Lessons from the North

June 21, 2023

One of the most common phrases I hear about why we can’t make Syracuse a more pedestrian and bike friendly city is the concern about winter. “It's too cold for people to be outside on a bike or to walk.” “What about the snow?” “Plows will struggle if you do that.” “People are only outside for 3 months out of the year.”

I’d like to report that all of these concerns are overblown, if not just a straight up lie. Yes, cold weather and snow pose challenges to all infrastructure, but we have far fewer bad days than people like to admit. It doesn’t snow every single day for six months straight. Very few days are so cold you hide away inside all day. I’ve written about different ideas for how we can embrace winter in the past (here, here, here, and here). But Syracuse is not the only northern city in the US, and there is much we can learn from some.

In May, I was finally able to take a trip to Minneapolis, a city that has become increasingly prevalent in urban planning circles, especially in terms of bike infrastructure. Even on a brief trip, there was a lot to learn just from walking the streets.

Space for Bikes

“People won’t bike when it's cold,” Well, someone should tell the residents of Minneapolis that fact. The city gets far colder than Syracuse during the winter, yet has 8 times the share of people riding bikes to work (4% vs 0.5% in 2019). If you factor in other types of trips (daily errands, visiting friends, recreational), bike riding numbers would go even higher. It's not the cold that keeps people from biking, it's the lack of safe infrastructure that is maintained throughout the year.

In 2018, Minneapolis was ranked as the 4th best bike city in America by Bicycle Magazine. While the article criticizes the city for its past focus on recreational trails while forgetting about the day-to-day needs of cyclists in its urban spaces, it notes that in 2016 the city implemented a new complete streets policy. All road reconstruction projects now must prioritize walking, cycling, transit, and cars, in that order. This is the same approach several European countries take, which has resulted in far higher rates of bike ridership and transit usage than what is found in the US.

Raised bike lane

Pocket turn

Shared use path

As of 2023, Minneapolis has over 100 miles of off-road trails and bikeways, 98 miles of bike lanes, and 16 miles of protected on-street lanes. These facilities aren’t just available during the summer months, but are kept care of throughout the year. In fact, many residents have noticed the protected lanes and trails being cleared before the roads. One of the reasons for this - no parked cars getting in the way.

As you walk around the city, you find the desire to provide truly separate facilities for bikes. Raised bike lanes can be found throughout Downtown Minneapolis, and off-street trails and shared use paths spread out across the city. This is by design. Off-road shared-use paths are the preferred infrastructure throughout the city, while raised lanes are opted for wherever there is not room for a shared-use path, or it is deemed undesirable. When bikes and cars do mix at intersections, clear markings help guide people on bikes in designated spaces, including pocket turn lanes. These turn lanes help riders wait to turn in a safe, protected space away from traffic.

Even further separation occurs when you look to cross busier roadways. The Martin Olav Sabo Bridge was the first cable-stayed bridge in Minnesota and it is dedicated solely to people on bikes and on foot. While it might be the most impressive shared-use bridge I saw, it was not the only one. Bridges cross roadways and waterways throughout the city, allowing you to travel with limited interaction with cars often.

While Syracuse is making progress on some of these fronts, its network is still inconsistent and very few facilities truly separate riders from traffic. The closest experience to these paths and trails in the Syracuse area are the Creekwalk and the Loop the Lake trail. While we are working to improve connections to these trails to make them easier to use for commuting instead of just recreational purposes, key connection points often remain stubbornly blocked during the summer months due to festivals and concerts. Until we prioritize these connections, like Minneapolis has, commuting by bike will remain a less desirable and less safe alternative.

Bike locker at light rail station

Bike parking outside Target Field

One thing Syracuse has not made a lot of progress on is providing secure bike parking facilities. In Minneapolis, bike parking in the commercial centers is seemingly everywhere. Just look outside Target Field, where the Minnesota Twins play, and you’ll find dozens and dozens of bikes locked up by fans during the game. Meanwhile, NBT Bank Stadium, home of the Syracuse Mets, currently suffers from a lack of bike racks, or really any easy connections for individuals outside a car. Not only does Minneapolis have a plethora of traditional staple racks, but bike lockers can be found in many key locations. These lockers are found throughout Downtown Minneapolis and at most light rail stations in the region. For less than $50 a year, residents can use the lockers as they need, creating a seamless and safe transition between riding a bike and transit. Bike parking is often overlooked in our transportation systems, while we obsess over storage for our cars. To get people on their bikes, they need to feel safe about where they leave them at the end of their rides.

Building for Transit

Beyond riding bikes and walking, transit access in Minneapolis can teach us quite a bit. While Minneapolis is denser than Syracuse at this time (7,962 people/square mile vs 5,930 people/square mile), much of our street networks were built out around the same time when both cities had higher populations and higher densities. One difference between the cities is that Minneapolis refocused itself around transit access long before Syracuse has started to do the same.

Nicollet Mall

Bus shelter on the Nicollet Mall

In the 1960s, Minneapolis opened the country’s first transitway, Nicollet Mall, which closed the street to private vehicles while opening it to high quality transit and pedestrian space. The mall was most recently renovated in 2017 to provide more space for people and added greenery and updated lighting, making it a more pleasant experience. Along the transitway, and at many bus facilities across the city, large shelters are provided with detailed digital countdown boards, so it's easy to tell when to expect the bus you need.

Syracuse is getting its first bus rapid transit (BRT) lines in the coming years, and would do well to learn from the Nicollet Mall. Prioritize people and buses. Exclude cars when necessary. Provide up to date information to people as they wait. Provide ample space for people to wait to better ensure comfort.

Being a larger city than Syracuse, Minneapolis has also made key investments in light rail, which first came into service in 2001. What makes the Minneapolis light rail, known as the Metro Blue and Green lines, different from other rail transit networks I have ridden on across the US, is its focus on connecting population centers. Unlike Denver’s rail lines, which were pushed to the edges of communities and are surrounded by parking lots, Minneapolis has instituted transit oriented development (TOD) and transit improvement zones within a half mile of all stations. These policies promote denser development patterns with less space for car storage. The city has also secured grants in recent years to study potential improvements surrounding stations and identify funding opportunities for developers to help promote denser development patterns.

Metro Blue Line running through Downtown Minneapolis.

Syracuse is looking to implement some forms of transit oriented development through ReZone Syracuse, but many of those policies are tied to the implementation of BRT. Developers need to know where BRT stations will be as the immediate blocks will be the focus of TOD style projects. Concentrating development on top of high quality transit lines, along with reducing and adequately pricing car storage, will help promote this more sustainable growth pattern.

On a brief side note about dense development and access, the stadiums for Minneapolis’ major league teams are all integrated into the fabric of the city. Each one is accessible via transit (rail and bus), the bike network, and pedestrian infrastructure (both sidewalks and skyways). Most of the stadiums are surrounded by their neighborhoods, with bars and restaurants, apartments and offices all within a short walking distance. This may not be the most important piece of infrastructure in a city, but emphasizing these connections instead of sitting in a sea of car storage helps integrate the team and its fans into the community. I’ve continually advocated for Syracuse to do the same.

Public Spaces in All Seasons

While density, along with proper transportation infrastructure, is key to a thriving city, providing excellent public spaces helps the residents get out of their homes and connect with one another. This is not just about being outside in summer months, but providing spaces for year round use.

One way that Minneapolis has addressed this need is through their extensive network of skyways. In fact it is the world’s largest network of interconnected pedestrian bridges. First opening in 1962, the skyways have over 80 blocks through Downtown Minneapolis, allowing people to walk through dozens of buildings and past interior shopping and dining options without stepping foot outside. During the Minnesota winters, having a heated pathway through the city can be vital.

Skyway bridges

Skyway map

But I bring up the skyways not as a, “we should 100% build this in Syracuse,” type of idea. While the skyways help shield people from harsh weather, they also dampen street life, which is something the city has been concerned about since the very beginning. Instead, I see this as an idea that can be improved upon. Being able to experience the heart of the city without needing to bundle up every time you need to go somewhere is an enjoyable experience, but it needs to be grounded back to the street. The existing skyways in Minneapolis do not always have obvious entrances and exits. Often you feel like you are intruding on someone else’s space, which in some ways you are. And the bridges can be closed at the will of the building owners, potentially blocking key routes when you need them most.

Syracuse’s only two skyways currently connect offices to parking garages. This is an extremely limited use and does nothing to truly benefit the city. If northern cities want to embrace skyways as a way to improve mobility during the winter months, they must be publicly controlled and clearly marked. Dedicated entrances that open onto the sidewalk, and ideally lead directly to destinations throughout the downtown core.

Another option, which I’ve discussed in a previous piece, is utilizing STOA, or covered walkways. These are most famously found in older Italian and Spanish cities to help shade residents from the sun, but could easily be repurposed to cover us from rain and snow. While there’s no heating in these structures, blocking some of the elements that make walking uncomfortable while keeping us on street level might be enough to convince some to venture out during poor weather.

Rooftop bar at the Brit (photo by Tyler Henderson)

A more tried and true place to gather is the local pub. While Syracuse has finally opened its first rooftop bar, Minneapolis has many. People often shoot down the idea of a rooftop bar because of the colder winter months, yet most of the year we experience pleasant weather, even during the winter. One rooftop bar in Minneapolis, at the Brit, features an entire bowling green, acting as a second story lawn for playing games. We might not need something quite as large as this space, but recognizing that we deserve rooftop access in our downtown core is not up for debate.

Public Art

The final piece I will touch on in this piece is the importance of public art. Syracuse has been making strides towards improving the quality and number of public art pieces across the city, but we have a ways to go before we begin to match Minneapolis. Just outside Downtown Minneapolis sits a world famous sculpture garden that was busy even on a dreary day. The sculptures are larger than life, and a few were even interactive.

Even on the walk to the garden, and throughout the city, you stumble upon large scale murals highlighting famous residents or landscapes. These pieces are seen as preserving the history of the city and highlighting what they are proud of. Syracuse has begun down this path more vigorously in recent years, with new murals going up in each neighborhood. We should continue this process and encourage even more.

The big takeaway from this experience is that many of the things Minneapolis has achieved in terms of public infrastructure are not that far out of reach for cities like Syracuse. If anything, they are a model for what we can achieve in colder climates. We may not have the financial strength or cache of a larger city, yet, but we can prioritize investments that make some of these goals more achievable.

Bus Rapid Transit: A Response

April 13, 2023

Public transit is at a precarious moment in time with ridership still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, a significant driver shortage, and the approaching depletion of federal funds meant to shore up operating budgets. While some newspapers are looking for answers to how transit agencies might approach solving these issues (funding more frequent service, reducing fares, reforming construction procedures), others, including my hometown paper, have chosen to openly question one of the first significant investments in transit in my lifetime.

On April 6, 2023, the largest news outlet in Syracuse published an article titled, “Centro has millions of dollars and a new idea. Will anyone ride it?” The article aims to inform readers of the upcoming implementation of bus rapid transit (BRT) but instead frames the investment as a boondoggle that is unlikely to attract riders and does not provide service to the areas that truly need it. Well, as you can imagine, it sparked a lot of conversation amongst advocates and planners who see BRT for what it truly is: a major step in the right direction. So let us look at some of the issues raised in the report, what they got wrong, what they oversimplified, and how we should be looking at this investment.

First, let’s begin with a key fact that the report chose to omit - the BRT plan currently moving forward is based on an extensive study completed by the SMTC in 2018 (SMART 1). This is not a new scheme, but instead a thoroughly researched plan based on best practices seen in cities across the world, including in nearby cities such as Albany and Cleveland. The plan identified the two routes, which form an X across the city due to the high demand of ridership already seen along those corridors. They connect the three largest employment centers within the region (Downtown Syracuse, Destiny USA, and University Hill), some of the densest neighborhoods in the city, along with four large college campuses (Syracuse University, SUNY ESF, SUNY Upstate, SUNY OCC) and a fifth satellite campus (SUNY Oswego’s metro campus in Downtown Syracuse). As the vast majority of City residents commute within the City, not just for work but for their daily needs, improving access to these key destinations is vital. BRT will become the backbone of the transit system.

Now the article does bring up the valid concern of individuals who must reach far flung suburban jobs or medical appointments. Over the past 70 years, Onondaga County has promoted suburban sprawl through zoning and land use policies that have resulted in a decentralization of services and jobs. Shopping centers, office parks, and medical campuses now sit on the fringes of our county, making themselves difficult to reach for anyone who does not own a car. This form of development also makes transit difficult as every mile added to a route means the frequency of that service will decline. This is why many routes in our region are lucky if they have a bus more than once an hour. Spreading service thin to serve a handful of individuals or workplaces is not a sustainable model for mass transit. This has led to difficult decisions in the past. In 2017, the Town of DeWitt built a new public library, moving away from its long time location in Shoppingtown Mall as that property was slowly abandoned all together. The library’s new location is roughly a mile away from an existing bus route. Instead of the Town working with Centro to identify a location along existing routes, the library was built and then service was demanded. Centro, understanding that this additional mile would throw off the rest of that route’s service, made the difficult decision not to serve the library. This same story could be written for many employers who choose to be located in suburban communities but rely on workers from the City who in turn rely on Centro.

Riders are right to voice their frustration with old routes that no longer make sense, or routes that result in longer trips than needed. Central Current, a start-up news outlet, wrote a tremendous series on rider experiences that reflect these issues, but also showcase what the service means to them. There are models of service that can help fill these gaps experienced by a more suburban oriented growth pattern. The individuals quoted in the article who provide van and shuttle services to specific employment centers are following more realistic models for how to serve these locations. Sending a 40 or 60 ft bus to carry one or two people just does not work. This is why Centro is also exploring the use of vans for on-call services in more suburban locations, something mentioned in passing in the article but given no explanation. LA Metro, RTS in Rochester, and CDTA in Albany have all begun experimenting with similar services to supplement their fixed route systems. Riders can either travel door to door within specific zones, or from a fixed route stop to their final destination, calling a van with an app similar to Uber. These are not replacements for fixed route services, but instead help boost flexibility in areas that are not conducive to mass transit services.

So what should we be looking for in a BRT system?

As noted in the SMART 1 report, BRT in Syracuse will run mostly in mixed traffic, as Syracuse does not experience much congestion. This may need to be reevaluated in the future if development spurred by the Micron development leads to the job growth anticipated, but it holds true today. Stops will be spaced out further, closer to 1/3 or 1/2 mile apart, allowing buses to move faster between each instead of stopping nearly every block. Buses arriving every 15 minutes makes traveling predictable and easy to use. This is one of the reasons people prefer subways and streetcars as they feel more predictable, and often arrive far more frequently than buses do.

The article notes, “The new bus rapid transit lines won’t have … raised station platforms …,” and later continues, “Centro could used the $35 million to build infrastructure for the bus lines, including new curb cuts and bigger bus shelters that may be equipped with kiosks of customers to pay their fares in advance.” There’s a lot in those two sentences, but this is where we do need Centro to step up - the stations. While BRT will result in shorter wait times overall, providing comfortable spaces for riders to wait is still important. It shouldn’t just be a slightly larger bus shelter. Raised platforms would speed up boardings by reducing the number of times buses must “kneel” to allow individuals with reduced mobility to board. Instead, those same individuals can easily walk or roll across the platform and onto the bus. Stations should also have kiosks for fare payment along with real-time countdown clocks to inform riders of when the next bus is expected. These simple amenities both help speed up boarding and provide peace of mind to those waiting.

A standard bus shelter in Downtown Syracuse. BRT stations must be more robust and contain more amenities as a way to improve its service quality.

One note on the pre-pay kiosks and payments in general, we should also be encouraging the faster deployment of tap systems throughout our transit services. Utilizing a tap system (either through using a credit card, phone, or prepaid transit card) helps simplify the process of using transit. No longer must you have exact change or a pre-purchased transit pass. It will allow casual riders to take a trip when they see a bus coming without having to plan ahead, especially as more and more of life goes cashless.

The last piece of the equation I must mention, and that I have covered more thoroughly in my Growth in CNY series, is the need to develop around the stations. Encouraging dense development, both residential and commercial, will help promote the use of the system. The BRT planned for Syracuse already has ridership levels to sustain it, but to see growth we must build for growth. This goes for future extensions as well. In the Salt City has already written about what future BRT expansions may look like, with some pretty excellent maps to go along with it. But this goes for developments along all major transit corridors in our region. Building more sprawl will only make it more difficult to serve our region successfully with transit. Dense nodes of activity (town centers, villages, urban cores) lend themselves to transit in a way our current development pattern does not. We must look at BRT as the backbone of the system, and it will only get stronger as we build denser along it.

To end this piece before I go on for too long, I just want to summarize my thoughts in this way: BRT in Syracuse will improve the lives of thousands of people and may even encourage others to take advantage of its services, even if it does not solve all of our transit issues. We should not let perfection be the enemy of good, scratch that, great.

Water Street to Linear Park

February 24, 2023

The street grid through Downtown Syracuse continues to be built around a canal that was removed nearly 100 years ago. At that time, Water St acted as a vital access road for the many businesses that lined the Erie Canal. Many of the remaining buildings from that time still front Water St with more utilitarian doors and windows facing Erie Blvd. Today, outside of the blocks around Hanover Square, Water St is a minimally used street surrounded by parking lots, underused and vacant parcels, and open green space. At the same time, it is a key portion of the Empire State Trail (EST), a premiere 750 mile bicycle trail that connects the entire state. It is time to rethink Water St and the area around it.

Business fronts on Water St

Business backs on Erie Blvd

First let’s look at the street’s current use. According to NYSDOT’s Traffic Data Viewer, an average of 700 to 2,000 vehicles use the street on a daily basis, which is a fairly light volume. Most of these vehicles are utilizing the parking lots that front the corridor. To accommodate the EST, standard painted bike lanes function for the majority of the corridor, with sharrows occupying the three blocks between State St and S Salina St, with the block off of S Salina St utilizing a protected contra-flow bike lane as well. For people on foot, there’s even less infrastructure. The sidewalk network is in pieces, with parts overgrown as you move further away from Downtown Syracuse. The street may attempt to serve all users but it struggles to serve any of them well.

So what if we decided to focus on just the active modes of transportation?

By removing cars from Water St, the corridor opens up to possibilities. A shared use path, typically 10 to 12 feet wide, could be shifted to the center of the corridor while the rest of the right-of-way is filled with greenery, similar to the characteristics of the EST further east down Erie Blvd. This change creates the opportunity for a truly urban linear park, similar to portions of the Onondaga Creekwalk, but more ambitious in some ways.

The Onondaga Creekwalk through Downtown Syracuse leaves a bit to be desired. It forces cyclists off of their bikes as they must share sidewalks instead of having a dedicated off-road path. Its circuitous route, a necessity due to the space constraints associated with trying to follow the path of the creek, is less desirable than the straight shot that Water St offers. Instead, we will look more towards the second phase of the Creekwalk which runs through primarily park-like conditions and minimizes street crossings. While a Water St linear park will require far more street crossings, we can alter the function of those intersections through the use of raised intersections, which help to slow drivers as they pass, as well as switching many of them from signalized intersections to stop signs. As Jeff Speck notes in Walkable City, stop signs are preferable to traffic signals from a safety perspective, for all mobility methods.

With a linear park in place, the conversation turns to development along its path. Looking at ReZone Syracuse, most of the land fronting Erie Blvd will be zoned as MX-3, which encourages mixed-use development. Large portions of the land fronting Water St on the southside of the street is zoned as MX-4, again mixed-use but at a higher level of density. Three blocks, between University Ave and S Beech St are zoned for open space. While this open space preservation makes sense with the current configuration of the street network, by shifting Water St into open space, the narrow lots currently zoned for it should be converted for mixed-use development.

The development along Water St will be unique in that they can be built truly for car-free households, opening up to the linear park and providing ample access to transit along Erie Blvd. To ensure this opportunity is seized, secure bike parking should be thoughtfully included in every development along the route, both for residents and visitors to the commercial spaces. As the major entryway into Downtown Syracuse along the EST, providing ample accommodations for cyclists is vital to attracting cycling tourists into the City. It is also a way to make it easier for city residents to embrace a car free or car light lifestyle, saving each thousands of dollars per year.

Some parking lots and car centric businesses currently line the corridor, including the Syracuse Center for Excellence. While the Center for Excellence is an experiment in sustainable building practices, as well as energy and water use, it does not fully embrace more sustainable transportation methods, with the building utilizing a large parking lot and only providing a handful of bike racks. Some businesses, including the U-Haul rental and storage office, may need to be completely rethought to encourage more desirable uses near our city’s center. The building currently used by U-Haul is structurally deficient on many floors, which might make demolition a requirement for redevelopment.

The area currently covered by I-81 will also be open for development once the viaduct is removed. Auto-oriented businesses must be avoided in this area. Drive-thrus, automotive repair shops, and car sales should be excluded in favor of street fronting businesses, which may still include chain restaurants and businesses, but utilizing more urban oriented designs. College Town in Rochester, NY is a good example of this style, but the development still relies heavily on an inner parking lot. Some parking will need to be built to make this corridor function, but it should be minimized.

A Water St linear park is a chance for Syracuse to embrace a unique development style and encourage car free / car light living. It's time to rethink our streets and there’s no better place to start than a street whose purpose has been reduced over the last 100 years.