Walnut Street (Formerly Walnut Street Transit Mall)

Walnut Street from 5^th to 9^th Streets

The Original Transit Mall was designed by Barton-Aschman and Company in  1980’s

Followed national trend to close a downtown street to auto traffic, i.e., Nicollett Mall in Minneapolis

Closure to auto traffic was found to be detrimental to retail downtown, so transit malls have been removed in many cities.

The street was renovated and reopened to all traffic in 2014.

Altering Walnut Street’s appearance and residents’ opinions will be a long process.

Initial planned changes: widen the sidewalks; add street parking and landscaping and seating.

Major art component. A local artist James Ellwanger will create interactive light art projects.

Develop space for street cafes and other businesses on the ground level.

Add retail to the bottom floor of renovated apartment buildings