Tryst Nashua
Testing improvements ata
smaller-scale
The planning team performed
a “sampling” of the Main
Street changes. Unlike
many planned public realm
improvements, the fact that so
many temporary changes have
been implemented means that
it is quite possible to conduct a
systematic survey of what has
worked and what hasn’t for the
various businesses. This will
be an important first step to
determine the extent to which
Main Street’s public realm
is improved in a more large-
scale way. Moreover, it will be
more effective to improve a
smaller area more fully than to
make smaller impacts across
all of Main Street, which will
be partially determined by
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Action: Facilitate public
realm expansion and
improvement on Main
Street to maintain
downtown’s commercial
activity
The temporary outdoor seating
and public realm improvements
made along Main Street, while
initially pursued to promote the
health and safety of the community
during the COVID-19 pandemic,
now present the community with a
vision of a new downtown. Despite
the logistical hurdles of setting
these changes up and temporary
look and feel of jersey barriers,
the increased option of outdoor
seating and reclamation of a
significant slice of the street away
from purely automotive traffic has
shown that a dramatic rethinking
of the public realm can work in
Nashua. Many concerns brought
up hypothetically related to this
kind of public realm intervention—
reduced parking availability,
access to the sidewalk, negative
effects on businesses—have either
not materialized or have been
significantly less dramatic than
anticipated. It is the opinion of this
planning group that the benefits
of these temporary improvements
should be made permanent and
even expanded as the city looks
toward a broader reinvigoration of
its downtown businesses.
Main Street North
The northern section of Main Street
from Factory and Temple Street to
East and West Hollis St, currently
consists of a high density of small
to medium scale active commercial
and retail development. As
a reaction to the COVID-19
pandemic, temporary sidewalk
expansion has been implemented
with positive reactions from
citizens and shop owners. The City
wishes to explore how this could
become more permanent.
There are multiple
considerations these
recommendations try to balance.
For example, these actions will
affect overall circulation in the
downtown, so implementation
of these improvements should
consider those changes,
particularly as the downtown
begins to come out of the
COVID-19 lockdown. Changes to
the pedestrian realm will effect
available parking. While this
plan generally suggests that, on
balance, these improvements
will most likely still be a net
benefit to the downtown, these
changes to parking capacity must
be considered. The changes
across Franklin, Canal, and
Railroad Square all need to be
balanced, as does planning for
how these changes adapt to the
colder winter months. None of
these considerations preclude
the changes this plan envisions,
and we believe that they can be
addressed as the details of these
improvements are worked out.
