Last week, the Burlington Free Press highlighted an RSG project for the City of Burlington, Vermont being led by RSG's Corey Mack and staffed by Roxanne Meuse. South End Burlington’s “Little Five Corners” – a five-legged intersection traveled by residents, commuters, and visitors of the independent businesses and small park located there – has long plagued those passing through. RSG has been contracted to identify and develop alternatives for this challenging space to make it safer and more accessible for people walking and bicycling, as well as to enhance the neighborhood as a whole.
To ensure a vibrant public participation process, Corey modified the typical indoor public meeting and had participants gather at the site to walk around the intersection and discuss the current layout, significant concerns, and possibilities for improvement. Ideas were brought to life back at the table Corey had set up in the park with a large aerial photo of the intersection on which participants could draw and erase. Back in the office (just a few blocks from the project site), the RSG team will now incorporate the local insight and ideas discussed at this meeting into the project’s next steps.