Ventura - Main Street

Location

• Old Downtown Ventura, CA
• Main Street
• Start: Ventura Avenue
• Finish: Fir Street

Background

Ventura Main Street is a good example of diagonal on-street parking, special pavements, and mid-block pedestrian crossings. In 1995 the city spent $2.5 million on a street revitalization and sidewalk-widening project.

Notable Features

Wide Sidewalks

Main Street’s sidewalks are 4.3 meters (14 ft.) wide, with a zigzag red tile design within the regular white concrete. The red tile sidewalk design makes the sidewalks a little more attractive for pedestrians.

Special Pavement

In addition to the red tile design in the sidewalks, Main Street also has areas of tile pavement. For example, red tile pavement is located near the Old Mission of San Buenaventura and the fountain in Figueroa Plaza. White tile also encircles the perimeter of the fountain. This special pavement serves to accentuate the objects around which it lies. Concrete sidewalks usually have joints oriented perpendicular to the length of the sidewalk. These joints are necessary to force shrinkage cracks to occur along the joint. Main Street sidewalks have diagonally oriented concrete joints, using this structural necessity to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the sidewalk.

Angled On-Street Parking

The new 1995 design of Main Street reduced the angled parking from 60 degrees to 30 degrees to improve visibility and increase safety for bicyclists.

Mid-Block Pedestrian Crossings

These concrete tile crossings are 4.0 meters (13 ft.) wide and stick out from the sidewalk with angled bulb outs to improve pedestrian visibility for drivers. Pedestrian crossings at signalized intersections are also concrete, which helps to visually define the crossing to drivers.

Other Features

Fountain in pedestrian plaza, palm trees with grates around tree trunks, benches, classic street lamps, and banners on light posts.

Street Maintenance

The increased cost due to the improvements include cleaning, tree trimming, specialized lighting, and increased street lighting.

Accident Information

Accidents have mostly involved pedestrians and bicyclists. These have decreased with the new design.

Public Response

There was a positive public response.

Transportation Philosophy of the Town

Ventura’s City Council and Planning Commission are moving toward a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly city, especially in the downtown area.

Additional Information

Santa Clara Ave. and Thompson Blvd. are two adjacent arterial roads located south of Main Street and parallel to it. These arterials can handle high capacities and enable through traffic to avoid using Main. This is a significant advantage that allows Main to have slower speeds and cater more to pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, and slower downtown destination traffic.

Current Speeds and Traffic Counts for Main Street

Original Contact

Thomas Mericle
Associate Transportation Engineer
City of San Buenaventura
P.O. Box 99
Ventura, CA 93002-0099
(805) 654-7774
fax (805) 648-1809

This information originally compiled by Eric Spangler, 1999, as part of a senior project.