Long Range Planning

2018 Lincoln Downtown Master Plan

2018 Lincoln Downtown Master Plan Comment Board

11/28/2018 - B:

Thank you for provisions for people on foot and on bicycles. Think we need to continue to consider ways to enhance and encourage these forms of transportation for economic, public health and climate reasons. Maybe employers could be more engaged in encouraging this and transit as transportation and wouldn't need focus on parking. Prefer to see separated bike lanes where we can implement them to attract all ages and abilities to these facilities.

11/19/2018 - Grant:

1. I am glad to have the "greater downtown area" as well as downtown, identified. Currently, the greater downtown area helps support the commercial growth downtown.

2. The recognition Lincoln's cultural growth, and the recognition of Lincoln's music community, is much appreciated.

3. Creating residential opportunities downtown will be very beneficial to the growth of Lincoln. However, I think the city needs to be more strategic and equitable about the use of TIF. We all know the "blighted" requirements are weak, and that the "but-for" designation is usually arbitrary. We need affordable housing more than and we need to think twice between we approve of TIF for luxury units. The city needs to do more analysis on how it can promote "economic growth" while protecting affordability for the residents near-downtown.

4. The international panel on climate change (IPCC) report to the UN details an alarming urgency for action on climate change. The report predicts water crisis and food shortages growing, as well as displacement of large populations. Isolating these elements to a "sustainability plan" is not adequate - climate change needs to be at the front and center of all city plans. How can we assume the inevitable rise of commercial areas without an analysis of how climate change will be affecting the local economy?

5. The catalyst sites are strategic and thoughtfully identified. You all did a great job on public engagement.

10/31/2018 - Eric:

A few of things. First, I do not support changing "P", "Q", 16th and 17th Streets (16th/17th south of "O") to two-ways; I do however, support changing all the other proposed streets to two-ways. There needs to be a couple of streets-each, on the boundaries of downtown, that can carry larger volumes of traffic. Second - I've been hammering at this for years... but somehow, revenue needs to be found for some sort of a small trolly or trolleybus network in and around downtown. Autonomous shuttles and look-alike trollies (trollies on rubber wheels) are not substitutes. Trolly/trolleybuses are far more visible than anything and shows young people - and visitors alike, that we are actively investing in the city's future. It also hammers down permanent/stable means of commuting (people will always know where the trolly/trolleybuses are at). Might even draw in some additional tourists. Third - more protected bikeways downtown... 11th and "M" Streets would be great places to start (11th more than "M"), since the right-of-way is there (wide). Anywho, these are the few things come to mind when looking at this plan. Thank you for your time.

10/30/2018 - Tim:

I live north of Lincoln and work downtown. I am worried what will happen when one-way streets are converted to two-way streets. Currently, when a lane gets shutdown anywhere downtown for construction, it has a ripple effect throughout downtown on traffic flow.

Does anyone remember what happened in the late 1990s when they tried converting P Street to two-way traffic? It created grid lock during the morning commute. It was terrible and the idea was thankfully abandoned after a few weeks.

10/30/2018 - Myles:

I have noticed many comments and the survey responses had many comments on amenities in downtown but I think the biggest users of downtown do not live downtown. One thing that is not completely determined in this master plan is the ingress and egress of vehicular traffic to and from downtown. The downtown area is difficult to traverse in a vehicle at peak times. This seems to be due to the fact that vehicles are forced to travel through downtown especially on the west side. If a vehicle is approaching from the west their options are limited especially if they are intending to travel to the east side of downtown. Right now we have an opportunity to guide the overall improvements to the downtown area. The 2018 master plan proposed does a great job of guiding future streetscape and facade improvements and guide future land uses but does not provide for alternatives for traffic issues that are only increasing. The two way streets does little to improve the current access to and from downtown.

A traffic plan to includes better connectivity to circulate around the core downtown area is needed to improve access to key areas downtown. The Antelope valley project created an excellent east and north legs to a circulating road system. K and L streets provide the southern leg to the circulatory road system. What is missing is the west leg connection. Arena drive provides a great connection to salt creek road but it stops short of creating the proper circulation as it does not effectively connect to K and L streets. Now is the opportunity along with the South Haymarket plan to create a proper road system for Lincoln's vibrate downtown area. A proper road connection system will only enhance the downtown area.

A suggestion would be to re-route Rosa Parkway to connect to arena drive in the future. This would be a long term plan but Rosa Parkway would connect to K and L streets with an at grade intersection with arena drive. This would complete the circulator roads system to traverse around downtown. Each of the legs of the circulator roads have easy access to parking garages and they have access to connector roads to travel into the core downtown areas. Another suggestion would be to re-route I-180 around downtown, this would be a huge undertaking and likely too expensive of an option but it could make 9th and 10th streets local road access and in turn removing a large number of the congestion through downtown.

5/23/2018 - Jeff:

Downtown needs more affordable housing, and less parking. Affordable housing downtown will create a critical residential mass that can support amenities. Parking structures, unless well designed, create dead spaces in downtowns that feel less safe.

5/18/2018 - Denise Arnold:

I've been reading some of the comments and I'm concerned if some people have stock and Dave and Busters because that was mentioned at least three times. And ask for the person who commented about building up let me tell you coming from New York City you don't want to build up it creates massive crowds exclamation point instead you want to build out. The best idea is to build out downtown over the overpass and down to 27th Street and creep up towards a street. Then have a human driving bus that goes from one end to the other. As fast or as you need more mom and pop shops where someone could go and get everything from Hardware from paint from clothing from gift and card shoppies from small local groceries from Electronics from jewelry shops from quaint rooftop cafes and restaurants Etc. This is the way you want to go!!! Oh and by the way no more roundabouts they are terrible and as your city grows they will become a huge problem. Thank you

4/20/2018 - Tiffany:

The Haymarket and surrounding areas should continue to be converted into a entertainment/residential area. More entertainment options like Dave and Busters should be added to attract people. The grocery store opening in August will be great! I also think there needs to be a strong redevelopment of the area around 10th and M. Building some height there would be aesthetically pleasing and hopefully practical. Filling in those dead spots are important for a 24/7 downtown.

4/11/2018 - Tiffany:

We need more sustainable restaurant and entertainment options in the Rail Yard. A Cheesecake Factory and Dave and Busters or something similar would be very attractive to people and college students and bring more people downtown. Also, redevelopment of the northwest corner of 10th and M would be a key catalyst for growth in that part of downtown. Build something with height!

4/11/2018 - Brian Houston:

I oppose the use of any tax money for this project. We were not told the truth about Pinnacle Bank Arena.

4/11/2018 - M:

More food options would be great for the downtown area. Eat Fit Go, Einsteins Bagels, Whataburger, Chickfila, Torchy's Tacos.

4/10/2018 - August:

There should be more single family housing downtown (maybe some of the old industrial buildings) and there should be a small shopping center of some sort built. The Gold's Building would be a good spot for that if there weren't so many homeless people around, lots of housing around and the University is close. I think if you combined that with a stronger entertainment district in the Rail Yard (something like a Dave and Buster's) and the grocery store going up, that would really make our downtown a 24/7 downtown.

4/5/2018 - Jason:

I didn't read the article but I saw a headline about turning Pershing into a parking garage. I would like the city to consider redeveloping Pershing into a new multi-use transportation hub. I'm not talking about just a dirty bus stop. Create an attractive space and encourage transit and bike commuters along with a space for pedestrians to enjoy. A mix of commercial use and transportation use. Provide a safe space to safely secure a bike. Transit riders can use the hub to switch to downtown shuttles. UNL can use it as an off campus student hub for their network. It can also be used as a bike share and ride share location. If we must have it build up and allow for some parking. Public transit will never be a priority unless driving becomes too painful. Not that we need to make driving painful, but unless we can show public transit to be an enjoyable experience most people won't consider using it. We have a long way to go to be a Complete Street City.

3/25/2018 - Dave:

I have a suggestion for any future buildings that will be going up. Build "vertical" for a change. Ten stories is not a high rise in anyone's opinion. Let's make Lincoln start looking like a real cosmopolitan city for once. We know there is a building height restriction of 285 ft....none of which any of our current buildings are which includes the US Bank building. That building sits at 225 ft. Maybe when its decided what to build at the NW corner of 10th and M we can build a bit higher. It can be done.....let's do it!!!!!