MAP Carbondale
MAP Carbondale - Carbondale Mobility & Access Plan
The Town of Carbondale is working on a project to study transportation challenges, identify mobility issues, and develop recommendations to make Carbondale comfortable and accessible by any mode.
Over the summer, we gathered your input about specific transportation issues in town with an online commenting map. That input was used to develop recommendations for improving mobility in Carbondale.
Mobility and access improvements are split into three main categories: Intersection Improvements, Traffic Calming, and Multimodal Facilities. Based on the initial public feedback for MAP Carbondale, a handful of intersections and segments in Town have been identified as priority locations for these improvements.
The commenting map has been updated to illustrate each of these priority locations. With this commenting map, you can review the priority improvement locations and tell us which ones are most important to you.
Thank you for your continued participation, comments, input, and involvement in the project!
Project Background and Objectives
Background
Carbondale has historically been a community that values mobility and access which has been a theme of each Comprehensive Plan and restated in the Town’s recent 2022 Comprehensive Plan Update. For many years, the Town has intended to create a bike and pedestrian friendly environment. The first concrete step was the formation of priority corridors in 2013. The Town has undertaken projects since to improve mobility and access, such as the 8th Street project, but has done so project by project without an overarching guide or plan. Since 2013 Carbondale has experienced unprecedented growth which has impacted existing infrastructure and mobility corridors. This growth has impacted the community’s ability to move freely and comfortably throughout town. Carbondale continues to face pressure from population growth, increased density and changing demographics which will only further stress the existing infrastructure and impact Carbondale’s small-town character and its accessible and connected small-neighborhoods. As such, Carbondale desires to create an integrated multi-modal system to provide guidance for future growth to ensure Carbondale’s values and character are preserved and enhanced.
In 2022, the Town updated portions of its Comprehensive Plan. The 2022 Comprehensive Plan Update took place over a 2-year period and involved a significant amount of public outreach and inclusion as well as feedback and input on overarching values and specific action items. Many of these action items are captured in the 2022 Comprehensive Plan’s Implementation Matrix. Goal Topic 5 focuses on Multi-Modal Mobility and Access and includes a specific recommendation to develop a Transportation Master Plan. The Multi-Modal Mobility and Access Goal Topic informs the Town’s direction for the Multi-Modal Mobility and Access Plan (M3AP) and lays out strategies and actions related to the plan’s contents including but not limited to:
- Revisiting the community’s long-term vision for multi-modal transportation based on a comprehensive community outreach process.
- Conduct a bicycle and pedestrian facility inventory and identify missing gaps.
- Develop an interconnected, integrated, and safe multi-modal system that is sustainable as Carbondale grows.
- Improve safety and convenience for pedestrians in town with a focus on highway crossings and connectivity between different parts of town.
- Optimize the existing trail network.
- Identify options to enhance First /Last mile connectivity.
Objectives
Upon completion of the M3AP the Town desires to use the plan to support town-wide goals and objectives in the following ways:
- Support the Town’s vision as a pedestrian and bike friendly community and prepare a framework to communicate and consistently honor that vision.
- Provide a road map to preserve and strengthen Carbondale’s pedestrian and bike infrastructure in a rapidly changing environment.
- Support a holistic and transparent approach to transportation planning decision making.
- Position Carbondale well for external funding opportunities.
- Ensure the planning and development process considers pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure as a critical element.
- Enable Carbondale to proactively preserve its character as an equitable, eco-friendly, socially engaged, small-neighborhood, highly accessible community and to consider this in all growth and development decisions.
- Position Carbondale as a model community in its approach to transportation infrastructure.
- Commit Carbondale to a culture which ensures every individual has full and safe access to schools, neighborhoods, health and wellness facilities, cultural activities, shops, and other essential community resources without reliance on an automobile.
- Inform public relations and community education campaigns to improve understanding of Carbondale’s multi-modal objectives, encourage community feedback, and build pride in the town’s unique character.
When developing the M3AP the selected consultant should ensure that components of the plan are consistent with the principals of Complete Streets and Vision Zero as well as the Bike, Pedestrian and Trails Commission’s definition of a multi-modal corridor:
Multi-Modal Corridors ( are a connected system of streets, pathways and sidewalks on which the needs of all users (regardless of age, ability or mode of transportation) are of equal importance and all users have the same rights to safe and comfortable use.
Components and recommendations of the M3AP should consider equity, sustainability and environmental concerns as well as ease of implementation and integration into the town’s building codes, land use and zoning and development approval processes
The town is seeking help to focus these strategies and provide a plan which will guide achievement of Carbondale’s multi modal mobility and access goals.
