St Michael’s Boulevard: Visions of the Future

In May of 2009, the City of Santa Fe presented St Michael’s Drive “Visions of the Future”. 

Six urban design firms and a City of Santa Fe staff planner participated in the project by providing plans/designs showing their visions of a revamped St. Michael’s Drive, the “St Michael’s Boulevard”.

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St Michael’s Boulevard pedestrian-friendly side street illust by Lisa Flynn, courtesy Spears Archtects

Could this new creative and cultural corridor become a vibrant neighborhood and not just a place to drive through after picking up groceries? Kris Swedin calls for participation in the discussions and the sharing of your ideas…

Roy Wroth calls for a “development from within”, building local capacity in surrounding neighborhoods. His vision calls for neighborhood “gateways” to St. Mikes to function as community centers/small business incubators…

Spears Architects envisioned a pedestrian/bicycle friendly “frontage lane” with parallel parking separated from thru traffic by a tree filled median…

Al Moore envisioned a Special Zoning District for Contemporary Architecture, Arts, Education and Creative Conciousness…

Dekker/Perrich/Sabatini envisioned a Paseo de las Artes, a linear park  down the middle of St Michael’s Drive that is home to artists, craftsman, and other creative entrepreneurs…

Lloyd & Associates proposed a large, circular shaped park surrounding a train station, with the mainline of St Michael’s running underneath the train station.  “Frontage side streets” would serve local traffic while thru traffic traveled the length of St. Mike’s…

Steve Price: Urban Advantage, presented a “time lapse photography”, showing the evolution of St. Mike’s in four steps…

Santa Fe City Planner,  Richard Macpherson’s water color inspired by Barcelona’s La Rambla, features a tree lined promenade