Is College Park On Track To Becoming A Top 20 College Town?

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by lookingbutnotlost

There other charming college towns that have one road but are still charming like UNC. CP has a lot of random mish mash ugly strip malls. I think they had a grant to improve store fronts.....it would be interesting to see how many business owners used it.

Yeah. ANd again, that's probably due to RT. 1 being a state highway. It needs to be transformed into a BLVD. Strip malls were created for autos, not pedestrians (auto dealerships from the Beltway to Hyattsville). ANd that's what you find along Rt. 1. Like I said, that's where all the motels came from for those stopping off on there way north and south.

It's like UMD and College Park was an afterthought. WHich is odd. But I'm glad they are trying to turn it around. We do need more superblocks though. The Southern Gateway is a start. The next project should be the shopping center with the bank. That needs to be another block of mixed-use structures. THen you have a long break with the lawn in front of the chapel, the practice fields, and fraternity row. Those breaks are unfortunate and inhibit a consistency and connectedness you find in other college towns.

Then you enter the "UMD/Discovery District." Followed by another break, the stream.

THen you enter the "Varsity District." The shopping center across the street needs to be a block of mixed-use structures. Then you have another break at the 193 bridge.

THere are just a lot of unfortunate breaks in available retail spots along RT. 1. to create one long BLVD.

[terplandlord]

The very first thing that needs to be done is to bury the telephone poles. I've never seen telephone poles like that with tons of wires going all over the place. Why the heck don't they bury them? Everyplace has underground lines now. It looks cluttered, disorganized and rediculous.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by terplandlord

The very first thing that needs to be done is to bury the telephone poles. I've never seen telephone poles like that with tons of wires going all over the place. Why the heck don't they bury them? Everyplace has underground lines now. It looks cluttered, disorganized and rediculous.

Money. It would take millions. ANd I don't think the city has required that these new developments put money towards a fund to bury them. Perhaps they can raise taxes or do a fund-raiser. Perhaps someone here can shed more light on that effort.

[lookingbutnotlost]

They don't "just bury them" bc burying lines is expensive. They tend to bury new lines not older ones.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by lookingbutnotlost

They don't "just bury them" bc burying lines is expensive. They tend to bury new lines not older ones.

Actually, the city considered burying the lines. But probably for financial reasons, that idea has been shelved, or put on hold. So, it can be done, but it is expensive. RT.1 is a lined with structures, so I'm sure there is already a conduit/space along RT. 1 that is available to place these lines. I doubt they have to dig new trenches.

[lookingbutnotlost]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Actually, the city considered burying the lines. But probably for financial reasons, that idea has been shelved, or put on hold. So, it can be done, but it is expensive. RT.1 is a lined with structures, so I'm sure there is already a conduit/space along RT. 1 that is available to place these lines. I doubt they have to dig new trenches.

It's expensive to bury old lines bc you have to dig.

[MassTerp94]

Don't get me wrong, as a Terp I will always have a love for College Park and UMD, but outside of the bars CP kinda sucks. There's really not much to do except go to the bars (Looney's being the only one worth going to...their cheese steak is bomb). Cstone and Bents not worth the hour-long line at minimum. DC is a much better option for UMD students looking for a night out.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by MassTerp94

Don't get me wrong, as a Terp I will always have a love for College Park and UMD, but outside of the bars CP kinda sucks. There's really not much to do except go to the bars (Looney's being the only one worth going to...their cheese steak is bomb). Cstone and Bents not worth the hour-long line at minimum. DC is a much better option for UMD students looking for a night out.

This is true. CP does need more places like Looney's. BUt it takes more density to support a high number of bar options places during school breaks. MOre housing for professionals and not students and more offices.

[Catcprtc]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Money. It would take millions. ANd I don't think the city has required that these new developments put money towards a fund to bury them. Perhaps they can raise taxes or do a fund-raiser. Perhaps someone here can shed more light on that effort.

The City has looked at burying the power lines 3 or 4 times in the past 20 years. It would only make sense when the road gets rebuilt by then State. Unfortunately the estimated cost is always crazy high. A couple of years ago the consultant hired by the City and UMD determined the best location to bury would be in the road median. I believe the estimated cost worked out to over $500,000 per pole removed. So it won't be happening. The rebuilding of Route 1 would lead to the relocation of all the poles and the wires and that would help to somewhat clean up the mess that is there today.

Some developers have put money into an undergrounding fund but it was just a drop in the bucket.

[pokeable]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Ann Arbor is the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan is Ann Abor.

Not necessarily. Main Street in downtown is a big dividing line between the undergraduate population, and the grad/professional student/working professionals in Ann Arbor. The restaurants extending north from the stadium up to Kerrytown tends to price out the student population. There are a ton of professionals (engineers @ the car companies engineering offices, health professionals from the hospital, faculty, software engineers, etc) in and around the city. Partly due to spin-offs from the school, partly due to tradition (cars, Michigan), partly due to luck (Larry Page going on to co-found Google).

Like others in this thread have alluded to, route 1 is a big impediment. There are only a few 2-lane roads in and around campus. From campus, to Main Street, to State (retail + bars), to South University (lots of bars and cafes, a little retail), pretty much everything is a one-lane road with wide sidewalks.