Opening The Gateway To The Fox Cities
The Community Connectors project in Appleton, WI focused on building mobility infrastructure to improve safety, quality of life, and economic opportunities along a 2.5-mile stretch of the W College Avenue corridor.
The
With a steadily increasing population of 75,644, Appleton is the sixth-most populous city in Wisconsin with the W College Avenue corridor serving as a gateway to the Fox Cities [1]. It is home to prominent destinations such as Lawrence University, the Fox Cities Exhibition Center, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, and two major hospitals. The project area lies within the City of Appleton and its neighbor, the Town of Grand Chute. The project area is home to nearly 10,000 people and 4,200 households [2]. It contains over 1,000 businesses and 23,000 employees [3].
The
The W College Avenue corridor is two and a half miles long and positioned between the Appleton International Airport and downtown Appleton. It crosses two municipalities within one county, and transitions between county highway, state highway, and local road sections. The surrounding urban fabric is highly developed. The W College Avenue corridor accesses key destinations, but is constrained by insufficient and car-centric infrastructure. The corridor is a car-centric space that presents hazardous travel conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians. Bike paths and sidewalks are non-existent in places where footpaths reflect the need.
Neighborhood residents lack opportunities to safely and conveniently cross the corridor to access services including schools, grocery stores, and employers. Transit service is limited, and service hours don’t align with non-traditional job schedules.
The
The Community Connectors project focused on transforming the W College Avenue corridor’s existing car-centric infrastructure to improve access to adjacent commercial and employment hubs, community anchors, and residences. The project emphasized equitable access and safety by improving intersections and adding essential urban amenities, including bicycle/pedestrian trails, crosswalks, and lighting. As part of their work, the project team sought to elevate discourse around social injustice, awareness of which is essential to addressing gaps between white residents and communities of color.
The Fox Cities Region has a strong history of collaboration and motivation to address the W College Avenue corridor, which has been building for over a decade. The Community Connectors project provided key resources to move this effort forward and served as a launching point for continued work to make the corridor a vibrant space that is safer, more accessible, and a better reflection of the community’s shared identity.
The
LEAD — Outagamie County
Mobility Legacies
Appleton, Wisconsin
This city's local history offers critical context for the current circumstances and ongoing work to improve community conditions.
The following mobility legacies, organized according to mobility patterns that are prevalent across the United States, point to harmful policies and decisions, and subsequently, opportunities for repair and reconnection. They do not provide an exhaustive history of the city.
Citations
Do you want to make your own City Snapshot?
The Setting Your Stars Worksheet can get you started. See page 49 of The Journey Forward.