Watkins Glen Downtown Revitalization Initiative Projects
From Gateway to Gathering Spaces: Watkins Glen’s Downtown Makeover Sparks Community Recreation
Home to the iconic Watkins Glen International Raceway and scenic Watkins Glen State Park, the Village of Watkins Glen offers countless attractions for residents and visitors alike. In 2017, the Village, located in New York’s Southern Tier, was awarded $10 million from Round 2 of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) to fund a number of projects aimed at rejuvenating its downtown area.
LaBella partnered with the Village to engineer and design three of these DRI projects: improvements to LaFayette Park, the addition of gateway and wayfinding signage, and enhancements to East 4th Street.
LaFayette Park provides comfortable open space with active and passive recreational opportunities and includes adaptable areas for events and programming, places to sit and eat, and playgrounds. This project focused on reviving a key urban space to create a vibrant, functional, and safe park in the heart of downtown Watkins Glen. The scope of the project included the construction of a new restroom facility, a new bandstand roof on the pavilion, additional lighting and sidewalks, and improvements to the existing playground equipment.
The gateway and wayfinding signage feature masonry structures with decorative LED lettering and graphics, welcoming visitors at four major access points into the Village.
The East 4th Street redesign proposed reallocating the existing roadway to include modified travel lanes, bicycle lanes, on-street parking, pedestrian facilities, pedestrian-activated crossings, and streetscape enhancements. However, due to rising material and labor costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, this project was not built. The funds were instead reallocated to the LaFayette Park and gateway signage projects.
