TERRA worked with the City of Elmwood to design improvements to the downtown area streetscape as part of the city’s continued redevelopment following a devastating tornado in 2010. The project consisted of an entirely new streetscape, extending from the face of curb to the property line, for six primary streets within the downtown business district.

The improvements provide more efficient, comfortable, and attractive transportation routes for pedestrians, as well as beautify the downtown area with unit paver sidewalks and ramps designed to meet current Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines, new decorative street lights, and raised landscape planters. Challenged with an existing two-level sidewalk system, TERRA’s design proposed raised landscape planters to resolve some of the existing accessibility issues by making upgrade differences between the street level and finish floor elevations of the existing buildings. Stairs and ADA ramps were provided within the raised landscape planter module to provide convenient access to downtown businesses from the existing street parking.