Situated in the popular resort area of Virginia Beach, 19th Street is a critical link connecting the Convention Center and new Sports Center to the resort area and oceanfront. This street is also located in the heart of the city’s emerging ViBe District. One of the early strategies identified to achieve the ViBe vision of spurring economic development was to create a walkable urban district with parking, sidewalks, lighting, street trees, and amenities such as seating, bike racks, gateway features, signage, and unique canvases for artists. Considering these elements, the City of Virginia Beach partnered with Clark Nexsen to develop the plan and strategy for connecting the oceanfront to the Convention Center through the 19th Street Corridor, while leveraging potential opportunities within the ViBe District.
This project is transforming the area from a seasonal vacation spot to a year-round, world class urban hub for artists and spirits, roasters and restaurants, workouts and wares, museums and more.
In addition to an absence of streetscape elements and alluring aesthetic details, 19th Street lacked many critical components such as continuous sidewalks, parking, proper lighting, and ADA accessibility. The intention behind the proposed connectivity was to be inclusive of all modes of transportation, including vehicles, transit, bicycles, as well as pedestrians. Initially, Clark Nexsen’s transportation team worked alongside city staff to engage project stakeholders including the ViBe District, Resort Area Advisory Committee, residents, businesses, developers, franchise utility owners, civic leagues, developers, transit agencies, as well as impacted city agencies to obtain meaningful input surrounding the development.
Related: Best Practices for Streetscape Design that Cultivates Community
The team provided all design and planning services in-house, including full design of the roadway and traffic elements, pedestrian and ADA improvements, as well as on street parking and metering. All existing public and private infrastructure within this corridor was replaced to provide a new storm drainage system, with an emphasis on green infrastructure and overhead to underground utility relocations including duct bank, roadway and pedestrian lighting, water and sewer replacements, and traffic signal replacements. Our landscape architects also designed functional urban streetscape and hardscape elements such as verges, street trees, shrubs, paver sidewalks, artistic paver intersections, custom bike racks, custom trash bins, innovative artistic wayfinding signage/gateway markers, and artist canvases.
This project will transition the area from a seasonal vacation spot to a year-round, world class urban hub for artists and spirits, roasters and restaurants, workouts and wares, museums and more.
Awards
HRACRE Award of Excellence, Best Landscape Project, 2022
APWA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Award, 2022
ACEC Virginia Honor Award for Excellence in Engineering, 2022
Virginia ASLA Merit Award, 2021
Hardscape North America Commercial Concrete Paver Award (City of Virginia Beach), 2020
