2008 Streetscape Winner

Washington Street - Bismarck

For more than 50 years, traffic congestion has been a major concern along a four block section of Washington Street in Bismarck. The problem has been under review for half a decade due to the conflicts of a street widening project through a section of the city listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The problem has related to the preservation of the special sense of place that exists within the vast eclectic mix of architectural styles and elm tree lined boulevards. Taking the lead for the City of Bismarck, staff at Kadrmas Lee & Jackson organized a public input and design process to listen to all of the important issues and evaluate alternative solutions. They also teamed with RDG, a diverse firm of landscape architects, sculptors, and planners to focus on the overall design and function of streetscape elements and historic preservation. Northern Improvement Co. secured the low bid for the project and teamed with Atlas, Inc. to construct the decorative concrete elements. A number of different goals were targeted for the construction. Decorative concrete was effectively used to establish full depth color to differentiate cross-walks and the center two-way left turn lane. An additional goal was to use concrete to provide a low maintenance and long life paving product. Another goal was to provide a textured brick-like pattern along the edges of the two-way left-turn lane. The coloring of the twoway left-turn lane is intended to provide a traffic calming effect by creating an illusion of a narrow traveled way to the motorists. Accenting the colored concrete pavement, decorative natural stone entrance piers denote the historic significance of the neighborhood. Historic story tiles were sculpted and cast into the piers depicting prominent architectural styles and notable former residents of the neighborhood. Lighting fixtures, representative of area historic architecture, create a new nighttime ambiance to the historic district.

Owner: City of Bismarck	Decorative Concrete: Atlas, Inc.
Landscape Architect/Engineer: Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson - RDG Planning & Design	Contractor: Northern Improvement Co.
Submitted by: Kadrmas Lee & Jackson	Construction Engineering: City of Bismarck Engineering Department