In March 2025, the Bartow CRA completed the Main Street Streetscape Study, a conceptual planning document that maps how downtown Bartow’s commercial core could become more walkable, more connected, and more inviting for the people who live and work in it. The study covers a corridor running along Wilson, Broadway, Florida, Hendry, Central, and Jackson Avenues into Main Street, the streets that frame the heart of the CRA District.
The study was presented to the CRA Board and the Bartow City Commission. It lays out alternative streetscape and traffic-calming concepts along with an implementation framework. In plain terms, it offers several options for how the corridor could be redesigned, each with a sequence and a path for getting it done.
The study is the project. Before any construction can begin, the CRA needs a credible, vetted vision for what the corridor should become, and that vision now exists in writing. It identifies where pedestrian crossings should be improved, where street trees and lighting could expand the District’s character, where on-street parking could be reorganized, and where the corridor’s commercial frontage could be activated through better public-space design.
From here, the work moves into phased implementation. The CRA’s three-year target is to initiate or complete two or more public-space improvement projects per year, drawing on the framework the study established. Each phase turns an idea on the page into something residents can use: a wider sidewalk, a safer crosswalk, a new gathering spot, a place to pause between errands.
A streetscape study is, by nature, a long-term commitment. The buildings on Main Street have stood for generations; the streets between them deserve the same level of care. This study is the first concrete step toward giving that care a plan, and a sequence for putting it on the ground.