Looney Ricks Kiss to lead park mobility planning effort
Overton Park Conservancy is pleased to announce the group that will lead an effort to identify innovative solutions to the park’s mobility, traffic, and parking issues. Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK), Alta Planning + Design, and Kimley-Horn and Associates will work together to manage research, public engagement, and recommendations for improvements. The project is set to begin later this month, and will engage all park partner institutions as well as park stakeholder groups and the general public.
The team will begin by analyzing current conditions in and around the park. This work will inform stakeholder interviews with the institutions that operate within the park, as well as other park user groups. A public meeting will be held to present the results of the research phase and solicit feedback to better understand the public’s concerns and desires for the park.
Following this process, the team will identify opportunities and constraints based on the research and public meeting process, and begin to develop potential solutions. Those ideas will be presented for discussion and feedback to stakeholders and to the public during a two-day design charrette. This process provides an opportunity to build consensus around one or more alternatives, which the team will then develop into a single plan with cost estimates and potential funding sources.
Public meetings are tentatively set to begin in early February. Your participation is crucial in this process! We’ll be making announcements as soon as we have a date set for the first meeting, and we encourage you to share widely. We are thrilled to have a world-class team bringing their expertise to this project, and we believe that together we can imagine and implement a brighter future for Overton Park, its cultural attractions, and the many people who are invested in this space.
LRK is a nationally recognized design firm with expertise in planning, urban design, architecture, interior design, environmental graphic design, and sustainable development. LRK is been integral in the design and execution of many of the most recognizable Memphis and Shelby County projects, such as the Crosstown Concourse and Hotel Chisca rehabilitations, Memphis/Shelby County Main Library, AutoZone Park, FedExForum, STAX Museum of American Soul Music, and the National Civil Rights Museum expansion.
Alta Planning + Design is North America’s leading multi-modal transportation firm, specializing in the planning, design, and implementation of bicycle, pedestrian, greenway, park, and trail corridors and system. They strive to tailor each project to the community’s unique setting, history, and culture through an active public participation process. Alta has extensive experience working in and around the Memphis area, including teaming with LRK on the Hampline, the Uptown West Redevelopment Plan, and the Main Street to Main Street (M2M) Multi-modal Connector.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. is a leader in full-service engineering consulting, bringing years of practical knowledge ranging from multi-modal transportation planning to complex parking studies. Kimley-Horn makes special efforts to ensure their urban design solutions are indicative of their context, reflecting the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists while minimizing the negative impacts to vehicular traffic flows.
