Key Facts
Location: Mansfield, Ohio
Partners: City of Mansfield, Ohio Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation, Richland County Foundation, Mansfield Rising, AARP, Downtown Mansfield, Inc., Ohio Public Works Commission
Summary: Mansfield, as part of a multi-year economic development campaign, has embarked on an effort to make the Main Street corridor more welcoming and pedestrian friendly. The effort has been led by the public and private sector through a mix of philanthropic grants combined with federal, state, and local funding. The 18-month project, expected to begin in early 2025, will transform the streetscape through the conversion of the street to two-way traffic, installation of public gathering spaces and parks, and other improvements meant to make downtown a destination and gathering place for all city residents.
Context: Mansfield is a mid-sized legacy city and county seat of Richland County. Once a hub of manufacturing, decline began in the 1970s. The loss of manufacturing led to greater community-wide decline and blight, and population loss. Today, Mansfield continues to have a significant manufacturing base, but tourism has also become a draw for the city. There has been sustained interest among leaders in in revitalizing the city’s downtown core.
What is the Project
The Main Street Corridor Improvement project is updating the city's central artery with LED street lighting, new curbs and ADA-compliant curb ramps, concrete sidewalks, brick pavers, delineated crosswalks and lighted plazas with seating. The project will also see Main Street converted to two-way traffic. This follows the recent conversion of two other streets in the downtown core, Diamond Street and Mulberry Street, to two-way traffic. The ultimate goal of the project is to not only beautify the corridor, but to make it more pedestrian friendly, adding placemaking features to improve the heart of the city. The RAISE grant will cover half of the total cost of the project.
Project Specifics
The Main Street Corridor Improvement project is focused on the heart of the city’s downtown core, between 5th Street on the north side, down to 1st Street on the south side of downtown. This covers a total distance of less than a mile (0.6 miles) but includes many of the downtown area’s core assets, including the historic Richland Carrousel Park, and Central Park.
The project is organized around a series of ‘gateways’ to the Corridor. Gateways will be marked by distinctive signage and plinths indicating that visitors are entering the area.
Above: Artistic rendering of the North Gateway from the Main Street Mansfield Corridor Plan.
Below: Planned streetscape enhancements along the Carrousel District along the Main Street Corridor.
At the North Gateway lies the Carrousel District, named after the Richland Carrousel Park. Adjoining this area is the Brickyard Entertainment District, a mixed-use district featuring arts and retail space that will be enhanced with pavement markings, decorative brick crosswalks. Curb extensions intended to shorten the distance pedestrians need to cross the street along with trees and other plantings will create a space designed to draw foot traffic. Decorative Catenary lighting will enhance the area in the evening, while also reducing the need for light poles, masts, or other intrusive support structures that make it difficult for pedestrians to access the area.
The Central Connector, immediately to the south of the North Gateway, connects the Carrousel District with Central Park. The Central Connector features much of the downtown areas off-street parking facilities. To enhance the area, low fencing with shrubs along parking lots will help to screen vehicles and direct pedestrians toward crosswalks. The streetscape will be further enhanced with trees, decorative plant beds, and mid-block decorative brick crosswalks featuring the same curb extensions intended to enhance pedestrian visibility and safety.
Above: Artistic rendering of the Central Park District from the Main Street Mansfield Corridor Plan.
Below: Planned streetscape enhancements around Central Park, part of the Main Street Corridor project.
Central Park, and existing public space at the core of downtown Mansfield, will be transformed as a second, distinct gathering place. Entrance to the area will be marked to the north and south by decorative arches across Main Street – a homage to the archways that once lined the area in the early 20th Century. Existing plaza’s outside two downtown banks found on the west side of the area will be enhanced with seat walls, furniture (tables and chairs), shade trees, and water features/fountains.
The park itself will be renovated, preserving monuments found in the park, while sidewalks will be replaced and trees added or replaced. Like the plazas, new outdoor tables and chairs will be added to the area to further enhance gathering. Like the other corridors, the streetscape will be improved with trees, decorative plant beds, brick crosswalks and mid-block crossings and other safety enhancements, all designed to slow traffic passing through the area and making pedestrians more visible.
The South Gateway will feature many of the same enhancements found at the North Gateway, all done in coordination with adjacent property owners to enhance access to the Central Connector/Central Park area.
Why This Project?
In 2019, a group of emerging leaders issued the 2019 Mansfield Rising Downtown Investment Plan. The plan focused on three core principles: Mansfield is a place for business, Mansfield is a place for gathering, and Mansfield is a place for living.
At its heart was a plan to improve the walkability of the downtown core of the city, and the radiating impact this would have on improvements to the whole of the city.
After the 2019 plan, the emerging leaders group and the Richland Community Foundation worked with the City of Mansfield to develop the City of Mansfield Main Street Corridor Plan. That plan, approved by the city council in 2021, was the first step in seeking to make the city’s main thoroughfare a more welcoming, pedestrian friendly place.
Adoption of the Main Street Corridor plan allowed the city to begin planning.
The Main Street Corridor Project is catalyzing other infrastructure investments in downtown. The Richland Community Development Group received a $25,000 grant from AARP to create a pop-up linear park along West Third Street to the west of the Main Street corridor. That demonstration project resulted in a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Health Foundation towards development of a permanent park in the area, plans for which were unveiled in the fall of 2023 and would feature four distinct areas near other core downtown assets, connecting the Imagination District with the Carrousel District to the north of downtown. That project is still seeking funding to complete its work as of May 2024.
Funding and Costs
The cost of a project like this can be monumental, but creative budgeting and knowing where outside resources can be accessed make it feasible. The initial planning work was supported with a $900,000 grant from the Richland County Regional Planning Commission (RCRPC). The city contributed the remaining $100,500 using the city PRIDE tax – a local income tax dedicated for parks, recreation, streetlights, demolition, and first responder expenses that was approved by city voters.
For the construction project itself, the city has utilized several local funding sources, including funding from the PRIDE tax, the city resurfacing fund, sewer fund, water fund, Downtown Improvement Fund, and the street department budget.
Mansfield has also accessed resources from the RCRPC, and the state of Ohio – receiving funding in the state capital budget as well as a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC).
The game-changer for the project however was the approval of a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2023. RAISE grants (formerly known as BUILD and TIGER) provide critical resources to state and local governments to invest in road, rail, transit, and port projects that have a significant local or regional impact. RAISE allow project sponsors at the state and local levels to obtain funding for multi-modal, multi-jurisdictional projects that are more difficult to support through traditional DOT programs.
Mansfield was able to secure a nearly $7.4 million RAISE grant, which covers nearly half of the total cost of the Main Street Corridor project.
Key Factors to Success
1. Strong Community Involvement. The Main Street Corridor plan is a key initiative of the 2019 downtown redevelopment plan. The 2019 Plan was created by emerging community leaders, with buy-in from the get-go from the local philanthropic and business community. These groups were able to bring the mayor and city council on board with the project. Because community leaders were leading on the project and thinking boldly from the origination of the effort, it become easier for the city leadership to get behind the project.
2. Philanthropic Support leads to public financing. The early and strong support of the project by the Richland County Foundation indicated that local leaders took this project seriously. Having local “skin in the game” attracted local, state, and federal grants for the project.