Join us for three days of learning, connecting, and celebrating at Main Street Now 2025 in Philadelphia, from April 7 – 9.
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Marion, Iowa © Tasha Sams
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Emporia, Kansas © Emporia Main Street
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Waterloo, Iowa © Main Street Waterloo
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Kendall Whittier — Tulsa, Oklahoma © Kendall Whittier Main Street
Join us in our work to advance shared prosperity, create strong economies, and improve quality of life in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
Raised crosswalk featuring high visibility pavement markings, curb bump-outs, enhanced signage, and RRFBs (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons). © Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
Main Street America — alongside our co-host partners Pennsylvania Downtown Center and Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development—is incredibly excited to co-host the 2025 Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from April 7 – 9. In this second article of a three-part series exploring the intersection between this year’s conference theme — A Healthy Main Street Movement — and community-based initiatives in Philadelphia, we are pleased to collaborate with Samantha Pearson, Healthy Communities Manager at Pennsylvania Downtown Center. Keep reading to learn more about the role that innovation plays in fostering health in Philadelphia and how you can experience these efforts in person at Main Street Now 2025.
Conference registration is open, with regular rates available through March 31. Check out the conference website and follow the conference’s Facebook account for the latest updates.
Have you come across street layouts or pavement markings that were unfamiliar to you recently? Maybe you saw a string of triangles, bright green or red pavement, or even vertical plastic posts springing up? Those are all signs of something old being made new again — streets being reclaimed for people! This innovation in design is helping to make our communities safer, cleaner, healthier, and wealthier.
For most people, whether they are involved in downtown economic development or they live in the communities where Main Street programs operate, walking and biking may not sound like a major innovation, but they can be. Active transportation represents a revolution in transportation planning and health.
What was once commonplace — walking, biking, or accessing transit to get to everyday destinations — has become both rare and increasingly sought after. Historic communities across the country were built long before motorized transportation came on the scene. They have adapted and been renovated over the past century to accommodate the movement of cars and trucks in the name of economic development. But the unintended consequences have been striking. Municipal expenses have risen dramatically due to the construction and maintenance of the heavy-duty infrastructure needed to support large numbers of motor vehicles. And public health and environmental quality measures reveal additional costs, including injuries and chronic conditions as well as the degradation of air, water, and habitats. Even economic development and business viability fall prey to overdependence on motor vehicles, mistaking all traffic for good traffic and running the risk of choking the central business district with cars.
At the same time, there are significant challenges to encouraging active transportation. The number of annual deaths in crashes involving people outside of motor vehicles has nearly doubled in the past 15 years. And while it can be very dangerous to walk or bike on the public right of ways, foregoing this more active mode of transportation can be equally dangerous, albeit on a different time scale. People leading sedentary lifestyles are at greater risk for many chronic conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, as well as dementia, depression, and some forms of cancer. In a vicious cycle, people avoid walking and biking on dangerous roads by driving more, and the increased traffic makes the roads more dangerous for everyone.
A City of Philadelphia Public Works crew applies green paint to a new bike lane on Washington Avenue. © Christopher Young
Despite these challenges, active transportation offers exciting innovation, where best practices in transportation and health converge and align. In the past twenty years, the public health field has focused on the Social Determinants of Health — the circumstances in people’s lives that impact their health (like education, income, the built environment, access to care, and community support) beyond just their personal behaviors and any direct clinical care they receive. With this new focus, preventive health has identified built environment solutions as ways to address population-level health problems. Instead of being limited to prescribing medication or therapy to individuals, public health promoters are seeking infrastructure improvements as strategies to increase physical activity for the whole community.
One of the best ways to achieve community-wide increases in physical activity is to ensure safe, accessible, and inviting networks of walkable and bikeable routes connecting daily destinations. Such human-centered design approaches fall under the rubric of Complete Streets, a model which seeks to create roads that are safe, and feel safe, for all street users, regardless of their mode of travel. While that may sound obvious, it is sadly not very common. However, Main Streets are ideal places to reimagine street design and restore balanced transportation.
Philadelphia, and other communities in Pennsylvania, are taking on the daunting challenge of making streets safer. Rather than accepting steadily rising casualties, these communities are making Vision Zero commitments through a variety of tactics, including asserting the goal of zero deaths and life-altering injuries in traffic by a specific date, assessing existing roads to identify high injury areas, and deploying design strategies to make people safer by slowing vehicles down, separating vulnerable road users from vehicles, and increasing visibility. The new configurations being deployed in the public rights-of-way help to reclaim streets as public spaces. As a result, they are once again becoming places where people enjoy spending time — and spending money — rather than just speeding through. In addition to protecting people walking and biking, Complete Streets are also places where businesses thrive and public space is lively, rather than damped by traffic noise, dirt, and danger.
Philadelphia is also one of 36 communities in Pennsylvania, and around 1600 across the country, that have been awarded funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. This funding helps to assess transportation safety, test out safer designs, and implement infrastructure improvements. It complements program and policy initiatives in place to educate people about their own role in safe streets and to create a regulatory environment that encourages and supports walkable, bikeable, accessible, and livable neighborhoods.
New pavement markings and flexible delineators indicate protected bike lanes, daylit intersections, high visibility crosswalks, bike boxes, and cross bikes. © Christopher Young
There is no one recipe or design for Complete Streets that should be applied everywhere. In some places, existing low-stress street networks can allow residents of all ages to safely move around. In other places, designs may be more involved, like contra-flow bike lanes, bike boxes, and protected intersections that knit together many modes at once, or floating bus stops that separate bike traffic from bus passengers boarding or disembarking. Philadelphia’s streets are not one-size-fits-all and the safety solutions must respond to the full range, from the natural traffic calming of surprisingly narrow historic streets to the aptly named Broad Street.
When we reimagine our streets for everyone, we make space for the benches, café seating, bike parking, additional street trees, rain gardens, and other green infrastructure that people love to inhabit. Are they aware of the innovation at hand? Perhaps not, but the experience can be revelatory. Research shows that spending time walking and biking through such spaces improves mood and enhances social cohesion.
As communities work to reallocate street space, they are taking advantage of the reality that cars make incredibly inefficient use of space. If people are encouraged to choose other modes of travel, especially if the options are inviting and fun, existing roads can transport far more people with far less wear and tear on the infrastructure. Shifting modes can double road capacity, or even multiply it by a factor of ten.
It has taken about a century, but it’s high time for communities across the country to take the innovative step of reclaiming their streets for people — and inviting drivers to slow down and stay awhile.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Main Street programs, arts organizations, and transportation infrastructure partners can support health in your community, make sure to register for the 2025 Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from April 7 – 9. With 100+ learning and network-building events in three days, you’re sure to return to your community inspired to think about connection in new and deeper ways. Registration is now open! Preview the agenda, start planning your visit, and register here >
Downtown Decorations, a Main Street America Allied Member, is this quarter’s Main Spotlight advertiser. For more information about what they do to support Main Street organizations, click here.
Thanks to the GM on Main Street grant, Columbia, Tenn. embarked on an ambitious downtown revitalization project to add curb extensions, greenspace, and two informational kiosks to downtown Columbia.
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Holly, Mich. received funding from the GM on Main Streett grant for their Beautify Holly Battle Alley Social District and Ganshaw Park projects.
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Chief Innovation Officer Matt Wagner, Ph.D., shares his predictions for the trends impacting Main Streets and small businesses in 2025.
In preparation for the 2025 Main Street Now Conference, Pennsylvania Coordinator Julie Fitzpatrick explores active transportation and public art in Philadelphia.
Music has a unifying power to bring people of all generations, backgrounds, and cultures together for creative expression. Let’s explore how accessible, family-friendly music experiences can strengthen Main Streets across America to build stronger communities, one concert at a time!
Main Street America is pleased to announce the launch of a $1.8 million sub-grant program as part of our partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Thriving Communities Program.
Beloit, Kansas © Shane Hampton
Construction projects can put a lot of stress on your downtown. From preparation to completion, Brooke Prouty at Iowa Economic Development Authority shares best practices to help your Main Street thrive during construction.
Creating real change in business ownership starts with local communities leading the way, backed by strong partnerships and collaborations.
At the heart of thriving Main Streets are vibrant public spaces that unite people of all ages and backgrounds and enrich community life. And what better way to activate public spaces than through the power of free, live music?
Middlesboro, Kentucky © Levitt Foundation
Learn how Main Streets can tap into federal resources to improve transportation infrastructure, take down barriers, and improve access to key services.
Main Street America is proud to announce the release of a new resource to help Main Streets and commercial district organizations better prepare for and respond to more frequent and severe disasters.
Marion, IA © Uptown Marion
This Boston Main Street installed an innovative street mural to highlight crosswalks and improve pedestrian safety.
These seven Main Streets have implemented innovative, exciting, and fun programs to help welcome dogs to their downtowns.
MSA President and CEO Erin Barnes explores how a holiday market in a public park brought a new focus on growing humanitarian needs in downtown city centers.
The RAISE program funds surface transportation projects with local and regional impact by enhancing safety, mobility, sustainability, and economic growth.
Streetscape improvements can make a big difference for Main Streets. © Grant Harper
Learn how Main Street America's work with the DOT's Thriving Communities Program is supporting transformative efforts with community partners like the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe.
Apply for federal funding to remove, retrofit, or mitigate transportation infrastructure that creates barriers to community connectivity.
Art is a powerful tool for community change. Learn how the arts can improve community engagement, boost economic development, and connect with the Main Street Approach.
Streets play an important role in our downtown districts. Learn more about Main Street America's recent work with the Department of Transportation to promote vibrant and sustainable downtown roadways.
Learn how the Safe Streets and Roads for All program is providing grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
Streetscape in Denison, Texas. © Mel Climer — Climer Design
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
Learn how this Louisiana town has used an accessibility-first approach to build a welcoming and inclusive community.
Downtown Ruston, Louisiana. Photo by Henry McCoy.
Learn how the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta uses this unique mural program to celebrate Valentine's Day and raise important funding for their work.
Learn how micromobility can increase access, equity, and inclusion in your Main Street with examples from local programs across the network.
This Washington Main Street is encouraging people to brave the rainy weather with their free umbrella share program.
Parking is a challenging problem for many Main Streets. We explored the arguments for and against free parking, and a method for conducting an inventory of parking in your downtown.
Miami, FL © Matt Alaniz
Learn how Bainbridge Island Downtown Association leverages their connection to the ferry to create a walkable and vibrant downtown.
Bainbridge Island, WA © Anna Carson
An innovative artistic project brings new life to the alleyways in Billings, Montana.
Billings, MT © Downtown Billings Alliance
In big cities and small towns, people face increasing danger when navigating communities on foot. As advocates for connected and walkable downtowns, Main Streets have a crucial role to play in increasing pedestrian safety.
Lansing, Michigan © Lansing 5:01
Learn how you can participate in the Thriving Communities program as a capacity builder or how you can receive support from the program.
To celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month, we explored three innovative and interesting parks-based projects and collaborations in Main Street communities.
Waterloo, Iowa, shares advice and lessons learned from their e-scooter program.
Learn how you can harness design principles and strategies to create a cooler, more welcoming downtown.
Main Street America was awarded $5.9 million to support 20 communities in the Main Streets Community of Practice through the Department of Transportation's Thriving Communities Program over the next two years.
The City of Leeds, AL welcomed a new downtown mural over the holidays that has brought a sense of excitement and anticipation for the continuing efforts to focus on the Leeds downtown district.
Leeds, AL © Jeremy Dove
What is more Iowan than turning grain bins into public art? Learn how Main Street Coon Rapids created these beautiful murals to celebrate their downtown.
Coon Rapids, IA © Main Street Coon Rapids
Pollinator gardens are fantastic ways to increase green space, promote sustainability, and educate your community on the local environment.
Crofton, MD © Kerry Kelly
The AARP Community Challenge program gives out quick-action grants to activate public spaces. Meet some of the Main Streets awarded grants through the program this year.
Learn how these outdoor microspaces can contribute to more vibrancy in our public spaces.
Chairman Emeritus Ed McMahon explores the power of place in creating spaces people love.
Boise, ID © christiannafzger
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
Thomasville, GA © Thomasville Main Street
Intentional placemaking has had many unexpected benefits for this Alabama town.
Wetumpka, AL © Jenny Sue Stubbs
We heard from organizations across the nation about the incredible impact their markets have had on community engagement, entrepreneur and small business support, and keeping their district vibrant.
Mount Airy Downtown, Inc., celebrated the return of their Market Street Arts and Entertainment District (MSA & ED) last weekend, as part of their pandemic recovery efforts.
Mount Airy, NC © Robbie Curlee
A vacant storefront is the perfect stage to creatively promote the available space or to showcase other businesses and events in the area.
Ripon, WI © RetailWorks, Inc
Interested in creating a StoryWalk in your downtown commercial district? Read on to learn more about installing a successful story walking trail.
In remembrance and in honor of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., over 900 streets in the United States were named after him. Many are located predominantly in African American communities.
Milwaukee, WI © Historic King Drive BID
Dubbed the Blues Alley, the Ripley Main Street program plans to install murals of local pioneering Black blues artists, cutout guitars painted by local art students, and blues lyrics painted on the walls.
Ripley, MS © Ripley Main Street
Wayfinding guides people to places they seek but it also brings awareness to places they may have otherwise missed.
Since 2013, Try This West Virginia has sought to improve health environments in local communities as a collaboration of organizations working together to combat the health challenges facing West Virginians.
Main Street America partnered with OneMain Financial to create Made on Main Street.
Creating a historic or art walking tour is much more than simply a collection of pictures and descriptions.
Over 300 attendees enjoyed a family-friendly block party that celebrated the community and showcased Prosser's upcoming streetscape improvement project.
Cambridge was the first Main Street community in Maryland to install public chargers.
The Downtown Newton Development Association (North Carolina) partnered with the City of Newton on a temporary tactical urbanism project to demonstrate how their permanent streetscape improvements will benefit downtown.
Over 500 people braved the misty rain this past weekend to come and celebrate Painesville and its Made on Main Street community transformation project.
Wilson Artsy Alleys is an initiative of the Wilson Downtown Development Corporation which takes the arts to new locations in forgotten places.
In October 2017, Main Street Ottumwa collaborated with local partners, Main Street Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Better Block Foundation to stop planning, talking, and wishing, and start doing.
Kelly Tompkins of Main Street Enid shares more about the Maker Trail project and how it inspired creativity and helped people discover downtown.
The Metuchen Downtown Alliance created a cool, family-friendly public gathering space in “the worst looking spot in town” with the help of just $2,500 in Edward Jones Placemaking on Main Challenge matching grant funds,
A collaborative effort launched between Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) and vertical farming company, Plenty, looked to blank downtown walls as a canvas for growing food, creating conversation, and activating overlooked spaces.
From walkability and transportation connectivity, to access to nature and availability of fresh food, place is inextricably linked to achieving positive health outcomes in rural America.
Beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower fountain through Main Street Paris's new Love Lock Fence.
Kasey Drummond, Glenrock Main Street Director, explains how they brought the acclaimed graffiti artist ARCY to their Main Street and explores the work he produced in three additional Wyoming communities on his summer tour.
Karen Dye, Newkirk Main Street's program manager, was inspired to “make downtown more fun and festive” with painted water meter covers after learning about the practice at a recent Main Street Now conference.
Appealing to mobility-challenged shoppers yields benefits beyond the store.
In contrast, the Main Street Program in Laramie, Wyoming, is thriving, having successfully cultivated millions of dollars to help fill these vacant, blighted spaces with permanent structures.
In this article we’ll explore the process of planning, funding, installing, operating, and enjoying music on your Main Street.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
Placemaking is a strategy that Six Corners Association has enthusiastically applied to our community development efforts because of its seamless integration with the Main Street Approach.
How one Wyoming Main Street implemented a free bike share program.
In 2015, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to engage Wisconsin Main Street organizations and farmers markets in the Metrics and Indicators for Impact – Farmers Markets (MIFI-FM) toolkit.
The local Main Street organization, Downtown Milford Inc., is trying to address these shifting demographics by creating a more inclusive sense of community.
This is the story of how a National Endowment for the Arts gathering in DC inspired the leaders of a small town in Appalachia to connect with those in Milwaukee to transform a neglected park.
Main Street communities across the country are no stranger to seeking creative strategies to solve their most nagging issues – vacant buildings, marketing downtown, bolstering retail to name a few.
This article is the second in a series on corridors and the important role they play in Main Street revitalization. The previous article focused on the historic origins of corridors, corridor types, and functions that they serve in our communities.
Façade appearance is a critical aspect of the overall aesthetic appeal and unique character of downtown.
While the Main Street program may not take the lead in corridor enhancements, it can be a vital partner and advocate for improvements in overall community appearance.
Street pole banners preserve the historic character of main streets while fostering community awareness and engagement.
With strong community support, the Library Foundation was able to raise over $1.2 million dollars in private donations.
A lot of signs are necessary to make a downtown work well, but not every community knows what a good sign system looks like, or how instrumental it can be to the creation of a successful downtown.
A key goal of the Atlanta Streetcar is to attract investment to and revitalize the neighborhoods along the streetcar alignment.
