HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) — The Harrisonburg Community Connectors team will host the North Mason Street Block(s) Party on Saturday, July 12, from 3 to 7 p.m. The event will take place in the section of North Mason Street closed by the Complete Street Demonstration Project, along three blocks from Gay Street to Elizabeth Street.

The Harrisonburg Public Works will soon begin implementing temporary traffic pattern changes to North Mason Street as part of the Complete Street Demonstration Project.

The pilot project will reduce North Mason Street to two lanes between Gay Street and Elizabeth Street and install two temporary roundabouts at Gay Street and Elizabeth Street, among other measures focused on improving safety in the corridor and reusing space traditionally dedicated to vehicles.

According to a release, the changes came from results of a public forum held in March among community members and from participants in the Harrisonburg Complete Streets Leadership Academy, a program that brought community members and business leaders from the Northeast Neighborhood together with City staff and transportation experts to brainstorm ways to improve North Mason Street.

A number of streets will be impacted starting at 6 a.m. on Monday, July 7, running through 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 9, weather permitting, as Harrisonburg Public Works implements changes. Streets to be impacted Monday-Wednesday will include:

  • Southbound North Mason Street will be closed from Gay Street to East Market Street.
  • Northbound North Mason Street will be restricted to one lane between East Market Street and Gay Street.
  • Elizabeth Street will be closed between Federal Street and Broad Street. No turns off of Mason Street will be allowed.
  • Wolfe Street will be closed between Federal Street and Broad Street. No turns off of Mason Street will be allowed.
  • Additional streets may be impacted throughout the project. Notices will be posted if the project is delayed due to weather.
A diagram showing the current flow of traffic on North Mason Street (image left), and what traffic flow will look like once temporary changes are put into place starting July 7 (image right)
A diagram showing the current flow of traffic on North Mason Street (image left), and what traffic flow will look like once temporary changes are put into place starting July 7 (image right)

Once changes are implemented, traffic flow on North Mason Street will follow the above diagram and remain in that configuration for approximately one month, after which North Mason Street will revert back to its current configuration. Drivers are encouraged to use caution and be mindful of the new traffic pattern as they use the corridor. A survey will be made available to the community for any feedback about the changes after implementation.

The block party will include historical and educational displays about the history of the Northeast Neighborhood and Harrisonburg’s black
community curated by the Northeast Neighborhood Association and the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project – both members of the Harrisonburg Community Connectors team along with the City of Harrisonburg, Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) and Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority (HRHA).

The Block(s) Party will offer free family-friendly activities with food and merchandise available for purchase. The event will have food vendors, music, a Silent Disco, a video game bus, a touch-a-truck hosted by Harrisonburg public safety and transportation agencies, activities from Harrisonburg Parks & Recreation, games and children’s booths, tours of the nearby Green Book House, tables from local nonprofits, community art and more.

“The Harrisonburg Community Connectors team has focused throughout this project on how to reconnect the Northeast Neighborhood to Downtown, and much of that conversation has focused on how to reimagine North Mason Street in a way that creates less of a barrier between the neighborhood and the amenities nearby,” Harrisonburg Director of Communications & Public Engagement Michael Parks said in a release. “Being able to hold a celebration on North Mason Street itself not only brings our community together but also will go a long way toward showing how this space could be reutilized in the future for the betterment of our community members while safely keeping traffic moving in our Downtown.”

For more information about the Complete Street effort, which is part of the Harrisonburg Community Connectors project, can be found at https://harrisonburgva.gov/transportation-projects#NorthMasonStreetCompleteStreetDemonstrationProject.