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Public Works Main Street Promise
3D rendering of a modern downtown street with mid-rise buildings, trees, lampposts and string lights, angled street parking, a bike symbol on the roadway, and pedestrians on wide sidewalks.
Project Location
Vancouver, WA
Client City of Vancouver
Market Sector
Project Type
  • Community & Recreation
  • Transportation
  • Utilities & Infrastructure
Services Provided

The Challenge

Downtown Vancouver’s Main Street, spanning from 5th to 15th Street, is a central corridor rich in history and community identity. For over a century, Main Street has served as a central hub for commerce, entrepreneurship, and culture, playing a key role in Vancouver’s evolution from a military post into a modern and bustling city. MacKay Sposito’s first office was located on Main Street over 50 years ago, making our opportunity to revitalize the street profoundly meaningful; a chance to give back to the corridor where our journey began and help shape its future for the next generation.
Isometric illustration of a pedestrian-friendly downtown streetscape with widened sidewalks, street trees, parklets and seating areas, bike racks, and people walking, cycling, and gathering outside storefronts.

However, over time, aging infrastructure, limited accessibility, and outdated streetscape elements had diminished its safety, function, and appeal. The corridor no longer reflected the vitality of the city it serves. With deteriorating sidewalks, inconsistent intersection control, and accessibility gaps, the street posed daily challenges for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and small businesses alike. Community voices clearly called for a corridor with improved safety, accessibility, and connectivity that supports economic vitality.

Isometric illustration of a pedestrian-friendly downtown streetscape with widened sidewalks, street trees, parklets and seating areas, bike racks, and people walking, cycling, and gathering outside storefronts.

However, over time, aging infrastructure, limited accessibility, and outdated streetscape elements had diminished its safety, function, and appeal. The corridor no longer reflected the vitality of the city it serves. With deteriorating sidewalks, inconsistent intersection control, and accessibility gaps, the street posed daily challenges for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and small businesses alike. Community voices clearly called for a corridor with improved safety, accessibility, and connectivity that supports economic vitality.

The Approach

MacKay Sposito led a multidisciplinary team through planning, design, permitting, community engagement, and construction for the Main Street Promise project, one of the city’s most transformative infrastructure initiatives in decades. Our role centered on facilitating community-informed design, collaborating across stakeholders, and managing complex construction phases in an active urban core, all while keeping community communication and access at the forefront.
  • Small toy cars are placed on a printed urban design plan showing an intersection on 9th Street with crosswalks, sidewalks, and landscaped areas.
  • Attendees at an indoor community workshop examine a long street plan on a table covered with sticky notes while others discuss posters around the wood‑paneled room.

With over 50 years of service in the region, MacKay Sposito brought long-standing community and stakeholder relationships and deep knowledge of the city’s infrastructure to support seamless stakeholder engagement while ensuring the revitalization of Main Street, honoring its legacy, and meeting the community’s evolving needs.

The Work

The reconstruction spans 10 city blocks and completely reimagines how the public right of way can support businesses to drive economic prosperity. Improvements included widened sidewalks and extensive streetscape improvements, and complete upgrades to water, sewer, and stormwater systems. The project is broken into three construction phases and proceeds in two-block increments to maintain access and minimize access disruption:

  • Phases 1 and 2: Utility reconstruction, including wastewater and water systems, begins at 5th Street and moves north.
  • Phase 3: Streetscape transformation, including new sidewalks and roadway pavement, curbless street sections, ADA enhancements, pavers, lighting, landscaping, and site furnishings.
Construction workers in hard hats pour and level wet concrete into a narrow sidewalk form using a pump hose along a city street lined with traffic cones and equipment.
Downtown street construction scene with a yellow excavator and crew forming a sidewalk beside brick buildings, surrounded by orange barriers, cones, and piles of dirt and gravel.
Construction workers repair a downtown street, setting wooden forms and rebar for new curbs as trucks and a concrete mixer operate beside orange safety barriers and storefronts under a clear sky.
City street undergoing construction with orange-and-white barriers, workers and trucks, new lampposts and brick pavers, and a row of storefronts including one labeled “BRICKHOUSE.”

MacKay Sposito coordinated closely with the City of Vancouver, contractor Nutter Corp, and partners such as the Vancouver Downtown Association to ensure real-time updates, stakeholder engagement, and mitigation of construction impacts through “Coffee Corners,” a Block Captain program, and consistent outreach via BeHeard Vancouver.
Rendering of a downtown street with bright flower planters, outdoor café seating, string lights, cars and bikes, and “Vancouver” banners among modern buildings on a sunny day.

The Impact

The Main Street Promise isn’t just rebuilding a street; it’s restoring a civic heart. The redesigned corridor will feature safer intersections, more bike and vehicle parking, decorative lighting, and six public art installations. Additionally, ADA-compliant sidewalks, tactile sidewalk markers, and audible crossings ensure access for all community members.
Top-down streetscape diagram showing a parked car by the curb and a sidewalk divided into walk-off, furnishing, pedestrian, and building zones (8', 1', 4', 7', and 4–7'), with benches, planters, café seating, and trees.

Local businesses are central to the vision: the project includes outdoor seating, infrastructure to support community events, and street features that support a more walkable, inviting destination. Once completed, the corridor will support economic vitality and become a welcoming space for community gatherings, cultural events, and everyday connections.

Top-down streetscape diagram showing a parked car by the curb and a sidewalk divided into walk-off, furnishing, pedestrian, and building zones (8', 1', 4', 7', and 4–7'), with benches, planters, café seating, and trees.

Local businesses are central to the vision: the project includes outdoor seating, infrastructure to support community events, and street features that support a more walkable, inviting destination. Once completed, the corridor will support economic vitality and become a welcoming space for community gatherings, cultural events, and everyday connections.
Rendering of a downtown street with bright flower planters, outdoor café seating, string lights, cars and bikes, and “Vancouver” banners among modern buildings on a sunny day.

MacKay Sposito project manager Jason Irving shared the following during the groundbreaking event:

The Main Street Promise is more than a construction project—it’s about creating a space that reflects the heart of this community, supports local businesses, and invites people to gather, connect, and thrive.

MacKay Sposito project manager Jason Irving shared the following during the groundbreaking event:

The Main Street Promise is more than a construction project—it’s about creating a space that reflects the heart of this community, supports local businesses, and invites people to gather, connect, and thrive.

Rendering of a downtown street with bright flower planters, outdoor café seating, string lights, cars and bikes, and “Vancouver” banners among modern buildings on a sunny day.