The City of Carbondale retained the Houseal Lavigne team to develop a Master Plan to guide the revitalization of downtown Carbondale. The plan provided a vision of the downtown over the next 10 years, outling specific recommendations, strategies, actions, policies, initiatives, and studies necessary to achieve that vision. The planning process was guided by a Downtown Advisory Committee (DAC) established to ensure extensive community participation in the plan through both in-person events and online tools.

KLOA, Inc. was engaged to develop the framework for the Parking/Transportation and Pedestrian Mobility/Connectivity components of the plan. Key recommendations were developed to increase public parking, share private parking, establish remote event parking, manage parking turnover, implement new technologies (pay kiosks), accommodate sustainable services (car-sharing, electric car charging stations), consolidate curb cuts, develop cross-access agreements, improve parking guidance, improve traffic operations via turn lanes, new signals, and bus turnouts, explore a US 51/Mill Street roundabout, install advance notification when rail gates are down and EVP devices on traffic signals, explore train quiet zones or wayside train horns, install railroad fencing and improved grade-crossing surfaces, enhance plans for a multi-modal transportation center, install bus waiting amenities, construct pedestrian overpasses, infill/repair pedestrian and bicycle system gaps, enhance bike routing and facilities, install ADA-compliant pedestrian safety features at intersections and rail crossings, and identify new bicycle parking locations and fix-it stations. The framework also defines the steps necessary for the City to pursue the conversion of the US 51 one-way couplet to two-way flow.