NORTHAMPTON — When it comes to the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in Northampton, Susanne Fuchs doesn’t mince words.

“I think the city’s a disaster, if you ask me,” said Fuchs, a professor at Smith College who was out riding her bike by City Hall on Monday afternoon. “It doesn’t work for pedestrians, it doesn’t work for bikes, and it doesn’t work for the cars. Everyone is confused.”

Fuchs was one of several residents who stopped by a makeshift table set up outside City Hall by several local residents to mark the beginning of the “Week Without Driving,” an event sponsored by national organization America Walks. Claudia Lefko, one of those sitting at the table, said they were using the opportunity to garner feedback from residents on how they feel about the state of non-vehicle mobility in the city.

“Walkability really has to do with the whole social, cultural environment,” Lefko said. “The focus really is on moving, on reducing driving and getting people to give up their cars.”

Those who stopped by the “Walk-In” table were asked to fill out an index card answering questions about where they were walking from and to, and asked about their views on the current walkability in the city and any suggestions for how it could be improved. Lefko shared some of the responses, written anonymously, she had received over the course of the day.

“Big problems with intersections and crosswalks. Drivers ignore pedestrian markings and turn without looking for pedestrians,” one person wrote.

“We need benches on Main Street — elderly residents are around town and would sometimes like to sit down and enjoy their town,” wrote another.

Across the country, activists have been pushing to make cities more walkable, seeking to undo the urban planning from previous decades that had prioritized automobiles. Advocates claim that reducing reliance on cars and prioritizing walking, cycling and public transportation leads to healthier communities along with reducing emissions that contribute to climate change.

The issue of walkability in Northampton retains particular prominence due to the city’s ambitious Picture Main Street project, which aims to remake downtown by expanding the city’s sidewalks and reducing roads to only one lane on each side as well as adding a separate bike lane. The project is set to begin in 2025 and last more than three years, costing more than $20 million dollars with the money mostly provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The city and MassDOT have stated one of the reasons the changes are needed is to curb future bicycle and pedestrian-related accidents from occurring in the area. According to state accident data, Northampton’s downtown had 35 bicycle-related and 30 pedestrian-related accidents from 2011 to 2020, making it one of the top 5% clusters of accidents in those categories across the state. Of those, five accidents resulted in either serious injury or death.

Though touted by the city as a means to promote walkability and biking, Picture Main Street hasn’t been without detractors (including Lefko), with some business owners and other residents expressing skepticism on how construction would affect their bottom line and if the changes would really improve safety. An alternative design put forth by opponents of the project was rejected by the Northampton City Council last year, with the council instead endorsing the official design of the project.

Chris Stratton, a Florence resident who frequently bikes around the city and who was helping oversee the table outside City Hall along with Lefko, said that for him, the dangers of biking come more from traveling to Main Street from Florence rather than the downtown itself.

“[The city is] sending a message with this proposed redesign that bikes need to be out of the road,” Stratton said. “What does that say about the rest of the city, where bikes and cars literally have to use the same lane?”

Lefko also said that the city needed a more holistic approach if it wanted to make the city truly walkable.

“We really have to think about the whole city,” she said. “The way to reinvigorate downtown is to make the whole city, including giving the neighborhoods easy access to downtown, and also make them affordable.”

But for several residents who walked by, the change that Picture Main Street aims to bring about is seen as a welcome one, including from Fuchs.

“Having more space to walk will help the businesses, and then people will want to spend more time there,” she said.

Lefko stated she intended to bring the responses she had received to Carolyn Misch, the city’s planning and sustainability director. Misch told the Gazette that though she had not yet received the responses yet, she had “good conversations” with people who had concerns regarding walkability in the city on Monday.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amac dougall@gazettenet.com.