Road Widening - the width of a road depends on the number and width of its travel lanes, and the width of its shoulders.

1. Road widening seldom reduces congestion, instead it encourages more cars to use the roadway.
2. Cars traveling on a widened roadway will drive faster.
3. The faster cars go the more severe accidents become.
4. Road widening reduces the pedestrian world.
5. Widening lanes is neither legally required nor necessarily likely to improve safety.
6. Wider pavements influence drivers to drive faster -
   • Looking at objects that are farther away creates the feeling that a vehicle is moving more slowly and prompts the motorist to drive faster.
   • Wide surfaces create a broad field in front of the motorist. Such a wide field provides assurance that he is in command of that field, thus inducing him to drive faster.

Traffic calming represents a decision to improve the pedestrian environment by reducing traffic speed and volume. Simply amending a roadway’s design speed so that it is 10 miles an hour slower may eliminate many undesirable impacts.

Ask: What changes in roadway design would allow for the planting of street trees? What is the current design speed? What methods could be used to lower it? How can we get the design of roadway and goals of DOT in line with the goals of the community?

Traffic Calming Methods:

1. On-street parking -
   • Reduces the width of the roadway - thus slowing traffic.
   • Parking also separates the pedestrian from moving traffic.
2. Speed Hump - Speed humps are 10 ft or so wide, with gently sloping edges - a far cry from the narrow, jutting, old-style speed bumps. With proper signs to warn motorists a well planned series of speed humps can be quite effective in slowing traffic.
3. Chicanes - the narrowing of short sections of the street from two lanes to one.
4. Islands or medians - sometimes used as pedestrian refuge islands - can also enhance aesthetic appeal of street with plantings, and street trees.
5. Traffic circles - many are only 12 - 25 feet in diameter. More effective way to control traffic, at intersections than traffic signals.
6. Blub-outs, or neckdowns - the widening of sidewalks at intersections. Side walk projects into street reducing the street width, and as a result, the pedestrian crossing distance.
7. Mid-Block crossings - Expanded sidewalks combined with striped crosswalks.
8. Striping bicycle lanes - narrows lanes for drivers, while providing safe place for cyclists.
9. Eliminating free right turn lanes - right turn lanes allow traffic to move faster. However, pedestrians don’t benefit from this.
10. Converting angle intersections to 90 degree “T” intersections. Cars move faster when entering another street at say a 45 degree angle, instead of having to make a 90 degree turn. Conversions can be made with the addition of bulb-outs.
11. Reducing sight distance - Planting street trees - buildings, stores set closer to road.

Land use -

1. Set buildings close to each other and close to sidewalks. Compact densely developed centers are better than sprawl. Shopping close to sidewalks edge is better than shopping separated from sidewalks by huge parking lots. Parking should be on the side or back of stores.
2. Plan for combined or shared access. Such access should be planned for within the site plan approval process. Number of curb cuts per parcel should be limited to one, or none if alternative exists.
3. Plan for development of grid system - dead end roads, cul-de-acs, and gated subdivisions, reduce access and contribute to congestion.
4. Require shared access and parking for new development proposals by requiring reserved rights- of -way, and reciprocal easements.

Design Speed (from Take Back Your Streets)

“The choice of design speed is actually a policy decision about how fast motorists should be encouraged to travel.“ The AASHTO green Book adopts a strikingly auto-centered policy in recommending that the design speed should “fit the travel desires and habits of nearly all drivers” and, except on local streets should be as high as practicable.“ Most road projects aim to accommodate the amount of traffic predicted to travel a road in the future, and to ensure that motorists will experience minimal delay, and to allow speeders to drive safely. Typically, a project is designed to accommodate the traffic predicted to occur on a road 20 years in the future. Such judgments are based on a very inexact science.

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