The Importance of Road Width, in Three Pictures

Tweet

Biking home this weekend, I was struck yet again by how critical roadway width is to creating a walkable (and bikeable) environment. Here are some Google Streetview shots of the route we took down Jewel Street in Pacific Beach, one of my favorite (read: I don't feel like I'm about to be driven off the road) north-south rides through PB.

Here's what Jewel Street looks like when it's 30 feet wide, with parallel parking on both sides and a parkway between the sidewalk and street.

Notice that even with only a few scrawny palm streets and for shade and relatively narrow sidewalks, the street still feels comfortable and "human-scaled." (It also feels safe to bike on, even without fancy bike infrastructure, because the narrow travel way forces cars to slow down.) I regularly see kids playing in the street here, using the roadway as an extension of their yard.

Here's Jewel Street a few blocks further down, with a 40-foot width. This would be considered the pretty much the minimum width for a street built today.

Even though nothing else has changed besides the width (arguably the parkway and street trees are a even little nicer), the street feels more "auto-oriented" and the neighborhood seems less inviting for walking or biking.

Then we arrive at this monstrosity, a few blocks further north. At a width of about 46 feet, the street allows for diagonal parking on one side--but the awful design of the multi-family housing to the east precludes parallel parking on the other side of the street, making for an exceptional wide travel way:

Here all semblance of walkability has been sacrificed in the name of driving and parking. The parkway is gone, the sidewalk slopes awkwardly to allow cars to drive over it at any point, and there's not a street tree in sight. And then of course, there's the hideous design of the multi-family housing that lines this block. Particularly on the right, this street says to me,  "Here is a place where cars live. If you're lucky, we might let some people squeeze in, too."

We need to be sure our roadway standards result in more of the first picture and less of the last. Narrow streets are great streets, for everyone.

Walking in Slovakia

Tweet

John Westmore has posted a new episode in his great Perils for Pedestrians series, this time focusing on walking and biking in the City of Bratislava, Slovakia.

While pedestrian and bicycle advocacy is relatively new to Slovakia, there seems to be a strong and growing group of advocates who are working to make public spaces more accessible on foot and by bike. They've created some ad-hoc sharrows and DIY crossings to help provide safer and more direct routes to people using active transportation in the city.

I actually spent a day in Bratislava several years ago, and found it to be fairly walkable (as compared to most cities in the US, that is).  You can see that there are many spaces in the central part of the city where pedestrians have full reign in the street space.

There's also a nice pedestrian path along the waterfront, where you'll also find restaurants and shops below (undoubtedly expensive) residential development that takes advantage of the riverfront views.

Of course, there are also the same problems that plague many older (and not so old) cities that were designed prior to the automobile. Sidewalks have been squeezed to the edge of the street and narrowed to unreasonable widths to make room for vehicle traffic, and parked cars block the pedestrian travel way to the extent that people are forced to walk in the street itself.

Given this, it's encouraging to hear local advocates talking about creating more walkable and bikeable streets. I was especially struck by one of the first people interviewed in the segment, who described public space as, "A space where you can see democracy on the sidewalk." I've written before about the idea of sidewalks as democratic spaces, but I think that view is especially poignant when you're talking about sidewalks in a country where most people still remember a time when no place in the country--certainly not the sidewalks--was democratic.

Is the street Open or Half-Open?

Tweet

Cruising down the street at a CicloSDias event in Pacific Beach

I have a confession to make: sometimes I have a problem fully embracing Ciclovia events. Turns out I might not be alone, although the reasons outlined in this post from LA Streetsblog might be a little different from mine.

As Joe Linton writes, there were two Open Streets events this Saturday in the LA area. One, in Lawndale, opens a two-mile route from 8 am to 10 am. The second, in Burbank, allows cyclists who pre-register to ride a one-mile parade ride (the streets were already closed) for an hour and a half before the parade starts.

In both cases, Linton questions the short duration, minimal length of the route, early hours (too early for many adjacent businesses to be open), and (in the case of Burbank) pre-registration requirement. I'd add the requirement (in Lawndale) that kids under 13 be accompanied by an adult to the list of concerns. I was well under 13 when I rode my bike unaccompanied to school, piano lessons, and who knows where else--certainly more dangerous places than a car-free public street full of vigilant adult eyes.

Linton suggests that events like these, with their many restrictions and short duration, don't really demonstrate the benefits of a "true" Open Street event, where long routes full of engaging activities help the public imagine different (and maybe even better!) ways of using street space than just for moving cars. He points out that these lackluster "ciclovia-itas" might even backfire, giving critics an easy example to point to when they complain that it isn't worth the trouble to close streets to traffic.

To these criticisms I'd also add my own, which I think can be a problem with many ciclovia events: they're too bike-centric. As a cyclist I love biking and enjoy the ability to zip down a street unencumbered by pesky automobiles. As a pedestrian, I feel nervous about wandering a street filled with less-than-expert cyclists pedaling in every direction--and I definitely wouldn't turn my unpredictable two-year-old loose in that sort of environment.

Open streets events are often sold as a way to highlight and encourage visitors to local businesses that line the route. But it's pedestrians who visit those businesses, not cyclists (unless they're riding their bikes into the business, a cyclist becomes a pedestrian once they dismount). I'm not saying that who can't open streets to both modes at the same time, but if you look at the Burbank and Lawndale events (as an example), they're billed as primarily biking events. The "ticket" to the Burbank event is even a bike-shaped pin.

If we want to have successful Open Streets events that fulfill the true intent of the Ciclovia movement, we do need to make sure the routes and hours are long enough to provide value to participants. But we also have to make sure that all users feel safe and welcome along the Open Street route. Otherwise, the street is only "half-open" to pedestrians. 

Trick-or-Treat!

Tweet

photo courtesy of WalkArlington

A quick reminder that the most fun night of the year is also one of the most dangerous for pedestrians--especially short ones who have a tendency to be more focused on the next sugar handout than the cars on the street (that's me I'm describing). 

If you're looking for a neighborhood that with give you the most treat for your trick, check out Zillow's Trick or Treat Index for 2015, which ranks cities and neighborhoods based on factors such as crime rates and housing density. 

Have fun!

Walking Comes First in European Transportation Policy

Tweet

It seems like we're always looking to Europe as we try to improve pedestrian safety here in the US. Are they really doing things so much better over there? Short answer: yes.

You can see why by taking a look at this one simple chart from the European Transport and Safety Council's new report Making Walking and Cycling on Europe's Roads Safer. It illustrates one of the report's key recommended policies:  


"Further develop a policy of modal priority for road users, particularly in urban areas, the hierarchy being based on safety, vulnerability and sustainability. Walking should be at the top of the hierarchy, followed by cycling and use of public transport."

That's pretty wonky policy language to wade through, so let me put it more simply: Walking comes first.

Let me translate a few more of those wonky policies for you.

"Give priority in road maintenance to the quality of surfaces on footways, cycle paths and the parts of carriageways most used by crossing pedestrians and by cyclists."

Walking comes first when maintaining roads.

"Provide shorter and safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists by ensuring that routes are direct and that the quickest routes are also the safest. Travel time should be increased on unsafe routes and decreased on safe routes."

Walking comes first when designating travel routes.

"Prioritise the safety of cyclists and pedestrians when developing sustainable urban mobility plans."

Walking comes first when drafting transportation plans.

You get the idea.

It's worth noting that the report also devotes a considerable amount of space to promoting low speed limits in urban areas, particularly those with lots of bike and ped traffic:

"Encourage local authorities to adopt zones with a speed limit of 30km/h in residential areas and areas used by many pedestrians and cyclist."

"Introduce lower speed limits for junctions and intersections."

"Prepare national enforcement plans with yearly targets for compliance in the areas of speeding, especially in urban areas, where there are high numbers of pedestrians and cyclists."

I'll do the math for you--that's 18 mph. Most of the roads in my neighborhood are designed for speeds at least twice that high, and that's just the residential roads. I'd love to see a state law lowering the default speed on residential roads to 18 mph, but I doubt that's happening any time soon. Until then, maybe Pacific Beach can be the test case?

Latest Child Traffic Safety Statistics

Tweet

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is out with its latest fact sheet on traffic safety, this time focused on child safety. Including data from 2013, the latest year from which data is available, here are a few key statistics:

•  Of the 4,735 pedestrian traffic fatalities, 236 (5%) were children
• One-fifth (21%) of the child traffic fatalities were pedestrians
• Of the estimated 66,000 injured pedestrians in traffic crashes, 10,000 (15%) were children

It took me a minute to recover from that first statistic--nearly 5,000 people killed walking in just one year. The good news is that according to the fact sheet, the number of child pedestrian traffic fatalities decreased by 36 percent, from 366 fatalities in 2004 to 236 in 2013. The biggest decrease came in the oldest age group. Does this mean our roads are getting safer, or are kids just walking less?

Here's one statistic that might help answer that question: 81 percent of child pedestrian traffic fatalities occurred at non-intersection locations, an increase from 77 percent in 2012. This suggests to me that any improvements in safety could be due to fewer kids walking, and not to safer roads.

It's also an important reminder that we continue to have a serious problem with roadway design. Roads are for people, and they need to keep all people safe--especially kids. Right now we've only designed them to keep drivers safe, and the result is dire for kids who dare to venture into roadways outside the designated pedestrian crossing locations.

The fix for this problem is not to push kids off roadways or blame them for "foolishly" using space that is meant for cars. The fix is to create roadways where kids aren't killed when they walk in "non-intersection locations." It's time to stop protecting cars at the expense of protecting children.

When you design roads this way, people die

Tweet

One of the downsides of being a pedestrian advocate and transportation planner it that I have to spend a disproportionate amount of time reading horrifying stories like this one, about a 7-month-old baby killed (and father severely injured) at a street crossing here in San Diego. It's so hard to wrap my head around what it must be like for these parents as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives.

This week the City is working on updates to the intersection aimed at preventing similar crashes in the future, including installing a new signal at the intersection. We say it so often that it's cliche, but it shouldn't take the death of child to fix intersections that are so obviously dangerous. Here's a picture of the crossing where the crash took place:

Notice that the northbound right "turn" isn't really a turn at all, more of a channelized "veer" that aims high-speed traffic straight at a crosswalk. Moreover, the crosswalk is set back just enough from the intersection to make pedestrians less visible to drivers. This is a space designed for cars, and cars alone. Is it any surprise that people are hurt and killed here?

The most frustrating part is that there really isn't much purpose to this stretch of roadway, other than moving cars as quickly as possible at the expense of walkability and pedestrian safety--a point neighbors have picked up on. They've asked the City to close down the road and make the entire space into a park. Let's hope the City listens, before someone else is killed at this crossing.

Walking and Access to Jobs

Tweet

A newly-released report from the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota ranks the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the US based on accessibility to jobs on foot. According to Access Across America:Walking 2014, New York has the highest job accessibility by walking. As you can see by the map below, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs within walking distance in Manhattan and the surrounding neighborhoods, but the entire region provides fairly good access to jobs on foot.

Compare New York to San Diego, where even the densest neighborhoods can't offer many jobs within easy walking distance.









The study will provide a basis for future work on walking and employment access. According to the authors, "Using this data as a starting point, future reports in the Access Across America series will track the way that accessibility in these metropolitan areas evolves in response to transportation and safety investments and land use decisions." It's important to have a baseline; one the big challenges in pedestrian advocacy is simply a lack of data about walking. With studies like this, we'll have a better understanding of existing conditions for pedestrians, which can help us determine how to effectively improve walking conditions.

You can find the full ranking of cities in the report, but here's the top ten:

1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. Los Angeles
4. Chicago
5. Washington
6. Seattle
7. Boston
8. Philadelphia
9. San Jose
10. Denver

And one last map, for people who continue to insist that LA is only for driving. Take a look at all of that green and yellow...

Walking Towards Change

Tweet

Photo courtesy of The European Magazine

One cold December day in 1913, a man put on a Santa suit and started America down the path towards criminalizing walking. “Jay-walker!” he taunted, startling people who strolled in the middle of the street. With the help of the auto lobby the term soon became ubiquitous, and suddenly roads were no longer the rightful domain of pedestrians.

A century later we’re struggling to overcome the problems we created by shifting the focus of public space from people to cars. In 2013, nearly 5,000 pedestrians died in traffic crashes in the US, and 66,000 were injured. Obesity rates in the US have soared in the past two decades, driven by neighborhood designs that discourage physical activity. Air pollution, water pollution, habitat loss, and other environmental troubles are all linked to the predominance of private vehicle travel in America.

Read the full article in the European Magazine here.

The Two-Road System: A New Vision for Sustainable Living

Tweet

Image courtesy of Access Magazine

In the latest issue of Access Mark Delucchi and Kenneth Kurani have figured out a solution to all our transportation problems. Okay, maybe not quite every last one. But, they do offer a radical new design for cities that would lessen the safety and pollution problems created by excess vehicle travel (aka, how we get around most cities today).

The concept centers around the idea of a two-road network. In two-road cities, one street network would be dedicated to pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, golf carts, and other "low-speed, low-mass vehicles (LLM). The other would serve cars, vans, trucks, and the rest of the "fast, heavy vehicle" inventory (FHV). By separating LLMs from FHVs, walking, biking and other sustainable forms of travel become safer and easier, leading to environmental benefits in the form of reduced vehicle miles traveled. At the same time, the FHV network becomes more efficient, because it isn't required to carry the high volumes of traffic it does today.

Delucchi and Kurani acknowledge that they aren't the first to consider the idea of separating transportation modes in this way. They point to work by William Garrison at UC Berkeley, but if you read this post about the history of the sidewalk you'll see that the idea has been around much longer than that.

Leonardo Da Vinci's vision for a two-road system, circa the late 1400s

Nonetheless, the two-road network idea has yet to gain much traction in the real world. Delucchi and Kurani note that some cities have managed to at least partially implement the system (Davis in California, Houten in the Netherlands). But they suggest that future cities could be constructed around this pattern, particularly in developing countries that are expanding quickly into green space. Using the two-road system could help these countries become more sustainable, even as they embrace the automobile.

As incomes rise in places like India and China, people are driving more and more. This is already creating serious problems for pedestrians in those countries (and everyone else impacted by pollution from driving). A two-road network is one way to reduce pedestrian injuries while potentially lowering pollution from vehicle travel.
 

Complete Streets are Complete for Everyone

Tweet

www.pedbikeimages.org / Jan Moser

This new post from Strong Towns offers a helpful take on creating streets that are universally accessible. Written from the perspective of someone who both implements streets for people with disabilities and uses a wheelchair herself, the post from author Heidi Johnson-Wright highlights some of the key elements that make a street "work" for someone in a wheelchair (not to mention those of us who push strollers, etc.). Here are some

Build wide sidewalks
For me, the ideal accessible pedestrian path of travel is as wide as the sidewalks lining the great avenues of New York City. Plenty of room for walkers, wheelers, babies in strollers and then some. Lots of space for me to safely pass around slow walkers when I'm in a hurry.

Keep paving in travel ways smooth
...smooth concrete with narrow stress joints works for me. I also love wide, flat flagstones like the ones used throughout Barcelona. I dislike even the smoothest of pavers and despise brickwork. What looks like tiny seams to walkers means major up-and-down bumping for wheelers.

Avoid "cookie-cutter" curb ramps
...differences in terrain and limitations of space require different ramp designs in order to be compliant and safe. Level landings at top and bottom are essential...And please: TWO curb ramps per corner instead of a single diagonal ramp.

Keep sidewalks clear of obstructions, even temporary ones
Coordination between local public works, transit, utilities, and state DOT is essential to preventing obstructions caused by landscaping, light poles, street signs, signal boxes, bus shelters, bus benches, newspaper boxes, bike racks, etc. Just as bad are sidewalks suddenly blocked off with little or no warning...I mean many months of torn up or obstructed rights of way due to long-term construction projects which provide no alternative, accessible, safe pathway.

If you take a look at the street from last week's post, you'll see it follows the bulk of the these rules. The sidewalk could be wider, but paving along travel ways is smooth, two curb ramps are in place, and obstructions are pushed to the edge of the sidewalk in the "street furniture zone."

Complete Streets, Ecuador Style

Tweet

I was browsing through some of my non-American transportation pictures when I came across this photo of an amazing street in Baños in Ecuador. Isn't it great?

But before I break down the details of what makes this street so awesome, a note on why I was looking at streets in Ecuador in the first place: So often when we point to examples of the best complete streets, we're showing places in affluent (read: white) neighborhoods in Europe or the US. At the same time, we're often working in neighborhoods that don't exactly share those demographics. It's worth noting that Copenhagen and San Francisco don't have the monopoly on walkability.

For the record, I'm just as guilty as the next planner of doing this-- thus my perusal of South American streetscapes. Which brings us back to the street above. First, let's look at land use: two stories of residential over street-level storefronts. This keeps the density relatively high while maintaining a "human scale:" the buildings are probably about 35 feet high and are proportionate to the width of the street. The variety of commercial uses on the ground floor serve residents in the neighborhood, making it easier to accomplish daily errands without driving.

About those commercial uses--notice how they're set up with outdoor displays, café seating, and windows to engage people walking down the street. You can see at a glance that this street would be interesting to explore. Importantly, those outdoor displays and café tables aren't blocking the sidewalk, and neither are the planters and benches on the other side of the travel way. I especially like how there are decorative tiles in the street furniture zone of the sidewalk, but not in the pedestrian pathway. Decorative paving looks great, but it can be tricky to navigate (e.g., try walking on cobblestones in heels).

How 15 mph Makes a Difference

Tweet

I've written before about how critical slower speeds are to pedestrian safety, and this week streets.mn has a great post that pulls together a lot of important information about vehicle speed and safety. I especially liked this graphic that shows the difference between what a driver traveling at 30 mph sees vs what a driver traveling at 15 mph sees.

Notice how all the pedestrians on the sidewalk disappear at the higher speed. As Bill Lindeke writes in the post,

"If you look at the average speed of traffic on a urban commercial streets, there are a lot of things that begin to change when you slow down cars from the 30 to 35 mile per hour range into the 20 to 25 mile per hour range. Most importantly, perception, reaction time, and crash outcomes are far better at 20 than at 30 mph, while traffic flow doesn’t seem to change very much."

Even thought risk of death and injury is dramatically higher when vehicle speeds exceed 20 mph, most local roads (especially older ones like those in my neighborhood) are designed to encourage much greater speeds. Until we address this problem (admittedly a challenge, given the cost of retrofitting roads to narrow them) speeding and the dangers it presents will continue to be a problem for pedestrians. 

Lawsuit forces LA to maybe do something about its sidewalk problem

Tweet

Let's begin with one of my favorite (I should say least favorite) pictures of a sidewalk in the neighborhood where I used to live, deep in LA's San Fernando Valley. No, this is not a picture of a dirt path next to a road where there should be a sidewalk. There is an actual sidewalk underneath all that dirt. If you squint you can see a little piece of it at the bottom of the embankment in the middle of the picture.

Lest you think this is unusual, here's another:



 

I probably have a few hundred similar shots, just from the area right around my house. And I lived in a "nice" part of the city.

 

Given that this is the typical state of LA's sidewalks, it should come as a surprise to no one that an ADA lawsuit against the City has resulted in what's described as "the biggest agreement of its kind in US history." The deal has yet to be finalized, but as part of the settlement the City will pay $1.3 billion to fix problems like the ones shown above.

 

That sounds pretty great, and is definitely a win for advocates pushing for improved mobility for people with disabilities (not to mention the rest of us who'd like to be able to use our sidewalks safely). But...let's not get too excited. First of all, the $1.3 billion in spending is over 30 years. In other words, it's possible that my grandkids could still be walking on the same decrepit sidewalks I walked on when I lived in LA--only 30 years worse for the wear.

The Paradox of the Cul-de-Sac

Tweet

Last week I posted this article from The Atlantic about how urban design--specifically long blocks and meandering street patterns--can lead to less walking and poorer health for residents. The cul-de-sac in particular gets a bad rap, a feature that leads to homes that are literally and figuratively cut off from the surrounding environment. So reviled is the cul-de-sac that they are often banned, or at least discouraged, in newer planning codes. I've recommended such code language myself.

But I have a confession to make: I live on a cul-de-sac.

Actually, here's the real confession: I love living on a cul-de-sac.

This sits uneasily with me, given my extensive knowledge of the reasons I shouldn't like cul-de-sacs. I know my cul-de-sac interrupts a grid network that's clearly desirable, given the number of people who hop the neighbors fence at the end of the cul-de-sac. I realize that I have to travel an extra three blocks every time I leave my house to go to the grocery store, and that I'm more likely to drive because of those extra blocks (well, I'm probably not more likely to drive, but my neighbors might be).

Even so, I love the fact that there is (seemingly) less traffic on my street. I love that my kids can play soccer in the space in front of my house, and I love that our neighborhood can do things like, say,  shut down the street with orange cones and set up an obstacle course for toddlers as part of an annual block party without getting grief from the authorities or needing a street closure permit.

Cool Ped Stuff #31: Let's Walk To...

Tweet

I can publish a blog post, but that's about as fancy as my technical web skills get.

 

Fortunately, there are a slew of people out there who are way better at this stuff, and they're using their skills to figure out new and creative ways to use all the neighborhood-level data about land use and transportation that's becoming more accessible every day.

 

Let'sWalkTo a fun site that let's users search for bars, restaurants and entertainment (you know, the essentials)--plus some other key amenities--by walking time. The goal is to facilitate walking and make it easier for people to get out and explore new locations on foot. Here's shot of what the site looks like in my neighborhood:

 

I don't really need to be convinced to walk places in my own community (unless it's raining. Californians are weird that way), but I could see myself relying on this site a bunch when I'm in a new neighborhood or a city I'm not familiar with. The site is still pretty new, so try it out and send along any suggestions for improvements.

NHTSA Pedestrian Safety Facts

Tweet

Photo courtesy of www.watchformenc.org

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is out with its annual report on pedestrian safety (or rather, lack thereof), and has put together a helpful fact sheet that outlines some of the key findings from its evaluation of traffic crashes involving pedestrians in 2013.

There aren't many big surprises (children and seniors are disproportionately hurt or killed while walking, alcohol plays a role in many pedestrian crashes, more people are hit at night), but a couple things struck me:

• Over two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities were men. It's hard to say why this is. I suspect one reason is that men walk more at night, whereas many women wouldn't feel safe doing so. Irony.
• California, Texas and Florida have the most pedestrian fatalities. They also have the most people, so that's not especially surprising. On the other hand, those are all states with large Hispanic populations, who tend to walk more--and thus run more risk of being hit by cars (especially if they're living in poorer neighborhoods without good pedestrian infrastructure).
•  Nearly 70 percent of fatalities happened at "non-intersections." There are still many people who would argue that this means pedestrians were "jaywalking"--and thus at least partially culpable for the crash. Hopefully we're moving toward a time when we recognize that poor street design, not people asserting their rights to use public space, is the real problem.

You can read through the full fact sheet here.

Strategic Framework for Increasing Walking in California

Tweet

California Walks is building support for its Strategic Framework for a walkable California. A collaborative effort of the advocates from across the state, the Framework outlines some ambitious goals for California, including:

• By 2020, every California walks at least 30 minutes each day
• By 2020, deaths and serious injuries among seniors and children who walk are reduced by half
• By 2016, California adopts a Vision Zero policy to eliminate traffic fatalities in 10 years
• By 2020, Active Transportation Program Funding is tripled

With five years or less to achieve this vision, California Walks will need plenty of help. You can help spread the word about the Strategic Framework and volunteer for one of the Action Teams here.

Newest self-driving prototype has built-in crosswalk

Tweet

Photo courtesy Mercedes-Benz

 

 

Mercedes-Benz is getting a lot of buzz for introducing the "F 015 Luxury in Motion" concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Debates over the appeal of the vehicles' look aside (Wired describes them as "bars of soap on the outside and sleek, vaguely European conference rooms inside"), the cars--do we still call them cars?--represent yet another step toward what many now see as an inevitable future where computers do all the driving.

 

Is this good for pedestrians?

 

I've long said that the safety benefits of driverless vehicles outweigh any potential costs. Driverless cars don't get drunk or distracted by their cell phones. Not only do they recognize and react to a pedestrian in front of them, the Mercedes model can even project a real-time crosswalk and pleasantly direct the person to cross. Forget safety, imagine the cost savings in crosswalk paint.

 

There is a potential downside, of course. Driverless cars will make driving easier and more appealing, and that could lead to an even more auto-dominated streetscape. Cars provide amazing mobility, but they don't over the health and social benefits that active transportation does. As we move toward a time when cars do their own driving, we need to take care that "car potato" doesn't become the new "couch potato."

Pacific Beach Street Mural, Times Two

Tweet

Here's a quick video of the lovely street mural installed a few weeks ago at a key crossing for the local middle school, complimenting the mural on the other side of the school.

There are so many great things about this project, from the fact that it was designed by a student (who also happens to be our neighbor), to how it improves crossing conditions at a key route to and from school (and the local ice-cream shop), and that it brought together the community to create some nice public art for everyone to enjoy.

Of course, like all great things there are challenges. Here in PB, some of the less community-minded locals think it's fun to deface the street murals with tire marks. And for some cities, even getting something so outside-the-engineering-box installed is difficult, as there can be pushback from ever-cautious traffic engineers who worry that street mural crossings won't conform to state and federal design standards. (Note: it is important to consider how the crossings might confuse pedestrians with visual impairments, who rely on regular patterns in crosswalks to lead them in a safe path across the street).

Still, it's exciting to see our neighborhood becoming a little more safe and beautiful every day!

This Week on Foot

Tweet

Image courtesy of www.greatergreaterwashington.org

It's a week for creative design, as Flowerpots create a safer pedestrian crossing from Gallaudet to Union Market,  there's a Proposal to curb car traffic in Brunswick Street in favour of pedestrians, NY state gets $70M for bike, pedestrian paths, and Long Beach gets $1 million state grant for more pedestrian, bicycle access on Edwards Blvd. Yet Sidewalk audit shows walkability could be better in Bennington , and a Survey shows residents still crave walkability in downtown Alpharetta . Maybe we should look to Walkable, Bikable Dresden for more ideas, or consider The Airtight Case for Road Diets. Perhaps if we think about How Observing and Recording Pedestrian Activity Transformed a City Center we'll understand more about Why a Street Designed for Transit Is Also Great for People.

And we'd better get at it, because although on Day #089: Engaging streets might be the norm, we really have to ask ourselves today: Is the U.S. Ready for Seniors Who Want to Stop Driving?

Some places probably are. Seattle creates its first ‘Arts and Cultural District’ on Capitol Hill, and they're Making schools in Coquitlam more walkable. And even as we bring our best ideas to promote walkability abroad, like this trip by NACTO to Take Safer Street Designs to Developing World Cities, here at home we're still struggling with our own problems, like Are LA’s Walkable Neighborhoods and Bike Lanes Only for the Creative Class?

While we're asking the tough questions, how about this one: Which Calls for More Regulation, Sprawl or Smart Growth? I don't know if I can answer that one, but I do know that #StreetsR4Families: Walk/Bike to School Day Is Easy.

Finally this week, Trick-or-treaters beware: Pedestrian risk increases tonight, and like me I'm sure your City urges pedestrian safety on Halloween.



 

Happy Halloween

Tweet

If you're heading out with kids this Friday, here's Zillow's annual ranking of the best cities to fill your bags with treats. Nice to see LA and San Diego moving up in the ranks! Check out this post for more detail about the neighborhoods to hit in each city (here in San Diego it's Del Mar Heights, Torrey Pines, Kensington, Loma Portal and Mission Hills).

Halloween is one of the most dangerous evenings of the year for pedestrians, so even though Zillow weights WalkScore evenly with other factors in developing its rankings, you might want to prioritize pedestrian safety when you choose your route. Take care out there!

This Week on Foot

Tweet

Source: www.trulia.com

With Halloween nearly upon us, this week we learned The Worst Places To Seek Refuge During The Zombie Apocalypse (turns out zombies like walkable cities, too).

Risk of attracting zombies aside, cities across the country are doing what they can this week to make their communities more pedestrian friendly. In Little Falls, the City Adopts Complete Streets Policy, a Road diet study rolls out in North Carolina, and there are Visions of Vibrancy: Center City Philadelphia, ICBC aims to curb pedestrian injuries in fall, winter with new campaign, and an App competition keeps pedestrian experience safe.

But not everyone agrees on what to do about pedestrian safety. While in New Jersey Kearny should be more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, state says and they agree It’s time for Amherst to create ‘pedestrian spaces’, in Georgia Officials split on pedestrian death solution and A simple sidewalk caused uproar in Tulsa's historic Maple Ridge. The Mayor nixed it.

And even though Swiss pedestrian safety takes turn for worse and there may be a Pedestrian-Cyclist Toll Coming To The Golden Gate Bridge, elsewhere in the country people are more excited about walking, as this Survey shows residents still crave walkability in downtown Alpharetta and in Detroit there's an Urgency of resurgence: Build on momentum with intentionality, opportunity, walkability.

If you're wondering what's New in the DOT Fast Lane --UTCs have a key role to play in bike-ped safety, and it should be interesting to see what happens to our favorite walkability ranking site now that Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history.

Finally this week, These conservatives make the case for vibrant cities. Most of their friends ignore them. Maybe they should spend some time thinking about these 3 Ways To Close The 'Play Gap' Between Rich And Poor Kids (walkability is one!).
 

Walk to Get Your Groceries Challenge

Tweet

Last week I took the Strong Towns Walk to Get Your Groceries Challenge, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: take a walk to get your groceries, then tell others about your experience. For me this isn't so much a challenge as something I do pretty much every week, but the folks over at Strong Towns recognize that for a lot of people walking to get groceries is a novel idea, and can really raise awareness about the issues that pedestrians face navigating a typical neighborhood to do a mundane task.

Since I was already out on my bike, I "cheated" and biked a route that I often walk for groceries. It's about a mile each way to this particular store, and although there's another market closer to me I often walk the longer distance to get some extra exercise in and to pick up some of the specialty products only available at the more distant store.

Here's a summary of the trip in photos:

Whether on bike or on foot, we often choose to cruise through our neighborhood via alleys because they have less traffic than the adjacent roads and are often easier to navigate with a stroller than the poorly-repaired and often narrow sidewalks (plus my daughter thinks they're interesting spaces).

You can see one of the main reasons we take to the alleys here: no curb cuts. Try getting stroller or bike with a kid on it down that curb, especially while balancing a sack of heavy groceries.

This week on foot

Tweet

Source: ProtectedIntersection.com

This week we learn about 6 Intersection Designs That Actually Prioritize Pedestrians, which Syracuse could probably benefit from since 'I cannot walk anywhere': Correspondence on the sad state of 'walkability,' in greater Syracuse. Elsewhere in New York, they're contemplating Vision Zero and the Challenge of Culture Change at NYPD and a Walkability project discussed for Downtown Brooklyn, while Centerville buys into I-15 pedestrian bridge, Active Trans Launches a New Crusade Against Dangerous Intersections in Chicago, and After pedestrian deaths, Mountain View asks residents to suggest traffic fixes. After all that bad news, it's a good thing La Mesa gets grant for pedestrian, bicycle safety.

As we continue on The march to walkability, Nashville Mayoral Candidates Mull A More Walkable City and New Efforts Under Way To Improve Pedestrian Safety In Philly. Things aren't looking so great in LA, where Metro Moving Forward With Flawed Complete Streets Policy, or in Florida where according to one Engineer: State DOTs have ‘blood on their hands’ because lanes too wide. And it's not just roadways; Critics Say Railroads Should Do More To Prevent Pedestrian Deaths.

Outside the US Karachi needs to walk off its energy crisis and there are Calls for 20mph zone after pedestrian injured in crash. Clearly everyone needs lessons from Zurich: Where People Are Welcome and Cars Are Not

Closer to home we wonder Could Tulsa be the next Portland? If so, maybe they need someone like this Metal artist decorates pedestrian walkway. Looks good to me. 

October 22 Webinar on Nonmotorized Transportation

Tweet

Learn more about how federal transportation funding has been helping pedestrians on 10/22 from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (PT).

Representatives from each of the four Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program pilot communities will discuss the strategies they used to promote bicycle and pedestrian projects and the lessons learned.  The Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program was established in SAFEATEA-LU Section 1807 and  provided over $25 million each to four communities (Columbia, MO; Marin County, CA; Minneapolis Area, MN; Sheboygan County, WI) to demonstrate how walking and bicycling infrastructure and programs can increase rates of walking and bicycling.   

Register here.

This Week on Foot

Tweet

Photo courtesy of Hometown Life

This week Safe Kids encourages pedestrian safety during ‘Walktober’ and schools across the country participated in International Walk to School Day. As just a sampling, in Katonah students walk, bike to school and a Catonsville school holds Walk to School Day. But even with these efforts, Parents worry about children walking to school, seek crossing guards. Why can't we Make it safe for our kids to walk or bike to school?

They're trying to do that in Glendale, where Projects aim to improve pedestrian, traffic safety in Glendale, and New traffic light aims to improve pedestrian safety in College Park, while Gulch-to-SoBro pedestrian bridge takes big step. Signs make walking Chapel Hill easier and 12 Westchester towns, villages praised for traffic safety--but elsewhere DelDOT Report Shows Pedestrian Safety Problems and Pedestrian crosswalk vandals on the rise. Kind of makes you ask hard questions. Like How safe is Denver for pedestrians?
Safer than Detroit, apparently. This week Liberty Mutual releases pedestrian safety study showing Seattle top for pedestrian safety as Detroit comes in last. And New York has its challenges, too. Surviving a Walk in NYC Should Not Depend on Luck. Maybe they should learn What Old Transit Maps Can Teach Us About a City's Future, or take a look at our Capitol, where Progress on Parking Reform Could Make DC More Walkable and Affordable.

Here in San Diego, there are other ideas about how to achieve those goals. We're told we should 
Stop Talking About Density. Start Talking About Place. While we're at it, we should be Remembering the Human Scale in Walkable City Neighborhoods, although that leads us to wonder: Livable Streets or Tall Buildings? Cities Can Have Both.

But can it also have bikes? Chicago Trib Bikelash Writer is Confused About the Real Threat to Pedestrian Safety. Maybe we should be Putting 'Walkable City' to the test. 

It's International Walk to School Day!

Tweet

Happy International Walk to School Day!

This year there are over 600 schools participating in California alone, encouraging students to walk and bike with fun incentives like prizes and music. Walk to School Day is a great way to get your school community excited about active transportation, increase physical activity for both parents and kids, and even address some of the traffic craziness that drop-off/pick-up entails. There are lots of good resources available here to help you plan an event.

If you didn't walk this morning (technically we biked, which is ok too), it's not too late to walk on the way home. Happy walking!

 

Cool Ped Stuff #30

Tweet

The most fun you can having waiting for a light to change, and it might even discourage pedestrians from crossing against the light. (Or we could time signals so pedestrians don't have to wait so long, but that's another post).

A Mixed Bag for PB Pedestrians

Tweet

Last weekend our neighborhood got a little more pedestrian-friendly, courtesy of this awesome new crosswalk art in front of the local middle school. Not only does the street painting add some loveliness to a distinctly boring stretch of roadway, it will hopefully improve visibility and crossing safety for students who use this route to walk to and from school (or at least to and from their parents' waiting cars). Kudos to beautifulPB for their work on this project.

But just when it looked like we might actually be starting to take active transportation seriously in Pacific Beach, this happens:

Those signs (they also block the bike lane on a nearby street) are in place as part of a festival at a local park on the beach. While no doubt there are locals who would be interested in walking or biking to the festival, they won't be doing it here, particularly not if they need to push a stroller or use a wheelchair.

The best part? In what surely wasn't intended to be an ironic move, the signs are there to inform drivers that they can't stop and block vehicle traffic. Yep, blocking the sidewalk and bike lanes is totally fine, but it's so critical that no one slows down cars (heavens!) that there has to be a sign every ten feet telling drivers to keep moving.

San Diego Waterfront Park Gets it Sort of Right

Tweet

Yesterday we visited downtown San Diego's new Waterfront Park, highly touted for its futuristic playground equipment...

...not to mention its kid-friendly water feature (which I should point out is much more popular on a sunny day, though the clouds and cold--for us-- weather didn't deter my toddler).

Less kid-friendly are the pedestrian connections to the waterfront path that would otherwise connect the new park with existing parks and tourist attractions along North Harbor Drive. While the path is probably less than 100 feet from the edge of the park, here's how you're supposed to get there:

Welcoming to the pedestrian, isn't it? I especially appreciate that while you can almost make out the curb cut at the far end of the "crosswalk," you would have to navigate around three sets of raised curbs to get to it.

Oh, but first you also have to deal with this:

That would be a free right that encourages drivers to swoop through the crosswalk with little regard for a pedestrian hoping to get across the street. (Sure there's the nominal yield sign in place, but nothing about this design would lead a driver to actually yield--much less pay attention to--a pedestrian at the curb).

Cool Ped Stuff #29 : Kids, Poop and CO2

Tweet

With two kids under three years old, the unfortunate fact is that poop plays a disproportionate role in my life.

Happily, that's not the only reason that Worse Than Poop, a new film idea from mother-son collaborators Vanessa and Elliot Warheit, resonates with me. The movie is intended to teach kids about the pollution problems created by too much driving. Toward that end, it will use animation and a pretty gross (read: kid-friendly) metaphor to help viewers visualize the true output of carbon dioxide that we create when we drive. The film will also highlight all the other fun, cool ways to get around besides driving, which would make it a great tie-in to a Safe Routes to School program or other community efforts to get kids walking and biking more.

However, this is all contingent on the full 3-5 minute show actually being made. The Warheits have a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project that ends on May 31. They're about $6,000 short of their goal--totally reachable if you help contribute now. Read more about Worse Than Poop and see fun photos of Elliot's transportation exploits here.