MyWHaT

What I’m for regarding the two current major public input on street projects: Division St. and Grandview Parkway.

Designing with intent to:

• increase accessibility throughout both corridors
• define a cohesive character
• steady the flow of motorized traffic
• slow the speed of traffic
• connect people to place
• enhance Traverse City’s uniqueness
• improve safety for all users; drivers as well as pedestrians/cyclists
• increase values in the neighborhoods
• increase economic opportunities
• move beyond the ‘good enough’ mentality
• reduce the mental and physical footprint of the roads
• …….

Some of which may be accomplished by the use of roundabouts. What some refer to as the “R word”.

I do not have the same viral negativity to them as some people; I suspect many people in the community don’t have an opinion one way or the other. To others, any change will elicit a ‘hell no!‘

To many of us, a well-studied, well-engineered & designed solution will elicit a positive leaning “Why not?” if not a full force, “Hell Yes!”

I’m currently in the “why not?”, moving more closer to the “Hell yes” camp.

Yourself? What are you for? How about something drastically more safe?

Conceptual drawings like the one above of Grandview and Division St. are viewable, and open to commentary today from 12-7 at the old Everygreen storefront at 108 E. Front Street (next to the Opera House). Come down and say hello and speak up for what you are for.

You can also:

• Email bayfrontdesign@traversecitymi.gov
• Comment on Plan for TC & to City Commissioners
  
• Tweet at #TCBayPlan and #TCDivSt.
• ….

Thursday night at 5:30 in the City Opera House the culmination of the 3-day public process will be revealed.

Again, what are you for?

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NOTE: I need to make clear that nothing expressed here should be inferred to reflect the opinion of the Bayfront Steering Committee, Parks and Recreation or anyone else involved in these processes, which, I’ll point out, are no where near their final conclusion…

I’m a volunteer on the Bayfront steering committee via my role on TC Parks and Recreation.

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See anything wrong with this scene?

Or, how about this scene?

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In an attempt to discourage illegal driving over the white fog line along Peninsula Drive in Traverse City, John Robert Williams first attempted a little traffic calming with the rocks. He was promptly told to remove them or face arrest. Yes, arrest. He removed them and replaced them with little Old Glory’s. What happened next?

Hint: DIY projects are not too appreciated by the city.

This episode began with the good intention of Williams’, as expressed in an email to me, “trying to keep the bad drivers from running over the peds, bikes and our yard. I want a curb and a sidewalk like next door. Here comes “curbagedeon.“

From the image, it seems obvious that there’s a need for a sidewalk connection. This also happens to be a pedestrian heavy corridor. The tire tracks running off the road are reflective of the entitlement many of us feel we have when we are driving a car; just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. It is illegal to cross the white fog-line, even to pass on the right.

On a street that is as heavily traveled by pedestrians and bike riders as this, you’d think the city could find better things to do then bother with a few strategically placed rocks. Good luck JRW!

He has posted these and other images from this past March that are worth a look. We had snow on March 1st!

What do you think? Another menace to society?

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Cartoon Tuesday

Yet, another reason to defend the art of mindful jaywalking.

And, I have to ask, would this have happened at a roundabout?

How do you feel about waiting for a signal when no cars are present?

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Quick takes for the week:

• If you’re an email subscriber to MyWHaT and it’s  not showing up, please check your SPAM box. Occasionally, filters reset and start treating it as SPAM. If you aren’t an email or RSS subscriber, what are you waiting for?
  

  Bayfront planning kicks off this week. Although it's about year-round use, remember summer?

• Since I’m on the steering committee, I might as well plug it. The preliminary engineering of the city’s Bayfront plan kicks off this week. This is where the designs and engineering for the elements and values of the Your Bay Your Say will materialize. Public participation is Wednesday from 12-7PM and Thursday 11-2, and there is a public presentation of the 3-day culmination Thursday night, 5:30-8PM. All public planning will be held downtown at 108 E Front St, next to the Opera House. More information at the City Web site.

• The city is also going for the Google Gig and the city is asking for residents to let Google know we are interested in high-speed fiber. Why not?

• After last week’s introduction of a concept for improving Division Street with 5 roundabouts, I’ve buried myself in roundabout material; yes, I’m a nerd. They are not a panacea for every street, but it is increasingly apparent that the modern roundabout seems to have been born for the compromise on Division St. It’s the balance of calmer traffic and increased traffic flow. The only problem is that everywhere they are suggested, the naysayers tend to be the most vocal. The predictable negativity is already taking pace. Any change agents out there? Let’s have a real, informed discussion…I’ll do my part, more soon.

• Sticker Update: Thanks to graphic help from Mike Erway, the 8th Street stickers are sent out for printing. They are being printed on removable weather resistant 2.5 x 4 stock (a bumper-sticker) and will be available March 31.   If you donate $10.00 before next week, you’ll receive 8 stickers. After that, they will be available individually for $2.50 or 5 for $10. This drive is to support the work of MyWHaT, and also to promote our intended use of 8th Street–a walkable, bike-able, mixed-use corridor.  You can pre-order donate via Paypal (include note) or send me an email with the subject “MyWHaT Sticker Donation” with your name and address. garylhowe@gmail.com

Enjoy the day.

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Monday’s Quote: A Policy Statement

“The DOT policy is to incorporate safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities into transportation projects. Every transportation agency, including DOT, has the responsibility to improve conditions and opportunities for walking and bicycling and to integrate walking and bicycling into their transportation systems. Because of the numerous individual and community benefits that walking and bicycling provide — including health, safety, environmental, transportation, and quality of life — transportation agencies are encouraged to go beyond minimum standards to provide safe and convenient facilities for these modes. (Emphasis added)

- United States Department of Transportation Policy
Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation
Signed 03/11/2010

Impact?

8th Street connection anyone? Yes, the contract was signed before this policy statement was issued, but do we have the desire to ask to be a model for the new policy? There is a workable alternative on the table waiting to be engineered that fits handsomely within this new policy. If not now, when?

Division Street? Grandview Avenue? Both slated for improvements…

Projects that meet this new policy will naturally receive higher priority for federal funding than those that don’t. For a state and a region in desperate need of all the funds it can muster, and an economy that is in dire need of revitalization, it seems to be a natural fit to comply with policies that satisfy both.

Will our MDOT accept the challenge and incorporate these principles into its own mission statement? More importantly, will they implement it into projects already on the drawing board?

Or, will they take the position that interprets the goal of moving people and goods as a narrow task of simply moving motorized vehicles at high speeds, while ignoring the economic benefits of active transportation investment?

We need to ask urge MDOT & road commissions to follow suit

Contact MDOT and urge that they implement the new federal Regulations and Recommendations. Also, ask for a comment on Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s comment that, “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized. We think livability means giving folks the flexibility to choose their own mobility.“?

And then, please share your responses here…

The specific recommendations in the new DOT policy:

• Considering walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes
• Ensuring that there are transportation choices for people of all ages and abilities, especially children
• Going beyond minimum design standards
• Integrating bicycle and pedestrian accommodation on new, rehabilitated, and limited-access bridges
• Collecting data on walking and biking trip
• Setting mode share targets for walking and bicycling and tracking them over time
• Removing snow from sidewalks and shared-use paths
• Improve non-motorized facilities during maintenance projects

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Big news for those paying attention was the Division St. Initiative. A lot was covered on Wednesday and it will provide MyWHaT with material well into the future. In the meantime, at the bottom of this post is a NY-DOT video explaining the ease pedestrians have navigating roundabouts. More from Ohio, Washington, and a broader PSA from our own MDOT.

The key is the pedestrian right of way and that is as much a duty of walkers, as it is for motorists. It’s your street, step out and be seen.

Weekly Chatter:

TART granted MDOT Safe Routes to School $$$ to connect TC West Middle to city

• TART gets Walk to School boost
• Safe Routes releases new School Travel Data like  44% live within one mile of their school
• These kids biked to school No one died!
  
• Speaking of percentages, the total U.S. population, all 320 million could live well in 1 state
• A new traffic signal design–> Take Turns
• Anothercity pleads with a DOT: Complete the Street
• What’s better than LEED building? Better parking policy
• Water treatment facility & public park in one package!
  
• That’s how you do storm water treatment & save $$$
• Toronto finds non-motorized commuters spend more
• “Let Him Ride!” Man arrested for commuting by bike…
• The other feud! ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser slams cyclists
• Hey Tony, don’t mess with Lance, the feds are on his side with both
  
• a congressman helping the Bike-Curious
• and Sec. of Trans. Ray LaHood jumping on a table
• to proclaim: “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized!“
• And finally, is it the infrastructure or type of person that defines how we choose to move?
• This question set off two interesting posts: “How infrastructure shapes the way we move“

And the other at a post titled, The most important blog post you’ll read this year. Big statement from Human Transit about a “conceptual error that lies at the root of a lot of bad transit planning decisions, an error made, at one time or another, by most citizens, many political leaders, and more than a few professionals.  It’s called (not very effectively) the Fundamental Attribution Error.  It happens when we say or believe statements of the form: “My decisions are based on my situation, but other people’s choices are based on their culture, the kind of people they are“”.

The point. The most important indicator that determines our transportation choices is what is presented to us. As Michael D summed up, “above all this is determined not by culture and personality but by the kind of infrastructure and transportation service provided.”

Build it, and they will come.

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“Car Cannon”

As a city resident, this is the perception. A daily bombardment of cars & SUVs into the city. The result is a decrease in property values, increased infrastructure costs and more and more public space devoted to cars.

I’d much prefer to have the perception below:

“People Cannon”

Too much of our public space and resources go towards serving the automobile. Yes, this is a current necessity as cars move people;  they just don’t do it as efficiently as we need. They also detract from the core purpose of the city: social interaction and efficiency of proximity.

What is the city for?

NOTE: “Car cannon” adapted from Wednesday night’s presentation by Ian Lockwood. “People cannon” created in response. No person was or will be injured in the production of this cartoon and any resemblance of real people is unintended. (cartoons attempted by Gary L Howe)

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Over 100 people came to the Hagerty center last night to hear the initial recommendations by traffic engineer Ian Lockwood. He was hired by the city of Traverse City to work with the community to redesign Division St. in a way that serves both the 20 to 26 thousand vehicles per day (VPD) and also the needs to address the hostility of the current design.

As mentioned in the previous post, roundabouts featured prominently in the recommended design. Certainly, that will be one of the major hurdles in the proposal as almost every community that proposes this traffic calming device goes through a feisty process from people resistance to change. Traverse City has already had one of those debates.

Still, other communities, like Clearwater Beach, FL have embraced the tool to such a high degree that they have actually petitioned to force the implementation of roundabouts. The result, the country’s busiest roundabout (video) that handles over 58,000 VPD while handling over 8000 pedestrians. All with a reduction in crashes and with a clear sense of place.

Clearwater, Florida’s signature roundabout

Still, roundabouts on Division St.?

Yes. Roundabouts have a proven record in accomplishing many of the concerns northern Michigan has with Division St. The key will be the follow through.

Done well, roundabouts fix a number of issues.

• For vehicles: increase traffic flow, improve time travel and access along the corridor, while reducing crashes (crash rates at the intersections on this route are some of the highest in the region).
• For the neighborhoods: despite the possible increase in traffic volumes, there would be lower speeds, improved noise control, less cut-through traffic*, improved east-west access and thus, increase home values.
• For non-motorized traffic: Lockwood admits that the proposal is not a ‘complete street’ and isn’t perfect, but that he is encouraged that the slower speeds will improve east-west accessibility for all modes of traffic. The plan also includes sidewalks and pathways along the corridor, including long-term development of a tree canopy. If a couple of crosswalks are included at places other than just the intersections, then active transportation will be increased and encouraged by improved safety, access, and a better sense of place along the corridor.

Of course, this is if the design is completed as intended and not turned over to a reluctant authority without the proper experience and motivation to embrace the project with enthusiasm. Have no doubt, although not completely out of the realm of possibilities, this design will be a political challenge.

Don’t be scared, be vigilant

This is where our elected officials, area power brokers, luminaries and neighborhoods will need to step it up and stand for something different. Last July Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic, explained in an article on Slate the difficult relationship Americans have had with roundabouts. Roundabouts are rarely popular when proposed and take leaders willing to make un-popular decisions to make them happen.

In the article, titled Don’t Be So Square, he describes exactly the scene from last night’s presentation:

After a period of study, the engineers propose a roundabout. The engineers, armed with drawings and PowerPoint slides, visit a community meeting. They try to explain the benefits of their proposed design in clear language, though they may occasionally drop phrases like entry path overlap or inscribed circle diameter. Townspeople raise concerns. Roundabouts are not safe, they say. They are confusing. They are bad for pedestrians. They will hurt local businesses. They are more expensive than traditional solutions. The local newspaper reports this, adding some man-in-the-street comments from “area drivers,” who profess not to like roundabouts, even making dark references to “circles of death.”

But here is the key…

More and more the story is not ending like Traverse City’s previous experience, but rather as Vanderbilt writes, “then, the roundabout is built, the safety record improves, traffic congestion doesn’t seem any worse than before, and the complaints begin to fade faster than white thermoplastic lane markings in the heat of summer.“

Roundabouts work, in part, because they increase the ‘awareness’ and ‘vigilance’ of drivers. People are no longer blindly following orders; they are now forced to pay attention and negotiate with real humans.

The key to implementing roundabouts will also take vigilance.

More examples and discussions of Lockwoods presentation can be expected, including more discussion on roundabouts in general and along Division.

I love having new material!

* The one exception to the cut-through traffic is the 11th St. corridor east of Division St., however, only if the city fails to implement some creativity along that street. 11th Street wouldn’t need to be closed off to traffic, but using other traffic calming and controlling devices, incentives for cut-through traffic could be reduced & calmed.

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Last night’s Division St. Initiative presentation included initial recommendations for 5 roundabouts along the corridor. I’ll have a longer piece on the idea and other feedback from the presentation later today. But, it’s apparent from some of the comments on TC Chamber’s Facebook page, that there is not a lot of experience with this proven traffic calming device.

We need to see it.

Here is a two-lane roundabout that looks very similar to 14th and Division St.

Photos via WSDOT's flickr site

This is in the city of Bellingham, WA along Cordata Parkway. The city has two 2-lane roundabouts. (UPDATE: Just noticed that right next to one of their roundabouts is where their driver’s license examination office is located-perfect!)

Again, I’ll have more of an update later. In the meantime…a little simulation.

Initial responses? Do you have any experience using roundabouts?

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The Public Open House for Division St. Initiative

Starts Today at 5 p.m. at the Hagerty Center.

Just a quick reminder about the Division Street open house tonight. This is the one time to have some input on the future design of Division St. After today, public comment will be limited more to being satisfied or not satisfied with the outcome–also a crucial period.

Executive Director of TART Trails, Bob Otwell, earlier today posted a brief update on the TART Trails Complete Street Google group (you can request being added to that list). Otwell has been participating with the consultant, MDOT and the city engineering staff in trying to balance the needs expressed by the public.

Some ideas to think about before the public meeting today at 5:00 at the Hagerty Center.

1. A new street to add to our grid – 8 1/2 Street from Division to Elmwood. This has been considered in the past as another entrance into Munson and the Commons.
2. Modern roundabouts at 14th Street, 11th Street, 8 1/2 Street, Front Street and the Parkway. These are not traffic circles, and will take some education for our community to accept. They are nicer to look at than signaled intersections, are safer for all users, and tend to calm and slow traffic.
3. A trail on the west side of Division from 14th to 8 1/2. Sidewalks on the west side continuing to the Parkway, and a new sidewalk along the east side all the way from 14th to the Parkway.
4. The four lane cross section would stay, possible re-stripe with a wider curb lane, and a narrower middle lanes.

Before your pub crawl really kicks into gear, come down bike or walk down to the Hagerty Center to view the current concepts and to make comments on what you’d like to see Division become.

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