MyWHaT

Choose Your Sweet-Spot

Adopted from a demand curve in the study “Generated Traffic and Induced Travel” by Victoria Transport Policy Institute’s Todd Litman.

This is a simplified representation of how a city or road agency can encourage or discourage more vehicular travel by considering the perceived costs to drivers. Are the costs removed, as is the goal with an expressway (wide, straight, built for speed) or are the costs so high that motorized traffic is basically removed, as is the costs with Mackinac Island where pedestrians, bicycles and horses rule the ROW (and cars are banned).

What’s The Cost?

With any new project, be it a new road or a traffic calming project, this is ultimately the decision being made. Often, policy makers pretend as if it is not a choice and that somehow roads are neutral. They believe that people always make rational choices about driving and aren’t influenced simply because it is made easy to do so. The behavioral concepts and studies behind generated traffic and induced demand are showing us that those perceptions are misguided. Who we elect and who your local government hires are the architects of our public spaces and thus, to some degree, the architects of our behavior.

If you’re not one of them, your job is to remind them as clearly and as often as possible of where you want your neighborhood to fall in the above curve. Is the space for motorized traffic a singular pursuit that leans towards unobstructed speed and convenience? Or, can we afford to increase the costs of travel to favor high quality neighborhoods for all of our citizens? Can we make these choices with an increased level of intention?

Level of service, the congestion grade applied to roadways, is a community choice and too important to leave solely to engineers and politicians. If we are serious about reducing the negative impacts of motorized traffic in our community, at a certain point, we have to be willing to increase the costs of driving in it.

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NOTE: Since the question has been raised consistently regarding the Boardman Lake Avenue project, the goal is to write more about generated and induced traffic later this week.

Related Articles

• Why Getting Good Grades Isn’t Always The Answer (Planner’s Web)
• Transportation For Livable Communities: Measuring What Matters (Planning Commissioners Journal)
• Generated Traffic and Induced Travel (Victoria Transport Policy Institute)
• Does Widening Roads Cause Congestion? (Walkable Streets)

Well Put

The thing that cities do when they work well is bring people together. Improve the connections in your city. #USIniitative—
  (@ccoletta) February 16, 2011

Carol Coletta is the President and CEO of CEOs for Cities. CEOs for Cities has a goal of developing “great cities that excel in the areas most critical to urban success: talent, connections, innovation and distinctiveness.”

Traverse City may be a micro-city, but the path for success & resiliency is the same as any place.

How do we connect people? And, how do we do it better?

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This past Wednesday night’s community input regarding, as the consultant phrased it, “the opportunities” and “the concerns” for the proposed Boardman Lake Avenue Development project left me without much clarity for the direction the City will ultimately take. The discussion continues and the interest in the MyWHaT Pros and Cons post is the top hit three days in a row. Please, contribute to the discussion.

Weekly Chatter

• Sad: dangerous by design in NWL Michigan

• The value of a single life: do I hear $10-million?

• Person on Board –> _ –> _ –> _ –>

• In Traverse City and obsessed with free parking

• Michigan as a leader in Road-Diets? Maybe.

• The American Dream vs,. Reality (via our Canadian friends)

• Tom Vanderbilt writes about how bike commuters and motorists are often living in different worlds and how that leads to push back for the very designs that are proven to save lives and improve conditions for everyone. A Grist writer spins off Vanderbilt’s piece to ask: “Why do people in cars hate people on bikes so much?“

• The civic & political need for public spaces: “Local commons become the site of celebrations, festivals, art events, memorial services and other expressions of a community.“

Twitterville

• RT(@tomvanderbilt) Scofflaw drivers — and the cyclists they kill.
• RT (@lutzfernandez) Absurd but increasingly common: polls taken by media asking for opinions on questions to which the answer is a fact.
• RT (@paulbatt) Yo Bus Driver! Morning rush hour traffic is not the time to practice turning left from the right lane. K?

To Wrap

Ah, an ode to the sharrow. Have you seen the sharrow map for TC?

View Sharrow suggestions for Traverse City in a larger map

Have a Weekend.

Graphic Friday

(click for larger view)

National Building Museum created this graphic in their Intelligent Cities program. Using numbers from AAA, the average American spends $8,485/annually on an automobile. Of that amount, only $1,390 stays in the local economy. The rest, $7,095 per vehicle, leaves the local economy.

Is that intelligent? Is it intelligent for a community to subsidize and facilitate car ownership?

In Traverse City, let’s assume of the 14,000 residents that there is 70% car ownership or around 10,000 primary vehicles. If only 1% of us chose  to give up a car (walk & bike more, ride-share, bus and rent instead), with these numbers that would be $709,500 NOT leaving the economy.

It is a modest goal, 100 fewer cars, but with a big payoff. If we are feeling frisky, we could go for 1000 fewer cars and be that much more resilient as a local economy.

Of course, there are likely other factors to consider, but it isn’t like we haven’t seen this before: Where Your Gas Dollar Goes?.

Why do you live where you live?

(click for larger view)

Answers generated from last week’s survey question asking: Why do you live where you live? The word cloud weights values in terms of number of times a phrase is used.

This was a small sampling (35) of primarily people living in northwest lower Michigan. Are these characteristics of the place that you value as well? The focus on community, water, family and the natural environment certainly matches my perception of why many of us live here.

It also closely matches the results of a national survey of over 43,000 people asked the same question. In the Knight Soul of the Community project, launched by Gallup and James L. Knight Foundation, it was found that three reasons rose to the top about why people live where they do:

“social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet, openness (how welcoming a place is) and the area’s aesthetics (its physical beauty and green spaces).“

To simplify, similarly to the Knight Soul survey, I interpreted the answers from the MyWHaT survey and classified them under some broader descriptors to make the following version of the above Word Cloud:

It’s an interesting exercise that if nothing else, reminds us of why we are here and what we are working together to preserve and accentuate.

NOTE: I promise, this will be the last Word Cloud for a while. Once you discover a new tool, it’s hard not to keep using it! Go to www.wordle.net to make your own cloud.

On Tuesday I was on the Vic McCarty Show on AM-1270 talking about traffic calming and traffic in general with Vic and fellow guests Russ Soyring, Traverse City’s planner and Matt Skeels, director of TC-TALUS. Vic has kindly shared the podcast of the show:

Play

Despite Vic not being able to let go of the Hartman-Hammond bridge, I think it was an informative show. In particular, I like Russ’s description of traffic calming measures as a change in the character of a place. Through that change, the goal is create an experience like when we go into a church and we automatically change our behavior and whisper. Similarly, when we drive automobiles through a city, we need to change our behavior and drive slow, aware and smooth.

Effective traffic calming measures reminds us of the context we are driving through.

Also discussed: Division St., South Campus Entrance & briefly the West Boardman Lake Ave.
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Related Articles

• The State Of Traffic Calming In Traverse City
• Graphic Friday: Want Traffic Calming? Don’t Start With Stop Signs

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Would you like to contribute to this blog? $10…$25…$50 or $100?

NOTE: For the time being, before a comment appears the author must have a previously approved comment. Click through to read the full comments policy.

Updated 11:18 for clarity.

Below is a condensed list of reasons to & not to build the West Boardman Lake Avenue.

It’s not a complete list and I avoid some of the more philosophical, nuanced and promised arguments. It is a list pulled from the studies, community discussions and the stated outcomes/impacts. If you have items to add, please provide a comment and/or send me a message. This is an evolving list. Tonight’s meeting and subsequent community discussion will likely add and subtract from it.

Please note: The list’s focus is on the road because that is the only item that’s been drawn to this date and really the main point of contention. Also, I separate the recreational trail from the road as they can and will happen separately.

Reasons TO build: West Boardman Lake Ave. may…

• …reduce vehicles per day (VPD) in parts of Old Towne Neighborhood.*
• …fulfill a 20 year goal for some City residents.
• …facilitate the moving of MDOT’s rail wye at 14th Street and Cass.
• …facilitate east/west motorized traffic through the City. **
• …provide incentive for additional new commercial and residential development.***
• …increase revenue to the City by nature of being classified a major street.

Reasons NOT TO build: West Boardman Lake Ave. may…

• …induce more motorized traffic, measured in trips and miles.*
• …encourage east/west motorized traffic through City neighborhoods. **
• …have limited infill/development opportunity. ***
• …degrade east/west walkability.
• …have limited design options (influencing both aesthetics and speed) due to limited space (35-ft) and use of non-local funding.
• …(will) require annual maintenance costs and reduce available funds potentially applied to current streets.
• …stress 14th Street and 8th Street corridors with increases in vehicles & miles driven.
• …create a barrier between the City and one of its most important amenities (lake and trail).
• …create increased need to manage stormwater pollution from a roadway.
• …limit ability to create a place for recreation & social exchange along Boardman Lake.
• …counter the values expressed by 86% of residents who expressed that they’d rather see investments in existing infrastructure before building new roads. (GV Values, pg 10 Fig.6)

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* From the most ambitious numbers provided by the consultant, BLA is projected to handle between 16-20,000 VPD. The current high counts for Cass St. and Union St. total around 21,000. If we use the projected counts, the City  will see an increase of 5,200(+/-) vehicle trips per day for a total of 26,200-vpd.  If the projections are correct, the plan is that Union St. will see 3,200-vpd and the goal for Cass St. is 3000-vpd.

Here is how I calculated the induced demand:  (3,200(Union) + 3000(Cass) + 20,000(BLA)) - (2100) = 5,200 induced trips with the new road. This is without challenging the assumed reduction rates and consideration of behavioral changes that have known patterns of occurring with increased capacity, chief among them even more miles driven. The majority of the increased demand will come from new traffic generated through the corridor because the cost of driving through that area will dramatically be decreased-we are subsidizing driving rather than restricting it. (See Hinge Line for an explanation of how motorized traffic acts like a gas and expands into excess capacity.)

* * These items may be viewed either-way, depending on how your perception and belief in the role the City plays in providing for motorized traffic that is primarily just going through the City to avoid Grandview Parkway.

** * Something that will hopefully be answered during this round of public input is the real infill opportunities that exist, as well as the impact on the streets when that development occurs.

Related Posts:

• Record Eagle Assumes Too Much About W. Boardman Lake Ave.
• Boardman Lake Ave. Will Do One Thing For Certain, Create Traffic
• Serious Questions Expressed About Boardman Lake Ave.
• West Boardman Lake Input Process Plan Released
• Boardman Lake Avenue: History Repeating Itself?

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Would you like to contribute to this blog? $10…$25…$50 or $100?

NOTE: For the time being, before a comment appears the author must have a previously approved comment. Click through to read the full comments policy.

Tonight • 7pm

Governmental Center Cafeteria

Tonight is the first of two public meetings dubbed the West Boardman Lake Development project (the second is on March 22). It’s difficult to know what to expect.

Will it primarily be about the proposed avenue? Or, will the process be allowed to seriously consider alternative visions for the area that may include a street or portions of streets?

Over the last month I’ve spent a lot of time walking through this corridor. It’s a treasure even without any development. It provides a place away from the streets and our motorized habits. It’s place where people are compelled to interact; the social capital potential is strong here.

Meeting Ron

During this month, I met an older gentleman walking his dog on 4 separate occasions in the exact same spot: the space just east of Oryana along the trail and next to the bench. It’s a place that overlooks Boardman Lake, the trail, the bridge and its a place where people are encouraged to actually stop and talk to someone they don’t know. I even recalled his correct name (finally) by the 3rd meeting (sorry, Ron).

The original Pere Marquette depot

This meeting space happens also to be right in the path of the proposed West Boardman Lake Ave.

If the road goes in, those recent conversations with Ron would have likely not occurred as up to 20,000 cars would be going by at speeds 35-40-mph (yes, we keep hearing that speeds will be kept to 25-mph, but so far the design does nothing to achieve that). It’s also interesting to point out that near this space was at one time the Pere Marquette depot with a small public square in front of it. I can only imagine the conversations and meet-ups that happened.

I’m not opposed to development and change; I embrace both. However, I’m a proponent of development and change that is intentional and not driven by a desire for a quick-fix to perceived issues. When I say intentional, I mean that it’s a choice that the community has made after thinking through the known and unknown consequences. We are attempting to do that here, but the risk remains that the process will be geared towards a particular favored outcome.

I’m not sure about others, but I’m preparing myself for tonight’s meeting with an open mind and an open heart. I trust that the known facts will be presented and that the remaining questions won’t be ignored. I look forward to seeing the community come together and trust I’ll meet Ron for the 5th time.

See you tonight at 7-PM in the Governmental Center Cafeteria.

NOTE: I’ll have a follow-up post this morning with a list of pros and cons for the proposed avenue.

Related Posts:

• Record Eagle Assumes Too Much About W. Boardman Lake Ave.
• Boardman Lake Ave. Will Do One Thing For Certain, Create Traffic
• Serious Questions Expressed About Boardman Lake Ave.
• West Boardman Lake Input Process Plan Released
• Boardman Lake Avenue: History Repeating Itself?

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Would you like to contribute to this blog? $10…$25…$50 or $100?

NOTE: For the time being, before a comment appears the author must have a previously approved comment. Click through to read the full comments policy.

NOTE: This post is a bit rushed because I need to go the studio, sorry, I will clean it up this afternoon.

I’ll be on the Vic McCarty show today from 10-11:30 talking about Traffic Calming with Uncle Vic, Traverse City’s City Planner and Matt Skeels from the NWMCOG & TCTALUS. You can listen at AM-1270 or online at www.wmktthetalkstation.com.

Traverse City is currently creating policy for citizens wishing for traffic calming in their neighborhoods. I’ve been very critical of it mainly because the approach doesn’t encourage and support the implementation strongly enough; it’s controlling and has too many roadblocks for successful engagement.

In a parallel process, I’m serving on a sub-committee of the planning commission that is drafting the transportation elements for the City’s master plan. One of the sections addresses traffic calming and the following pre-amble is what I’ve submitted for the group’s approval.

Transportation Elements: Traffic Calming

For the City’s Master Plan (not yet approved)

Traffic calming is a basic component of the engineering & design for a complete street network. It serves a variety of needs for maintaining and creating a safer, less noisy, less polluted, more active and attractive community.

Traffic calming that is implemented and included in the regular process of maintenance and (re)construction is required to minimize cost and to more quickly address problem areas. Recommendations by staff for prioritization of traffic calming projects will be annually updated with clear communication with residents and appropriate commissions. Achieving a successful traffic calming program develops through efficient involvement, education and acceptance by city residents, and the continual training of city staff. A level of experimentation and innovation is expected.

The attempt is to create a culture and policy aimed at implementing traffic calming as the default. If you’re already (re)constructing a street, why wouldn’t you create a better place?

The Traffic Calming Starter Kit via Project for Public Spaces and how/where we might see these tools used in Traverse City, sooner rather than Later:

• Diagonal Parking: We already have this in a few places, namely Hall St. We might also consider back-in diagonal parking and I’d nominate a retrofitted Lake Ave.  to be the first places for this. It makes sense near McGough’s with all of the loading and unloading that occurs there.
• Changing One-Way Streets to Two-Way: We’ve written about this  before. Our one-ways: 7th, 8th, State and Front St.
• Widening Sidewalks/Narrowing Streets and Traffic Lanes: Practically all of our streets are too wide. Lanes widths on City streets need to be set at 9-10 feet, with exceptions made for extreme cases-not the other way around. Our neighborhood streets need to be 24-27 feet wide, not 32-36ft.
• Bulbs – Chokers – Neckdowns: We use these in our downtown area, but have yet to apply the measures in our neighborhoods. We need to, beginning on the edges of the neighborhoods and slowly working inward as projects come online.
• Chicanes: Anywhere where there is a serious speed issue with cut-through traffic may benefit with Chicanes. In some places bulb-outs would achieve the same effect, but in other areas, like Sheridan Drive, a chicane system would work nicely.
• Roundabouts: Hey, look at this, there is a map for Traverse City’s prime roundabout locations.
• Traffic Circles: We have two of them on Webster St. They get mixed reviews, but I lived next to both of them and never had an issues. They force drivers to pay attention.
• Raised Medians: The Old Town traffic committee swears that a median is needed along Cass St. It just may in places.
• Tight Corner Curbs: Let’s not build our city for the largest vehicles on the road: change the vehicles, not the city. The longer the curve, the faster cars/trucks can take the corner. This needs to be a standard consideration.
• Diverters: These barriers are really aimed at reducing the amount of traffic a particular area gets. A note of caution is that they turn an otherwise healthy grid into a disconnected one. Still, in some places where there are short cut throughs with motorists using the streets to avoid traffic signals, they may have their place. If it came to it, a diverter at Maple and 11 St. may ease fears along that stretch about a roundabout on Division creating more neighborhood traffic.
• Road Humps, Speed Tables, and Cushions: Again, these can be used almost anywhere in the city, but primarily where there are high numbers of people walking and high speeds. I also like completely raised intersections. Cass St., up for reconstruction in 2012, is a good candiate for experimentation.
• Rumble Strips and Other Surface Treatments: Traverse City does use textured streets for traffic calming. Central neighborhoods brick streets are an example as well as several ped. crossings. One thing I’d like see included on these streets are smooth bike lanes on all the brick streets.

This isn’t a complete list of traffic calming measures an isn’t meant to be absolute in it’s prescriptions.

Notice: stop signs are not included in this list, because they aren’t a traffic calming device.

Grand Traverse County Civic Center

Tonight there is a master plan input session at 6 pm in the Civic Center Meeting Room for the popular (1-million visitors a year) civic center.

From my understanding, all ideas are up for discussion, so if you have some hidden inspiration regarding the park and its services, please take part or send thoughts to parks@grandtraverse.org or call 231-922-4818.

Civic Center Layout

(click for larger version, then print out and sketch it up with ideas.)

A few quick thoughts:

• More inclusive accessibility on the edges of the park and it’s entrances. We mentioned one place two weeks ago.
• Is there a space for a pair of outdoor table tennis tables?
• Lights for the basketball courts. The summer is fine, but some of that autumn ball was pretty dark around 6pm.
• Better yet, a community gymnasium and/or community center.
• Less mowing, more landscaping.
• Take down all or some of the perimeter fence.
• Small dog park?

Do you have any ideas?

Civic Center Master Plan Input Session• 6pm

Civic Center Meeting Room

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