The problem with these blocks is, when there are cars parked on both sides of the street, there is not enough space in the travel lane for two cars to meet and pass each other. Navigating these blocks requires looking ahead to see what's coming from the opposite direction and periodically pulling aside, when space permits, to allow an oncoming car--or two or three--to pass before proceeding. Making these two streets one-way, in opposite directions, may seem to be the panacea for the problem, but is it really a desirable solution?
At some point during the existence of the ad hoc Parking Study Committee, Vicky Daskaloudi, who represents the Fifth Ward, and Jennifer Belton, who represents the Fourth Ward, spoke of making the streets one-way as an easily achievable solution to any number of problems, including issues of parking at the westernmost ends of these streets, where the Half Moon (Allen Street) and Wm. Farmer & Sons (Union Street) are located. This prompted Margaret Morris, who represents the First Ward, to poll the people who actually live on the affected blocks in her ward to find out what they thought of the idea. The results were inconclusive. Morris reports that half the people she spoke with were in favor of making these blocks of Union and Allen streets one-way, and half were opposed.
The argument for making the streets one-way is convenience for drivers. Were the streets to be one-way, drivers could sail from Third Street to Front Street, or vice versa, with only one impediment: the stop sign at Second Street. The argument for keeping things as they are is less autocentric: traffic calming. (Of interest, one of techniques in the "Traffic Calming Toolbox" is "changing one-way streets to two-way.")
An internet search for "traffic calming" yields this article: "8 traffic calming measures for neighborhood streets." (It's important to remember that Allen and Union streets between Third and Front streets pass through residential neighborhoods.) The following is quoted from that article:
Roadway planning in the United States and Canada has long held motor vehicle speed and ease as a top priority, leading to a network of high-speed roads and impatient drivers. . . .
Traffic calming is a system that utilizes design strategy and physical adjustments to reduce traffic speeds for the sake of safety and accessibility. Environmental adjustments . . . force motorists to pay attention to their surroundings and alter their driving behaviors, resulting in lower speeds and safer driving.
Two of the eight traffic calming measures set forth in the article are chicanes and chokers. Chicanes are described as "sidewalk extensions that create a zigzag pattern with alternating curves to disturb the straight path of the roadway."
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| Photo: NACTO |
A choker is described as "a horizontal extension of the sidewalk meant to narrow the roadway for a section of the street."
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| Photo: City of Ann Arbor, Michigan |
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Imagine all the one way and no turn signs that would be needed to make it happen (which it should). It would require a huge effort, planning, money, supervision, lots of interdepartmental communication, and follow through. Kinda like the parking kiosks. Anyway, Rob Perry isn't interested.
ReplyDeleteIf it ain't broke don't fix it
ReplyDeleteAs a ten-year resident of Union street--albeit currently away for a year--I'm overjoyed to read your suggestion that we think of other cars as chicanes and chokers! I have a young son and live on a block full of young children. I also have a car. I've long said, and continue to say, that making our street one-way would be the worst thing we could possibly do for the safety of families and old people and pedestrians in general. All research shows that the best practices for pedestrian safety are, exactly as you wrote, building obstacles like chicanes into motorways, because they are natural traffic calming measures. We already have that wonderfully in place by having a narrow, two-way road on which drivers have to slow down and pay attention. It's ultimately kids playing and neighbors walking whose health and safety we should be protecting, and those are exactly the communities well-served by leaving the street as it is. (I did collect over a hundred signatures on a petition to add speed bumps, which is another best practice, and recommended on pedestrian streets with kids and our speed limit. I'll have to get back to that when I return.)
ReplyDeleteI agree for the most part, but using someone else's car as a traffic calming device is less than ideal. There is simply too little margin for error on these streets, and one mistake translates, by definition, into damage to two or more automobiles. Limiting traffic on these streets to compact cars would solve many problems, though the practical issues are apparent.
DeleteThe issue is that this prioritizes property over lives. Which is so common in the U.S., it sounds rational. But it isn't. The stakes are much higher than that. It's about human safety. The point is that you can't drive fast on these streets. They aren't for that, because it isn't safe for those of us raising families on them. If you want to drive faster than you can safely on Union, then you choose a different street. I currently live in central Madrid where all cars stop for any pedestrian and can barely get above 5 miles an hour. If you want to go faster than that, you take a bus around the area or you walk. This includes people with mobility challenges, who use walkers and wheelchairs without fearing for their safety. The point isn't the "ideal" solution. It's a solution to the main problem, which is the need for safe, walkable streets. And we have in place a free and totally usable solution. Again, all said as someone with over a decade of living on and driving on and parking on the street.
DeleteMaking certain streets one-way is absolutely worth the effort. It will hardly make 2nd or Union Streets speedways as there will still be parking on both sides. Same goes for the other streets that could/should be one-way to solve the impasses that occur on them when 2-way traffic meets. It's really a no-brainer and, frankly, could only be considered controversial in a city as reactionary as Hudson.
ReplyDeleteSays the man on interstate Worth Ave.
DeleteOne-way traffic is a terrible idea for Allen and Union. Speed of flow is not the telos here, and should never be.
It's not about speed, it's about safety and predictability (which is also about safety, so it's really all about safety). And I'm not sure what the nature of my street has to do with my observations about traffic elsewhere in town -- except to give you a perceived pivot point to deflect from the issue. After all, no one's ever attempted to qualify the value of your input on matters concerning Warren Street when, in fact, you own no business there. Because doing so would be apropos of nothing. As is your observation regarding traffic in front of my house. Try to come up with ideas, David, not simply critique those of others.
DeleteI was being cheeky John, but whatever isn’t clear about my idea, your suggestion that predictability results in safety is patently false.
DeleteAlways the contrarian, Marston! My statement in its context is only "false" to a logician as the outcome isn't always safety. But, compared to unpredictability, it's hands-down the best way to achieve it. Are you really arguing against the traffic laws that control the way motorists are supposed to behave? The vast majority of drivers clearly obey the vast majority of the traffic laws as folks ain't constantly running in to each other on the streets and highways. And while the sarcastic dart "nice signal, asshole" may be the most common epithet heard from open car windows (I believe this was actually polled on a few years ago), drivers consistently avoid running in to each other -- because it's predictable.
DeleteI would gladly welcome speed bumps on Allen Street. It is insane how fast people drive on Allen and I have witnessed two accidents - head on. (I have removed three deceased animals killed by speeding cars) I think one-way streets would be nice, but I am not a traffic expert therefore my opinion should not count. Regardless, I find the streets in Hudson to be very uncivilized, but on par for the climate, the culture, the residents and the government of the city.
ReplyDeleteHumps, not bumps! Big difference.
Delete4 or 5 years ago, the common council brought this idea to Rob Perry. He wanted none of it, claiming that humps/bumps would delay emergency vehicles AND damage his snowplows. I think he even had a chart of some sort to prove his point. Of course, plenty of municipalities figure out how to use humps effectively, including Ithaca.
At about the same time, after years of complaints from residents, Perry refused to install a stop sign at the top of 6th Street at Washington, claiming to the council that his snowplows and other vehicles would slide back down the hill in snow if forced to stop at the top of the hill (he actually said this). Thankfully, Chief Moore made the stop sign happen, fully aware of Rob's ludicrous claim. There have been no DPW vehicle winter mishaps, and the intersection, which regularly had crashes, is much safer. No thanks to Perry, though.
I remain hopeful that Hudson will elect new leadership this November. I believe Joe Ferris brings the efficiency, competence, professionalism, and ethical standards that have been noticeably lacking in the current administration. Should the incumbent be re-elected, I will seriously reconsider my future in Hudson—beginning with a call to my real estate agent.
DeleteI agree with Tamar and others cautioning against changing the streets to make them more efficient for cars. Even now, Union and Allen are in need of speed humps badly. We are raising children along these speedways and many drivers are oblivious to the fact that they are barreling through the center of a town.
ReplyDeleteI think Margaret has the right mindset. Ask the people most affected (what a concept!). If the opinion is split than call it a wash and keep the status quo. And as many point out, the status quo is traffic calming at the cost of a bit of driver’s annoyance. We should focus our efforts on places where the status quo is not traffic calming, but accident prone: our hodgepodge traffic lights on Warren that cause accidents, people going the wrong way on cross streets, dangerous intersections, and the State Street Speedway™️—which is a perfect example of what happens when there’s plenty of width for cars.
ReplyDelete