There’s a thief at large in New Haven neighborhoods, stealing public space and even invading residents’ private domains. That thief is traffic, both volume and speed. The “TC “is gearing up to ride to the rescue.
At least that’s what doens of people in Fair Haven are hoping after taking to the streets this weekend.
TC — as in traffic calming — is a concept gaining currency as residents, cyclists, even some drivers, say they are getting fed up with the dominance of motor vehicles and all that implies for public safety and quality of life.
On Saturday, 40 people dedicated five hours to a workshop led by Dan Burden, a nationally recognized expert on traffic flow, traffic calming and sustainable community design. He served for 16 years as the Florida Department of Transportaiton’s state bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. He is now executive director of Walkable Communities, Inc.
Funds for the workshop, spearheaded by Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale, the city’s top TC proponent, were raised by the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Then the city matched the funds for a total of $10,000.
The day began with a “walking audit,” in which Burden led the group around the neighborhood and pointed out design elements that encourage traffic speed and gridlock, rather than calming. He brought his tape measure, measuring the width of one-way streets and comparing that to the ideal width for traffic calming purposes. “They were twice as wide,” Sturgis-Pascale said. He had the group simulate a roundabout by having a small group of people walk into an intersection and hold hands.
Back inside in a large room of a building owned by Sereshteh Bekhrad on Front Street, Burden (pictured) told his enthusiastic audience members/participants that when motor vehicles barrel down streets, residents withdraw first from life on the street, and then even from the parts of their homes that face the street — thus “stealing” space. Through an interactive slide show, he demonstrated options such as roundabouts, narrowed lanes and curb extensions that can slow traffic down and allow people to reclaim those spaces.
He explained that “unwarranted” stop signs, put up at the request of residents by accommodating town engineers, often backfire, sending traffic deeper into residential areas in order to avoid the stop signs. He pointed out that on-street parking is a valuable asset in street calming, because it narrows the lane and slows cars down. Just painting white stripes a few feet in from the curb — even without allowing parking — can make a big difference, Burden said.
Burden noted the statistics that have become part of New Haven traffic calmers’ mantra: When struck by a motor vehicle going 40 miles per hour, only 17 percent of pedestrians will survive. At 30 mph, the survival rate is 50 percent; at 20 mph, it’s 95 percent.
After the slide show, participants brainstormed the key problems they saw with traffic in the neighborhood, and one word kept coming up — speed. (Pictured at the top of the story: Anstress Farwell participating in a vote.)
“We just have to slow the cars down,” Sturges-Pascale (pictured) said. “Really, the speed is what kills people. It makes people feel threatened. It’s the key component here, and that’s really what traffic calming is- – it’s slowing the speeds.” She added, “Let’s use more paint; let’s put planters in the street,” as two low-cost approaches to traffic-calming.
Traffic design around the area’s schools was of particular concern. People said they’d like to encourage children to walk to school, but not until it’s safe to do so. Some of Burden’s slides demonstrated unsafe street design around schools, and then safer alternatives, using elements of traffic calming.
Burden said community buy-in is key. “It’s so important that if we’re going to have plans to help benefit a neighborhood, it’s the neighbors who are in charge of the design, who’ll defend the plan because they built it – it’s their plan.”
Burden will return on June 14 to present a final report, based on participants’ input. “It will give us a platform” for action, Sturges-Pascale said. “These changes can be expensive, but there are low-cost solutions.” Like paint.