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| Read excerpts from more than 275 articles; most are available to download |
From Issue 1 of the PCJ, November/December 1991 |
Our forty year love affair with the automobile, while improving access, has caused extensive pollution, ugliness, sprawl, congestion and the destruction of communities. During this time, many American streets have been converted from attractive, liveable spaces, once shared by cars and pedestrians, to their current use as exclusive channels for motorized vehicles. New streets have regularly been constructed to look like highways: smooth and straight, and without sidewalks.
This trend is slowly being reversed. More American cities and towns are beginning to consciously make pedestrian improvements-- adding sidewalks, planting trees, slowing automobiles, and encouraging street activities for pedestrians. Your community does not have to be large to benefit from better pedestrian streets. Many smaller communities have active programs to improve pedestrian access.
In thinking about what makes for a good pedestrian street, three basic questions should be asked: Is the street functional? Is it safe? and Is it comfortable?
Functional streets necessarily involve both cars and pedestrians. Because cars have become integral parts of our lives, we have many specialists with large budgets making sure that drivers can move to and from their daily activities. Yet these drivers eventually become pedestrians, an important but often overlooked component of functional streets.
Very little attention has been given to the functional needs of pedestrians -- witness the often deplorable maintenance or lack of sidewalks, the narrowness of sidewalks, and their obstruction by poles, fences, garbage cans, and illegally parked cars. Witness also the long waiting times at crosslights. A well functioning pedestrian street also needs: land uses along it that provide for daily shopping; access to public transport; places where pedestrians can wait and easily cross the street; sufficient sidewalk width; and adequate parking.
Pedestrian safety is also critical. The safer pedestrians feel on the street, the more they will use it. Being safe means not being in actual danger. Most streets in American towns have sufficient warnings and actual barriers between people and cars that accidents can be avoided. But feeling safe and comfortable on the street has to do with the perception of danger. If traffic volumes and speeds are intimidating to pedestrians, they will not feel comfortable using the street. [see Sidebar, "Traffic Volumes" at the end of this article].
The First Step: A Network of Sidewalks and Crosswalks
Completing a safe and serviceable sidewalk network that connects residential neighborhoods with shopping, transit, schools, parks, and work is the first step in providing for pedestrians. [see Sidebar, "Providing for Pedestrians" at the end of this article]. Pedestrians simply must have their own space, safe from the nuisance and danger of passing cars. Sidewalks should be at least five feet wide in residential neighborhoods; eight in commercial districts. They should be separated from moving traffic either by using planters, greenbelts, extra sidewalk width, or a row of parked cars. This type of separation would constitute a major change from our current sidewalk design practice of installing narrow sidewalks immediately adjacent to streets, and then prohibiting parking.Safely crossing the street without fear is essential for pedestrians. Crosswalk distances should be shortened wherever possible. This can be accomplished by narrowing traffic lanes at intersections, shortening curb radius, and extending sidewalks into the intersection with safecrosses -- raised sidewalks that project out into the end parking space at the intersection, where parking is usually prohibited. Separate right turn lanes should also be eliminated to narrow the crossing distance.
Every crosswalk should be clearly defined with striping, crosswalk signs and lighting. Striping signals drivers that pedestrians have rights. As a result, drivers tend to slow or stop (though some engineers believe that striping creates a false sense of security in pedestrians). Crosswalk signs also help give pedestrians priority; the signs cause drivers to slow down. Crosswalk signals should be set to operate "on demand" so pedestrians can cross within seconds of pushing the cross button.
The presence of "J" walkers should be considered a mark of a successful pedestrian street. When "J" walking occurs, it often means that eye contact between driver and pedestrian is possible. When "J" walking is not possible, and distances between intersections are great, midblock crosswalks may be helpful. Midblock crosswalks used to be taboo to traffic engineers (and may still be in some places). However, they have proved successful in many towns. Each crosswalk should be highly visible, lighted and well signed. The best ones penetrate out into the parking lane, allowing pedestrians to venture safely into the street space before crossing.
Controlling the Automobile
For pedestrians to move safely and comfortably, cars must travel at slow enough speeds. Pedestrians simply can't compete with fast moving traffic, which to me means traffic in excess of 20 mph.Controlling the automobile currently involves two interrelated techniques: slowing traffic by altering the street, and allowing-- or even encouraging -- traffic congestion by not widening the street.
Street designs that can accomplish this involve a variety of techniques, sometimes referred to as "traffic calming." They range from making use of traffic circles at intersections to increasing the number of street trees (this reduces the perceived width of the street). [see Sidebar, "Traffic Circles" at the end of this article].
Supporting congestion is a tricky strategy, and you may find few supporters at first. Many traffic engineers have spent their lives trying to smooth out the irregularities of traffic and increase flows. For them, congestion is a mark of failure.
One "subtle" approach to creating congestion is to expand on-street parking. With on-street parking, drivers have to be more alert for vehicles parking or pulling out, thus tending to reduce their driving speed. Furthermore, pedestrian streets work best when there is on-street parking; a row of parked cars provides a good buffer between the sidewalk and traffic.
Angle parking works even better than parallel parking, because more cars can be accommodated in the same space, and motorists are even more alert to cars backing up. The main streets of most American towns during the 1940's and 1950's had angle parking.
Other communities are experimenting with converting some residential streets into "woonerfs." A woonerf is a street designed to simultaneously support walking, play, and through traffic. The design involves meandering the roadway surface, and adding trees, play structures, benches, and other street hardware. Pioneered by the Dutch, woonerfs work best where there is a network of streets that collectively can handle emergency and through traffic.
Traffic constriction is another related approach. It might involve narrowing a street from two to one lane. This forces one driver to wait while the other oncoming driver passes through the constrictor. Experience shows it works: cars avoid the area, drivers slow down, and pedestrian comfort is improved.
Our greatest challenge is humanizing arterial streets -- those fast moving roads that link our major goods and services. Wide lots and streets, acres of parking, the absence of sidewalks, and scattered auto-oriented shopping all make for a treacherous pedestrian environment.
Addressing this situation may require changes such as: narrowing the road at intersections; constructing wide sidewalks along main streets; adding sidewalks on streets leading to residential neighborhoods; encouraging commercial uses that serve pedestrians at major intersections; and changing land uses between intersections to reduce auto activity.
Examining Our Land Use Pattern
The typical pattern in communities today is for working places, housing, and shopping to be geographically separated. This reflects the approach of most zoning codes. Unfortunately, it has helped foster our dependence on the automobile, as well as lead to hazardous conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists.All this is slowly changing. Communities have begun to control sprawl, while encouraging infill development, mixed uses, and higher densities. Many jurisdictions require developers to pay for roadway improvements needed to accommodate increased traffic caused by the development; some are also requiring developers to design their projects to allow for more walking, bicycling, and public transit.
A number of other changes to the land use pattern can create a better pedestrian environment. These range from having buildings closer to the street -- instead of being set back considerable distances -- to developing mixed use centers, containing residential, commercial, and office uses, at major intersections.
Increasing residential densities can also work to improve the pedestrian environment. Higher densities often lead to more pedestrian activity. Most neighborhoods offer excellent opportunities to increase density without dramatically changing the character of the community. Allowing residents to create "accessory apartments" by subdividing larger homes can increase densities without much visible change. Land in the immediate vicinity of shopping or work can also be zoned for higher density apartments, allowing more people pedestrian access to shopping, transit, and work places.
Summing Up:
It is not too late to tame our automobiles and return pedestrians to our streets. A variety of techniques can be employed to accomplish this, ranging from improving sidewalks and cross walks and expanding on-street parking, to realizing that congestion can sometimes be a good thing. It is also critical that we reevaluate our land use patterns and practices, to see that they support, and not hinder, a good pedestrian environment.
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Looking Back at Streets: by Richard Untermann For thousands of years, towns were constructed to serve people moving about on foot. People lived close to work, shopping, schools and play. Streets were natural places for people to see others, become acquainted, and eventually bond as a "community." These pedestrian streets were narrow, with wide sidewalks, lined with shops serving everyday needs, and bordered with housing. Until very recently, many American towns, developed around a similar street system where land use was closely linked with transportation, and the dominant transportation mode was walking. These "streetcar communities" had relatively narrow shopping streets (two lanes of traffic), with parking on both sides of the street. Alleys handled overflow parking and service. Residential streets were narrow, about 25 feet wide, with sidewalks and planting strips on both sides of the street. Parking was normally allowed on both sides of the street, with 2-way vehicular travel sharing the remaining street width. The resulting roadway was too narrow to allow passing, and through traffic tended to avoid these streets. The land use transportation match was perfect: kids could play safely on the street, pedestrians felt safe, noise from traffic was minimal, land wastage was limited, and walking rather than driving was encouraged. As automobiles replaced street cars, the need for locating housing and shops close to the streetcar stop disappeared. Retail business began to spread out along the principal roads, as did residential subdivisions and apartment complexes. Narrow-fronted shops were replaced by wider-fronted stores set back from the street behind deep parking lots. Curbs and sidewalks became expensive and unnecessary features in this new, low density environment. House lots became wider to accommodate garages, and houses themselves were set back from the street to reduce the noise and nuisance of passing cars.
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Traffic Volume:
Research by Donald Appleyard found that traffic volume plays an important role in the quality of the street environment. Streets with heavy traffic volumes are less conducive to neighborhood activities. Residents on heavily travelled streets tend to interact less with their neighbors than those living on lighter traveled streets. Appleyard also found that the number of pedestrian activities on the street decreased as traffic volume increased.
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Providing for Pedestrians:
One of the best ways to ensure sidewalk construction is to include it in a long-term capital improvement program. As part of the sidewalk construction work, include tree plantings. Trees provide shade, visual interest, a link to nature, and protection of pedestrians from cars. To accommodate tight budgets, consider giving priority to buiding back from destination areas (shopping, work, schools, parks) to residential neighborhoods, and building in higher density areas. Editor's Note: In Issue 2 of the PCJ, landscape architect Henry Arnold discusses how communities can plan effective tree planting programs.
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Traffic Circles:
A traffic circle installed in the center of an intersection may be the most efficient way to discourage through traffic in residential neighborhoods. Circles should be large enough to slow down traffic, but not so large as to constrict it. Usually this means about an 18-foot diameter. Circles should be mounded in the center, planted with trees, and enclosed by a curb.
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