By Dom Nozzi
Alachua County, Florida
government held a public meeting to discuss proposals regarding the modification
of North Main Street from 8th Avenue to 16th Avenue-a
section of street that forms the northwest boundary of the Duckpond neighborhood
I live in.
I've spent
the past several years, as a city planner, learning what works and what
doesn't work with regard to transportation planning. I've put in long
hours doing research, and talked with a great number of city residents
and transportation experts.
In many ways,
what I have learned is the opposite of what I, and most other people I
know, have always believed about transportation. The overwhelming consensus
is that the way we've done things for the past few decades no longer makes
sense.
It is for this
reason that I strongly recommended that the Duckpond neighborhood should
support at least one of the proposed modifications of North Main Street
from 8th to 16th. We need to voice approval for
the idea of taking this portion of Main Street from four lanes to three.
Again, making
a road more modest is the opposite of what we've always believed. But
there are a number of very important reasons why such a "road diet," as
it is often called in the many places it has been done throughout the
nation, would be quite helpful for the Duckpond neighborhood:
No Meaningful
Loss of Capacity.
At first glance, it would seem obvious that removing travel lanes from
a street would create congestion due to a loss in the capacity of the
street to carry cars. But what we forget is that during rush hour, the
inside lane of a 4-lane street is generally used as a left-turn lane and
therefore cannot be used as a through lane. As such, only the curb lane
can handle most through trips if the street has no left-turn lane. Consequently,
a 3-lane street with a left-turn lane handles about the same number of
vehicles as a 4-lane. In fact, studies show that 4-lane and 3-lane streets
carry about the same number of vehicles (Welch, undated). Note, by the
way, that North Main at 10th Avenue currently does not have
a left-turn lane. The solution has been rather inconvenient: No left turns
allowed on Main during rush hour. A 3-lane design could restore the ability
to make left turns there at rush hour.
No Spillover.
Because there is no real loss of capacity, going from a 4-lane to a 3-lane
Main Street would not cause any increase in "spillover" vehicle trips-the
trips that might be diverted to adjacent north-south streets near Main
Street by motorists seeking to avoid a congested Main Street.
More Safety.
A 3-lane is noticeably more safe than a 4-lane, resulting in a substantial
reduction in accident rates, in part because vehicle speeds go down, there
is less variability in vehicle speeds, and there is less speeding. In
addition, there is a big reduction in what engineers call "conflict" points
and an increase in "sight distance" for turning and crossing traffic on
a 3-lane. This is particularly important for many of our senior citizens
who drive, since fewer conflict points and increased sight distance means
fewer decisions and judgements have to be made to enter or cross a 3-lane
street. Similarly, a 3-lane reduces the street-crossing distance where
a pedestrian must be exposed to moving vehicle traffic, and creates a
"refuge area" where a pedestrian can safely wait until there is a gap
in traffic and safe crossing is possible (4-lane streets do not have a
refuge area). For all these reasons, a 3-lane Main Street would be substantially
more "permeable" for the Duckpond neighborhood residents seeking to cross
Main Street to the Gainesville Shopping Center or other points west. As
it stands now, a 4-lane Main Street, as we all know, is a hostile, unsafe,
high-speed highway that creates a safety barrier for those heading west
from the neighborhood. This is especially unfortunate since the shopping
center is within easy walking or bicycling distance from the neighborhood,
yet the 4-lane configuration is so dangerous that many of those trips
either become car trips or don't happen at all.
No Loss of Travel
Time.
Even though average vehicle speeds are lower on a 3-lane, travel time
either stays the same or actually declines, according to studies I have
recently seen.
Reduction in
Blight and Strip Commercial.
One of the regrettable aspects of the current 4-lane North Main Street
is that the hostile, high-speed nature of it incrementally converts the
street into an ugly, glaring, blighted, "Anywhere USA" commercial strip
featuring huge seas of asphalt parking and buildings that retreat from
the hostile the street. A 3-lane North Main can lead us back to an attractive
well-landscaped, walkable, human-scaled street and building design that
can restore a civic pride in the street bounding our northwest, instead
of being a street we don't care for.
Improved Health
of Main Street Land Uses.
One thing that nearly all "road diets" deliver as a community benefit
is the restoration of a healthy place for buildings. For all the reasons
that I describe above, going from 4 lanes to 3 will result in improved
retail and office health along North Main, and actually make it possible
again to see the establishment of new residences along Main Street.
For these and
other reasons, I heartily encouraged the Duckpond neighborhood to support
the conversion of North Main from four lanes to three.
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