vision2020@moscow.com: traffic calming on Polk Street
traffic calming on Polk Street
Bill London (london@wsunix.wsu.edu)
Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:12:25 -0700 (PDT)
The letter to the editor published in the Daily News
weekend edition (August 9) about the "obstructions" that may be placed on
Polk Street in Moscow is inaccurate and incomplete. As a resident of
that block, I would like to respond.
The present proposal would extend the curb into the existing
street at four places to create slightly meandering traffic lanes (to
un-straighten the road). The proposal is known as traffic calming, and is
now a very common practice worldwide for retrofitting residential streets
into people-friendly neighborhoods. You can see these kinds of traffic
calming devices in action all over Seattle, Portland, Boise, and most of
Europe. The people who live in traffic-calmed neighborhoods
overwhelmingly support those changes.
The final decision about the project on Polk Street
between 3rd and 6th has not been made--and will be made by the residents
of that block who will vote to spend their own money, by creating an
LID (Local Improvement District), to fund the project. So far, the
residents have supported the project, for reasons that include: slowing
traffic and increasing safety; adding beauty to the neighborhood; helping
build a sense of community and neighborliness; and increasing the value of
their homes. Their decision is fully in-line with the Moscow City Plan
(transportation section) which specifically notes in two separate sections
that the installation of traffic calming devices on residential streets is
welcomed, both to increase safety and to build community.
The city of Moscow did a traffic survey on that block of Polk and
discovered that both the volume and speed of the traffic there were
about ten percent below the threshold levels established for
heavily-travelled residential streets in Portland, Oregon. Under the
Portland criteria, the street would not qualify for the city's traffic
calming program. However, since this is Moscow, and not Portland, and
because the traffic volume and speed were high by Moscow standards, the
city's Public Works Committee agreed to continue the project.
Traffic calming is an improvement for established residential
neighborhoods because it creates a people-oriented, safe environment
similar to the use of cul-de-sacs in new subdivisions. Cul-de-sacs are
also an impediment for firetrucks, snowplows, garbage collection and quick
direct driving from place to place. But cul-de-sacs are valued (homes on
those dead-end roads are worth more that similar homes on through streets)
for the same reasons traffic calmed streets are appreciated. Should those
of us who live in older neighborhoods be punished when we want to upgrade
our streets?
If the traffic calming project on Polk Street is rejected by the
people who live on this block, after all the planning and consideration
done so far, I will be disappointed, but will certainly accept that
democratic decision.
However, if we (who live here and decide that we want a safer,
more attractive street, and are willing to pay to make that happen) are
told by our city government that we can not do so, I will be digusted and
upset. And I would expect an equal disatisfaction from all those
conservatives out there who constantly grumble about government making
decisions for us, and not unleashing the creativity of a free people, and
centralizing power away from those affected.
Bill London
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