Stuck on sidewalk survey

1st Ave and 13th St E.: What would make this feel safer?

Cedar Rapids is surveying its residents about walking, particularly about crossing streets. After a series of questions about walking habits, the survey presented eight types of intersection modifications (see below); for each they asked whether it would make crossing the street very comfortable, comfortable, uncomfortable, or very uncomfortable. The treatments ranged in intensity from minor (well-marked crosswalks) to major (median island). 

I spent way too much time over-thinking this section. I couldn't decide on the meaning of "comfortable," or whether it was absolute or relative, or even whether the comfort was intended to be physical or psychic. Was it time-bound? (Many's the time I've gotten across a busy street and thought, "Twenty years from now, I won't be able to do what I just did.") City staff will surely want to ignore my answers when they compile these results.

In the end, I decided, my pedestrian comfort, and the appropriate design response, depends on context. How wide and busy is the street I am crossing? How many people are likely to be crossing with me? Are the drivers likely to be aware of my presence, or will their views be obstructed by a physical barrier or confusing road design? And maybe most importantly, how much turning traffic is there going to be?

(1 & 2) Median islands, curb extensions

I live about 3/4 mile from my office, and often walk regardless of weather. The biggest challenge is crossing 1st Avenue, the east side's longstanding thoroughfare (pictured above). At 13th Street, across from the college, the street is six lanes wide (indicated by hashtags): two traffic lanes in each direction, and two left-turn lanes. Coe College students frequently cross here, so during the school year we can usually cross in a group. Thanks to curb extensions on each side--see my lovely highlighting on the photo--we're negotiating 60 feet of pavement instead of 80, but it's still fraught. The biggest problem is the number of cars that turn left from 13th onto 1st, which was increased by the closing of 2nd Avenue some years ago. 2013 traffic count on 13th Street was a mere 1840, but they make their presences felt. Some drivers are patient, some are not, and they demonstrate different levels of risk-taking. The dangers of this intersection would be somewhat mitigated by making a median island out of one of the left-turn lanes, which became redundant as soon as Interstate 380 was built in the 1970s.

I can't off hand think of any other intersections in our town where median islands are indicated. This one is unusual because of the width of the street, the amount of turning traffic, and the amount of pedestrian traffic. Maybe 1st Avenue and 12th Street East?

This is also by Coe, although I don't see students using it as much as locals going to and from the clinics. Traffic count on 12th is 3200, with most turning onto 1st across the crosswalks.

(3) Raised crosswalks

This feature not only removes the "step down, step up" feature of crossing, it makes the pedestrians more visible to drivers by raising them. David Sucher (2003: 80) notes, "The extra six inches of height makes the walker more visible to drivers, particularly if one uses a pavement of contrasting texture and color. The change of grade is also a long-wave speed hump, which forces the driver to slow down to avoid an unpleasant bump." This picture of Novak School on busy 29th Avenue was taken in Marion...

...but there are any number of Cedar Rapids schools near which we could do a better job of slowing the cars and facilitating the little pedestrians.

(4 & 5) Beacons (red and yellow hybrid, rectangular rapid flashing)

There are a couple rectangular rapid flashing beacons around town that I know of. This one is on the Cedar River Trail where it crosses Boyson Road...

 

...an arterial carrying 11,500 cars per day. I think I'm OK with this, because Boyson is only two lanes wide and pedestrians and cyclists are quite visible from the road.

On the other hand, this one terrifies me. It's downtown, where the Cedar River Trail crosses 1st Avenue. 

 

It's not just the 13,600-16,600 cars, it's the five lanes I'm crossing, and my relative invisibility when I cross. The crosswalk is well-marked but it isn't helping my comfort, either. Drivers are dealing with each other, the railroad track, and possibly unfamiliar downtown traffic patterns. This crossing needs, to be viable, a stop light. Is that what the red and yellow hybrid beacons amount to? Meanwhile I either go over to 3rd Street, or cower in the shadows and wait for a break in traffic.

(6) Brick intersection

This is more involved (read, more expensive) than painted crosswalks, but might be indicated where there is a lot of vehicular as well as pedestrian traffic, and/or where we want to exhibit some style. Sucher (2003: 84) says, "The change in texture is a visual and visceral signal to both driver and pedestrian of the appropriate boundaries for each at that particular location." A candidate for this treatment was 3rd Avenue and 10th Street SE, an intersection I've had plenty of opportunity to contemplate as it's been my station during three Mayors' Bike Rides. 

View of Immaculate Conception Church before sidewalk treatments

The "after" picture

10th Street gets 3000 cars a day, 3rd Avenue 6000, magnified by both streets being four lanes wide. MedQuarter development might increase auto traffic and maybe pedestrian traffic, too.

Crosswalks (well-marked along a busy street, long well-marked)

These are the lowest intensity treatments, and I don't understand the difference between them. They can be used where crossing treatments are indicated but traffic is moving slowly enough that you don't need any kind of special enhancement. I'd like one where I (and quite a few high school students) cross 19th Street near my home.

Asked for concluding comments, I reflected on my spring semester in Washington, D.C., a densely-populated urban area with a lot of pedestrians and autos and bikes.

Collins Road NE by Lindale Mall

1. Triage: Don't try to fix every intersection. Concentrate our resources where they can do the most good i.e. not Collins Road or Wiley Boulevard.
2.  Stops: Washington, D.C. has a lot of stop signs and stop lights in core areas. They certainly seem to keep auto speeds to a manageable level. I'm glad 3rd Avenue SE will soon be converted to two-way, but its long straightaway still encourages drivers to go faster than they neighborhood should have to tolerate.
3. Parking: Surface parking lots are the enemy of walkability (cf. Sucher 2003: 49-55, or really any author who's thought seriously about cities). Areas adjacent to downtown, and you know who you are, are maximizing parking in ways that will impact both walking and the success of downtown.

Finally the survey asked for three words to describe my hopes for walking in 2040. I said I hoped walking will be (1) common, (2) interesting, and (3) safe.

Cedar Rapids residents can take the Pedestrian Master Plan Survey here through 7/22/2018. There will be a Community Workshop on Sidewalks Wednesday 6/27/2018 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 5th Av SE.

SEE ALSO:
David Sucher, City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village (City Comforts Inc., revised ed., 2003), ch. 4
Aarian Marshall, "Save Lives With Slower Streets--Not Self-Driving Cars," Wired, 11 May 2018

Urbanism updates: Northwest side and 8th Av SW

The Flamingo Restaurant on Ellis Boulevard: Better days ahead?

City development staff have held two public presentations this month, on the Northwest Neighborhood plan and the 8th Avenue SW project.

The Northwest Neighborhood, though dealing with economic change and the 2008 flood, remains a vibrant community of small homes dating from its heyday as a home for working class families. Homes remain west of Ellis Boulevard (yellow on the map above); the area between Ellis and the river (green on the map) was particularly hard-hit by the flood...

The city bought and demolished the vast proportion of the houses there, and plans a series of riverfront attractions as well as flood protection.

Once flood protection is in place, the city hopes to attract infill housing of various types along and south of Ellis. With enough population around, Ellis itself can again become a thriving commercial area. Some of the residents who were present at the meeting at St. James United Methodist Church recalled walking to the A&W (now closed), the Flamingo Restaurant (now open one night a week as an events center) and other attractions.

Bicycle routes and bus lines will link the neighborhood to the rest of the city, and the rest of the city to the greenway.

8th Avenue SW is due for resurfacing and sewer replacement, which is mostly routine (albeit not if your house is near where they'll be working). City officials announced a couple of new features of general interest. The first is a sidewalk along the north side of the street, which serves Veterans Memorial Stadium, tennis courts, Trinity Lutheran School and Cleveland Park, as well as many residences.

The sidewalk is an important addition. Although it's across the street from the ball park, people walking to the stadium are now "hung out to dry" while they wait to cross 8th. The new sidewalk will give the a place to stand, and the bumpouts will give them a clearer shot across the street. The representative from Trinity Lutheran School suggested that parents parking on the street for school events will have an easier time getting to the school along the sidewalk. There was no resident opposition, in large part because the city plans to stop dunning homeowners for the cost of installing new sidewalks. This is a very favorable development. Sidewalks, like streets--maybe moreso?--benefit the entire city, and should be funded accordingly.

The city also plans a stormwater detention facility at the intersection of 8th and Rockford Road.

At present eastbound through traffic on 8th curves to the right as they approach Rockford, but an offshoot is used by people turning left onto Rockford. This creates a triangle which is currently just grass. The city plans to close part of the offshoot, and to design catch basins in the green space.

Next to me at the meeting were an adorable woman and her even-more-adorable mother, who live next door to each other in the 1500 block of 8th and who have lived in the neighborhood for decades. The woman asked the guy from the city if it wouldn't be nice to have a rain garden in the space. He asked, with some irony, if she wanted to maintain it. She said, with utterly no irony, that she and her mother did indeed want to maintain it. So they took her name and number, and this may well happen. Every now and again, the human race makes your day!

Touch My Street and Die

Tempers flared Wednesday night at a Cedar Rapids Paving for Progress open house regarding the Grande Avenue storm sewer and pavement replacement project at Washington High School. About 30 residents objected, at times forcefully, to design features in the project. City officials, who seemed prepared for logistical questions of the "How do I get little Johnny to his doctor appointment when the street is closed?" variety, appeared taken aback by the subject matters raised.

Jen Winter, Public Works Director, begins the presentation

The discussion revealed consensus on the core of the project: extending the storm sewer the length of the street, replacing 100+-year-old water main and lead water service lines, and completely replacing the pavement. No one at the meeting spoke against any of that, and in fact a few present expressed gratitude for the new storm sewer.



Grande Avenue from 21st St to Forest Dr; arrows indicate "bumpouts"

Grande Avenue from Forest Dr to park entrance

Where there were the sharpest differences arose from the city's taking advantage of the project to add some complete streets features. According to the National Complete Streets Coalition, the complete streets approach is to design streets  "with all users in mind – including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities [emphasis in original]." I added in my post from two years ago, "The corollary... is to allow individuals to choose their mode of getting around, rather than feel forced to travel by car because it's not safe to go by any other means of transit." Back to the NCSC for the promise to"improve safety, better health, stronger economies, [and] reduce costs," as well as reducing traffic congestion. (See also Lane, cited below.)

Both the City of Cedar Rapids and the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization have adopted versions of complete streets policies. The principles have been applied to great effect in and around downtown Cedar Rapids, and by adding sidewalks to important pedestrian routes like Prairie Drive where they had been glaringly missing for years.

In the original version of the Grande Avenue project, presented last year, complete streets design features included [a] narrowing the street from 36 to 28 feet by eliminating parking on the south side; [b] adding a sidewalk on the south side to the one that already exists on the north side; [c] using curb extensions at intersections to demarcate parking areas and keep cars to the traffic lanes; [d] squaring intersections to improve sight lines and possibly slow turning cars; and [e] converting the intersection with Blake Boulevard to a roundabout. (They also proposed [f] upgrading sidewalk curb ramps and [g] sharrows, which do not appear to have occasioned comment or objection.) The neighbors rose up as one to object. A petition signed by all residents on both sides of the street but one--"He works for a radio station, and can't sign petitions," explained one woman at the meeting--and testimony at city meetings brought elimination of the sidewalk, the roundabout, and most though not all of the bumpouts. City officials may have felt at that point that the controversy was settled. That would explain why they were so taken aback at the open house, while residents who saw features they didn't like still in the plan--[a] and [d], as well as the rest of [c]--were frustrated and angry.

Grande Avenue is among the oldest streets in the city, and this stretch--about two miles east of downtown--has aged well. Lots and setbacks are large, but a pleasing variety of housing styles and mature trees make for aesthetic charm that is hard to beat anywhere else in the city. Its eastern end is the heavily-used Bever Park, but that's a side entrance; the main entrance to the park is off Bever Avenue, about a quarter mile to the south. Grande's average daily traffic count reported by officials at the meeting is about 700, so although I've seen it on some maps as a minor arterial, it's pretty much a side road.

Grande Avenue residents at the open house argued that any change in the appearance of the street would have a negative affect on the "historic feel" of the neighborhood. (A few went so far as to make it an issue of historic preservation.) They also argued that bicycles and city buses--two forms of transportation complete streets are supposed to encourage--are hampered by narrower streets, curb extensions and squared intersections. They feel the loss of on-street parking would be greatly inconvenient when there are events at Bever Park or Brucemore National Historic Site that draw audiences from a wide area. Moreover, they say, the problems complete streets are designed to solve--speeding cars, lack of opportunities to bike or walk--aren't problems in their neighborhood.

Officials from the city cited a number of resident complaints--presumably, not the same residents who attended at the open house--about speeding traffic. Those present and objecting to the narrower street were hardly receptive to this, or any other, information. (When one official noted, "Wider streets encourage faster traffic," one man's response was, "I don't believe it." So there.) Even if speeding does occur on Grande, it's hard to know without data collection whether it is a systematic problem, or just the occasional hot-rodder (which would be more noticeable but maybe less urgent). My observations of Grande at different times during the week shows there are very few cars parked in this stretch.

Looking up Grande from 21st St, Saturday morning 8:30 a.m.

The friction that slows cars assumes there are opposing traffic and parked cars that make drivers instinctively more cautious. Without much of either, you have what amounts to 18 foot travel lanes in each direction. Cutting that to 14 feet each way may not have any effect on travel speeds.

Speeding aside, though, what remains is a 36 foot street with an average daily traffic count of 700 and extremely little parking. In an era of straitened finances at all levels of government, it's hard to justify taxpayers paying to maintain that much superfluous pavement.

The curb extensions are expendable. The North Central Texas Council of Governments has posted a very informative slide show about curb extensions. Very little of this appears to apply to the intersections on Grande. (See also the links in Johnstone, cited below.)

As far as the expunged sidewalk goes, it's hard for me to be sympathetic to people who view putting in that sidewalk as the moral equivalent of drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Sidewalks are essential to connecting parts of the city. (On the other hand, sidewalk construction and maintenance, unlike streets, are assessed to the adjacent property owner, and I'm sympathetic to that bone of contention.) But the south side sidewalk is also expendable: This situation isn't at all like that of 3rd Avenue, or for that matter Chandler Street, which has no sidewalks and is a block from Jefferson High School.

For the rest of the complete streets package, it's incumbent on the city to make the case that the design features they propose are solving a real problem rather than imposing standards on an area that doesn't want them. Otherwise, as my Corridor Urbanism colleague Ben Kaplan says, "They should just spend that money in Wellington Heights where it's really needed."

SEE ALSO:
Patrick Johnstone, "Curb Extensions," Patrick Johnstone, 7 February 2016, https://patrickjohnstone.ca/2016/02/curb-extensions.html
Scott Lane, "Show Me the Money: Why Complete Streets Make Economic Sense," Stantec, 27 April 2016, http://www.stantec.com/blog/2016/show-me-the-money-why-complete-streets-make-economic-sense.html#.VzS61XLmpJB

How wide was my sidewalk

The Cemar Trail along K Avenue NE, approaching Prairie Drive: 7.5 feet

Cedar Rapids is introducing wide sidewalks into areas of the city. The standard sidewalk, such as the one that runs in front of my house, is five feet wide.

Sidewalk on Blake Blvd SE widens from 4 feet in the 1700 block
to 5 feet above 18th St

In some older areas of town, they're only three feet wide. A wide sidewalk can be several times that.

Urban designers commend wide sidewalks for areas of heavy pedestrian traffic. David Sucher (2003: 97) notes: The twelve-foot-wide sidewalk allows two couples to pass each other easily and with only minimal and unconscious maneuvering and no interruption of the conversation. He includes a picture taken in Alexandria, Virginia, showing two women walking side-by-side in one direction, a third woman walking closer to the street, and a man in a wheelchair coming the other direction. They’ll clearly pass each other without needing to squeeze through or be at all awkward. Andres Duany et al. (2010: 9.1) add, On active retail streets, a 15- to 25-foot width from building to curb is not excessive, particularly if outdoor dining is a possibility.

Reid Ewing and his students at the University of Utah (“Pedestrian Friendly,” cited below) note the problem that narrow sidewalks can force pedestrians to walk into the street to get around obstacles and other people…. Ideally, sidewalks should also be wide enough to allow benches for older adults and families to stop and rest or relax. Generally, two couples or two wheelchairs should be able to pass each other comfortably on a sidewalk, which requires about 10 to 12 feet across.

Ewing et al. cite Seattle’s municipal code as requiring sidewalks to be at least 12 feet wide; Knoxville, Tennessee, requires 10 foot sidewalks in the South Waterfront District, but that includes a five-foot planting zone. In Washington, DC, advocates note that Connecticut Avenue used to have 12 foot sidewalks on both sides of the street, but in 1962 the sidewalk on one side was narrowed to make room for a parking lot. At the time of the post they were trying to get the original width restored (Caudill… if you click on the link, be sure to watch the 1 ½ minute video trip down the sidewalk).

Wide sidewalks are commended in the “Best Practices and Design Guide” on the Federal Highway Administration website’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program: The width of the sidewalk corridor is one of the most significant factors in determining the type of pedestrian experience that the sidewalk provides…. Narrow sidewalk corridors are unsatisfactory because they limit the number of pedestrians that can use the area, require pedestrians to travel single file, and force pedestrians to travel uncomfortably close to buildings and/or automobile traffic…. Sometimes, narrow sidewalks do not provide enough clear space for people who use walking aids or wheelchairs to travel down the length of the sidewalk.

Wide sidewalks can already be found around Cedar Rapids. In fact, the sidewalk along 1^st Avenue in front of Coe College is about 7.5 feet wide. Much of downtown features sidewalks of this width. Interestingly, some of the newer wide sidewalks are intended for both bicycles and pedestrians--for example, on K Avenue NE where the sidewalk was completed out to Prairie Drive as part of the CEMAR Trail. The wide sidewalk planned for Lindale Drive NE as part of the Collins Road project has a similar mix in mind.

Cedar Rapids's recent sidewalk construction initiative is welcome enhancement to our pedestrian infrastructure. Most are, of course, traditional five foot sidewalks. Are there places where foot traffic merits wider sidewalks? Along and around the high schools and middle schools, perhaps? Or, are there places where businesses as well as the general vibe would be helped by using wide sidewalks to invite walking?

3rd St SE entering New Bohemia:
7.5 foot walking area with additional space for benches

7th Av SE in front of the new federal courthouse: 10 feet (?)

400 block of 1st St SE: 10 foot walking space, additional paved space for signs and lampposts 

200 block of 3rd Av SE: 12 foot walking space (!)

Sidewalk along 3rd Av SE is 10 feet by Greene Square,
narrows to 5 feet above 5th St

7.5 foot sidewalk through Greene Square as you approach the public library

SOURCES

Herb Caudill, “Bring Back Cleveland Park’s Historic Wide Sidewalks,” Greater Greater Washington, 16 July 2013, http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19520/bring-back-cleveland-parks-historic-wide-sidewalks/

Andrew Duany and Jeff Speck with Mike Lydon, The Smart Growth Manual (McGraw Hill, 2010)

Federal Highway Administration, “Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access” (2001), http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/sidewalk2/sidewalks204.cfm

 “Pedestrian Friendly Code Directory: Wide and Continuous Sidewalks,” ChangeLab Solutions, n.d., http://www.changelabsolutions.org/childhood-obesity/wide-and-continuous-sidewalks

David Sucher, City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village (City Comforts Inc, 2003)

SEE ALSO: Priscila Pacheco and Lara Caccia, "How Public Spaces Make Cities More People-Oriented," The City Fix, 27 May 2015, http://thecityfix.com/blog/how-public-spaces-make-cities-more-people-oriented-priscila-pacheco-lara-caccia/ [not about sidewalks specifically, but about how spaces for public interaction make cities safer and more pleasant... not to mention more productive]

Peanuts cartoon from 1951. Used without permission.

 

Dan Burden on sidewalks and the future

Dan Burden at CSPS Hall

 I would never walk. I would take a car.

--DR. SEUSS, "ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH"

Dan Burden of Blue Zones praised both sidewalks and the City of Cedar Rapids's plans to include them in development in a talk at CSPS Hall last week. Burden, director of innovation and inspiration for Blue Zones, talked up both the social and economic benefits of complete streets, which he said "address all the needs of all the people all the time" instead of focusing exclusively on efficient flow of automobile traffic.

Burden said modifying the streetscape was an essential element of Blue Zones' efforts in Albert Lea, Minnesota, which helped bring about dramatic improvements in health spending and work productivity. Economically, he argued complete streets produce 4-5 times the revenue per square foot than auto-oriented streets; add value to homes at several times the cost of constructing a sidewalk and planting street trees; and, with more compact development provide more efficient use of city services such as the fire department. Socially, walkability addresses a basic human impulse: Walking, he says, is the first thing an infant wants to do on its own, and the last thing an older person wants to give up. It gives everyone a chance to exercise and meet more people, allows elders to age in place independently, and sustains the quality of neighborhoods.

Sidewalks are, of course, not an end in themselves but a means to an end, and should be pursued with an eye towards cost-effectiveness as well as "completing the system." That means intentionally constructing a network of sidewalks in places with the potential of generating "places to go to." He showed a poignant picture of the sidewalk in front of his childhood home, which his father had built himself. Neither their neighbors nor their city took it from there, though, and it remains, seven decades later, a very short stub of cement in front of one house. Effective sidewalks connect people and destinations, with "eyes on the sidewalk" along the way (i.e. windows not garages or fences). They make for a smaller life radius, defined as the area where 90 percent of the things you do are found. (In traditional urban development, this might be a mile or two, so accessible multiple ways including walking; in suburban sprawl, several dozen miles, so accessible only by car.)

Burden, joined by city staff in a question-and-answer session after the talk, stayed positive and general, as befits an inspirational speaker. But we missed an opportunity to engage the crux of the sidewalk construction issue when an audience member questioned plans to extend the sidewalk along the south side of Grande Ave SE. (I live near there and know the speaker, but will leave it to him to identify himself if he chooses.) Grande runs for about a mile, beginning at 16th Street in Wellington Heights, through some quite toney blocks, and terminating in Bever Park. The sidewalk along the north side runs the entire route; on the south side it ends at 21st Street, about halfway along. This year, a city proposal to build the rest of the sidewalk met with near-unanimous opposition from homeowners on both sides of the street. The speaker argued the added sidewalk would be redundant, given the existing sidewalk along the north side of Grande, but mostly that it would be "disruptive."

Residents on Chandler Street SW, which leads to Jefferson High School,
are fighting city plans to build sidewalks (Bing maps)

It's an important reminder that the case for walkable cities, and for sidewalks as a means of walkability, is far from being a slam dunk. Not everyone wants to meet more people, or to live in a connected community, or not to rely on their car(s) to take them everywhere they need to go. Burden is in my view absolutely right when he says "an uncertain future will require more collaboration than we're used to," but not everyone believes that or wants to believe that. This particular speaker is in his 80s, but even people my age and younger believe primarily in the suburban values of beauty, privacy and security (made famous in the Chicagoland of my youth by the Tru-Link Fence Company). There are fiscal. environmental, social and soulful reasons for backing off on those suburban values, but to say the least some people remain unimpressed. How can such mindsets be reached, much less convinced of the desirability of building connected communities? Will developing successful examples, to the extent it's politically feasible, help?