Comments on: Council Member Tommy Wells Talks Transportation with THIH

By: Daniel Beckman

Daniel Beckman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:40:50 +0000

Ever visited one of those lovely walkable cities in Northern Europe? Did you see any speed humps? No, because they don’t make sense. They are annoying to sensible drivers who are already going a reasonable speed, and they are particularly a hindrance to bicyclists. Try riding your bike down a street with speed humps sometime. You’ll find yourself vowing never to go down that street again. In the short term, that may be desirable for people living on that street. But in the big picture, having all traffic concentrated onto just a few streets (because certain streets are made to be dysfunctional) does little to calm traffic.

By: ibc

ibc — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:34:27 +0000

The prevalence of crashes at 10th and Constitution is purely a function of vehicle speed on Constitution. If commuters were driving *no* *faster* than 25 mph, then there wouldn’t be any accidents. Instead they’re going 30-35 mph, and there’s no room to stop.

I usually drive about 20 mph through here, and usually have at least MD a-hole sitting 6″ from my bumper.

Time for more traffic cameras…

By: Sharee Lawler

Sharee Lawler — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:54:26 +0000

I’m right there with you since that’s an intersection I walk, drive and bike through often. Unfortunately, as I emphasized to another commenter, the city’s classification of these major streets in our neighborhood doesn’t lend itself to traffic calming or slowing measures. I brought up the speed humps at Lincoln Park and E St, NE during the conversation with Wells and he said they’ve helped (I believe Allen also told us support for the E St humps was virtually unanimous among neighbors) but that they also just lead to people trying to avoid them by simply driving around them when possible.

By: Sharee Lawler

Sharee Lawler — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:49:39 +0000

The point you bring up is precisely the philosophical rub Wells was talking about. WE want our streets to be safe for us — residents, pedestrians, parents, pet owners, etc. — but the city sees streets like C St NE, Constitution and Independence as arteries for moving commuters. Stop signs are, therefore, antithetical to what the city sees as the purpose of these streets. Lights can help, but are not the magic solution either because they will be, again, geared towards managing the traffic flow of commuters. Until the city changes that perspective, I don’t think we’ll be making much headway.

By: Kyra Deblaker-Gebhard

Kyra Deblaker-Gebhard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:39:24 +0000

I understand that budget issues may prevent traffic lights, but why not try a more simple solution to start? Aren’t four-way stop signs better than nothing at all?

By: Nichole Remmert

Nichole Remmert — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:31:04 +0000

I live on the corner at 10th and Constitution. The number and frequency of accidents still shocks me. For a while, I took pictures of the ones that I was home to see, just to document that this was happening. I understand the realities surrounding putting in the lights, and wonder what, if any, effect speed humps on 10th between C and Constitution and between Constitution and Massachusetts would have?

By: Sharee Lawler

Sharee Lawler — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:56:03 +0000

All excellent points — and intersections we also touched on, but only briefly. A friend lives near the 12th and Independence intersection and says accidents are a regular occurrence … regular enough that I’ve even seen one or two myself when visiting.

With regard to Lincoln Park, we didn’t really get into it in depth but Wells did touch on the idea of “barn dance” lights. Its a configuration where everything stops and starts at once so, for instance, rather than lights being timed to accommodate auto traffic flow around the park, all the lights would instead turn red at once, offering safe crossings for pedestrians at the same time. An interesting proposal, but he also told us a trial in Northwest was abandoned because of complaints about lights being red for too long.

By: Ken Jarboe

Ken Jarboe — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:31:20 +0000

Don’t forget about lights at 10th and Independence as well (same problem as at 10th and Constitution) — light at 12th and Independence — and safer crosswalks at Lincoln Park!