I just received City Councilor Chris Mariewicz’s email newsletter and it had a link to this interesting 13 minute video that was presented last September. The video and accompanying text by Ellen Ishkanian, back when she was a freelance writer, is just as timely today as the city is diving into the larger Washington Street project..
Jeff Speck’s vision for Washington Street
by Jerry Reilly | Apr 3, 2018 | Newton Corner, Newtonville, West Newton | 9 comments
Thanks for sharing Jerry. I really admire Jeff Speck‘s ability to illustrate what’s possible. I hope the vision he shared here has a positive influence on the Washington Street Corridor master plan.
It’s a hilariously bad plan, practically taken from another planet. These bozos think that a “road diet” fixes traffic congestion, somehow improving traffic flow by narrowing the street. This is cargo cult thinking, like wanting to unscramble an egg. Yes, building freeways created traffic, because more construction happened farther out, but removing lanes doesn’t make the suburbs disappear and the streetcars reappear. The whole idea is to justify tearing down the north side and remaking it into big apartment buildings for yuppie financial workers who ride trains to 9-5 jobs and bikes for everything else. “It’s de plane, boss!”
@Fred Goldstein – That presentation sited a series of factual data. i.e. the Washington St corridor has one of the highest accident rates in the city and before/after vehicle counts for other “road diet” re-designs. Perhaps Mr Speck had his facts wrong. I have no idea.
However saying These bozos think that a “road diet” fixes traffic congestion, somehow improving traffic flow by narrowing the street sounds exactly like “cult thinking” . i.e. fervently believing something to be true because you believe it to be true regardless of evidence.
I agree, and the presentation acknowledges, that it seems counter-intuiutive. That doesn’t make it untrue. I’d like to learn more before dismissing it out of hand.
So I just glance at today’s Tab, and on page A3 there is a story titled City Council OKs Hiring a Firm for Washington Street Corridor. The byline is “Special to the Tab”. ZERO mention that this is a no bid contract. Unacceptable!
Jerry, thanks for sharing the video. I like to know facts and not just philosophy.
I don’t like relying solely on the work of Jeff Speck – as he seems to have reached guru status – but this design to slow traffic and make pedestrian crossings safer has been around for decades and wasn’t created out of smoke and mirrors to fool Fred and those who believe as he does.
I don’t know if Fred, a smart guy, actually believes his hyperbole or would just do anything to make it inconvenient for more housing developments to be built along Washington Street as would some other people I know. Regardless, anyone who is just learning of this design strategy generally doesn’t believe it will work because as Jerry says its counterintuitive.
Years ago when I first learned about the term road diet, I thought some thoughts similar to those expressed by Fred although mine were more like “why would those bozos think …?” but that’s my curse – going to great lengths to attempt to know why people think, say and do the things they think, say and do?
At the time I found Dan Burden and his Walkable Communities, Inc. I started reading his reports and researching the results. In 1999 WC put out a report saying:
Transportation engineers and safety specialists have long known that overloaded two-lane or four-lane roads of any volume can be risky places to drive, conduct business, attempt to access transit, walk or bicycle. On such roadways, frequent turning movements into commercial and residential driveways can result in high crash levels. On multi-lane roadways lane swapping adds friction and reduces performance.
In the 1980s Pennsylvania DOT engineers conducted a study to convert a one-mile section of Electric Avenue in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, from four lanes to three. The roadway was carrying 13,000 ADT. After reviewing hours of time-lapse video and analyzing crash statistics and other data, the team concluded that more uniform flow, reduced conflicts and great reduction in crashes would result from four to three-lane conversion.
The change was made facing 95% opposition from local residents, who felt that their trip times would increase.
Once the new roadway section was completed, new time-lapse photography and data collection began. Dangerous maneuvers and crashes dropped to nearly zero. Overall trip times were unaffected. Today nearly 95% of those fearing the change are openly thankful to PennDOT for making the roadway better for safety, mobility and access.
There have been several failed road diets lately, some reversed, like in Playa Vista CA (a Los Angeles coastal neighborhood). They just didn’t work. They work by diverting traffic to a different, less crowded road nearby. Of course that assumes that such a road exists. In Newton, the only such diversion might be people who stay on the Turnpike an extra exit and double back rather than get off when the reach Exit 17 WB or 15 EB and finish up on Newton streets. But I doubt that will do much good. Do we need more traffic on Comm. Ave. or Watertown St.? Or do the planners really think that bicycle traffic will increase from 8/hour to, say, 2000/hour, to make use of the huge space being reserved for them? (Is it good to do aerobic exercise while breathing in Turnpike exhaust?)
As with bump-outs, what helps in California is often highly inappropriate here.
This is sadly why we can’t have nice things… such negativity!
Plus when it snows the city does not even properly plow all the lanes on Washington so we are effectively driving the reduced road surface today, but getting none of the benefits.
Rather than telling us why it won’t work… what is your idea, cause Washington St as is, really stinks…
Commenting on what the narrator calls the most dramatic change – In West Newton Square at Waltham Street transformation from fork to T. Watching the video, it looks like just before Sweet Tomatoes, continuing on RT 16 would be transformed from two-lanes to one with the addition of a hard hard right turn. That would back-up traffic down past Blue Ribbon! Just watching the simulation spiked my anxiety level.
@Dan RE: cause Washington St as is, really stinks…
Could you elaborate? Would be useful to know what actual problems that people who actually travel on Washington Street regularly experience personally.
I’ve used Washington Street daily for 15 years – Problems/annoyances that I have experienced are:
– Walking/ crossing access to W Newton & Newtonville commuter rail stations
– Traffic backups on Cherry Street approaching Washington
– Crossing Washington in the rare case that I’m parked on the far side of the street
– The west only turn restriction from Waltham St. onto Washington
– Multiple stop lights in W. Newton Square are anoying – but they may be necessary
What a horrible idea this is. The goal of a road design should be to get vehicles where they need to go ASAP. This new design just slows already slow traffic, especially in the West Newton Corner area. The high accident rates aren’t because of 2 lane wide (or 4 lanes) roads. The accidents happen because people don’t know how to drive correctly. The lax driving tests in America is the cause. Poor reaction time mixed with the inability to drive (not just operate) a vehicle.
Watching the video makes my blood boil as well, Mike Ciolino.