1

Northampton Main/King Charrette

Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates

2

Overbuilt streets cause speeding

3

Planning for pedestrian safety: Principles

Leaf, W. and Preusser, D. Literature Review on Vehicle Travel Speeds and Pedestrian Injuries

Among Selected Racial/Ethnic Groups, NHTSA (USA), 1999.

4

Wide Streets Are Less Safe

Street widths and injury accident rate, graphic by Peter Swift

5

Seattle Conversions (4 to 3 Lane)

Roadway Date ADT ADT Collision

Location Change Before After Reduction

Greenwood Ave N

N 80th St to N 50th

N 45th Street

Wallingford Area

8th Ave NW

Ballard Area

Martin Luther King Jr W

North of I 90

Dexter Ave N

Queen Ann Area

24th Ave NW

NW 85th to NW 65thOct-95 9727 9754

14 to 10

28%

Jun-91 13606 1494919 to 16

59%

Jan-94 12336 1316115 to 6

60%

Jan-94 10549 1185818 to 7

61%

Dec-72 19421 2027445 to 23

49%

Apr-95 11872 1242724 to 10

58%

6

Taking a Road Diet

7

Seattle Conversions (4 to 3 Lane)

Roadway Date ADT ADT Collision

Location Change Before After Reduction

Greenwood Ave N

N 80th St to N 50th

N 45th Street

Wallingford Area

8th Ave NW

Ballard Area

Martin Luther King Jr W

North of I 90

Dexter Ave N

Queen Ann Area

24th Ave NW

NW 85th to NW 65thOct-95 9727 9754

14 to 10

28%

Jun-91 13606 1494919 to 16

59%

Jan-94 12336 1316115 to 6

60%

Jan-94 10549 1185818 to 7

61%

Dec-72 19421 2027445 to 23

49%

Apr-95 11872 1242724 to 10

58%

8

Greenwood Avenue: 12,000 cars per day

9

Dexter Ave: 15,000 cars per day

10

45th Street in Wallingford: 20,000 cars per day

11

To a driver:

To an economist:

LOS F

LOS A

LOS A

LOS F

Measuring Success

12

Cars on a street

Why Plan for other Modes?

13

People in Cars

Why Plan for Other Modes?

14

People on a bus

So You Can Drive

15

People on bikes

So You Can Drive

16

Measuring Success

17

School

Shop

PlayWork

PP

P

P

PP

T TT T

TTT

TTT

T

T

Conventional Development

18

Mixed-Use District

School

Work

Play

Shop

P

TT

Results:

<½ the parking

<½ the land area

¼ the arterial trips

1/6th the arterial turning movements

<¼ the vehicle miles travelled

19

How land-use affects travel demand

20

How land-use affects travel demand

21

One Square Mile

One Square Mile, Contemporary development pattern, Irvine, CA

(Jacobs, Allan, Great Streets, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)

One Square Mile, Traditional development pattern, Portland OR

22

One Square Mile

One Square Mile, Northampton today

(Jacobs, Allan, Great Streets, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)

One Square Mile, Traditional development pattern, Portland OR

23

Poor Parking Availability Produces Traffic Congestion

Every parking space is a magnet for

cars. Why provide more parking than

you have traffic capacity to access that

parking?

Poorly managed parking results in

motorists circling for a parking space,

from 8 to 74% of traffic in many

downtowns.

Eliminating just 10% of vehicles from

any congested location makes traffic

free flowing.

Sources: “Cruising for Parking,” Don Shoup, 2006.

24

$20,000$20,000

$20,000

$20,000

$20,000$20,000$20,000

$20,000$20,000$20,000

$20,000

$20,000$20,000$20,000$20,000$20,000$20,000$20,000 $20,000$20,000$20,000

$20,000$20,000$20,000$20,000

$20,000

Parking Wastes Money

25

What Land Value Are We Losing?

Parking Space10’ x 20’ = 200 ft2Bedroom 9’ x 11’ = 99 ft2

Office Cubicle8’ x 9’ = 72 ft2

Restaurant Table5’ x 5’ = 25 ft2

26

Boulder CO: TOD Without the Rails

Source: Will Toor & Spenser Havlick

27

Boulder’s strategies

No nonresidential parking requirements

Public garages – 84% funded by parking fees

Employee benefits: free universal transit pass (Eco-Pass); Guaranteed Ride Home; ride-matching services; bicycle parking, etc.

Eco-Pass: reduces commuter parking demand by 850 spaces

28

Multi-Use Path System

Source: Will Toor & Spenser Havlick

29

A New Bike Culture

Source: Will Toor & Spenser Havlick

30

Boulder: Results

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

Drive Alone

Carpool

Bus

Walked & Biked

Multi-Mode & Other

31

How to Apply These Ideas Here?

32

Medford, MA

33

34

35

36

Barrier to Utilization of

Eastern Spaces

37

PEDESTRIAN LEVEL-OF-SERVICE

AVERAGE

Pedestrian

Delay

A

B

C

D

E

F

Seconds Likelihood of Noncompliance

<10 Low

10-20

21-30 Moderate

31-40

41-60 High

>60 Very High

38

PEDESTRIAN LEVEL-OF-SERVICE

MAXIMUM

Pedestrian

Delay

A

B

C

D

E

F

Seconds Likelihood of Noncompliance

<10 Low

10-20

21-30 Moderate

31-40

41-60 High

>60 Very High

39

SQUARE REDESIGN

Transform

to a

Four Leg

Intersection?

40

PROPOSED DESIGN

NEW DELAY5-MINUTE WALKING AREA

41

42

43

Why not Consider…

Economic Development

• Job creation

• Real estate value increase

• Retail sales

Quality of Life

• Access to jobs

• Access to shopping

• Residential property value

impact

Social Justice

• Do benefits accrue

equitably?

• Are investments spread

equitably?

Ecological Sustainability

• VMT per capita (=CO2,

NOx, runoff, etc.)

• Land use/transportation

connection

Measure what matters

44

Location Matters: Transportation is a Significant Household Expense

45

Where can a 3-person household earning 80% of area

median income live in the Twin Cities?

Considering Housing Costs Housing + Transportation Costs

The Housing & Transportation Costs Trade-Off

46

Housing Costs in Metro Washington, DC

47

Housing & Transportation Costs in Metro Washington, DC

48

49

50

space….

51

52

MAIN STREET CORRIDOR

Northampton Design Charrette

53

54

55

56

57

KING STREET CORRIDOR

Northampton Design Charrette

58

59

60

61

62

63