U Street accident

[rcannon100]

The Circle of Doom is down at Key Bridge, and includes the Intersection of Doom.

[jrenaut]

@dasgeh 52979 wrote:

… the wonderful intersection known as Five Points (aka “I don’t know how to make a left turn” – where Lee, Old Dom, Quincy and Military meet).

My grandmother lived two blocks from there. I learned a lot of the other streets in the area in my quest to avoid that intersection.

[JorgeGortex]

A number of years ago now, when the county decided to put sidewalks in along Washington Blvd. west of George Mason Drive I attended a meeting of homeowners that lived along that stretch. The focus was on the sidewalks and drive ways, but one gent brought up traffic calming and narrowing of the road near Harrison St. He called it a “neighborhood street.” I spoke up, and respectfully, pointed out that this was a fantasy… Washington Blvd is a major travel route and arterial road, to which the county official agreed with me. I think as we discuss ped and bike safety, and crossings, its important to remember that several routes through Arlington are major thoroughfares vital to the commuting population. This will not change and will only continue to be more so as the region grows (unless many new and innovative ideas are brought forth, and old ones thrown out, for changing this). As a life long resident I have only seen traffic increase, despite the propaganda the county spouts. Arlington is not an urban village or happy little town where everyone merrily walks, bikes, and mass transits everywhere (or can). Arlington is a living, breathing, bustling, and densifying (new word alert!) county. And most people are merely passing through at each rush hour.

Ultimately, the biggest issue to be addressed is not with road width or raised cross walks, but with attitude and culture. People want theirs, now, and in time crunched and over filled lives they don’t want to slow down and help their fellow man. That is the issue and what needs to be addressed. Can it be? I’m not sure it can, but we can try. The more we do our part, call it like we see it, and teach our kids to respect others, the more likely we will see change.

JG

[dasgeh]

@JorgeGortex 52995 wrote:

Ultimately, the biggest issue to be addressed is not with road width or raised cross walks, but with attitude and culture. People want theirs, now, and in time crunched and over filled lives they don’t want to slow down and help their fellow man. That is the issue and what needs to be addressed. Can it be? I’m not sure it can, but we can try. The more we do our part, call it like we see it, and teach our kids to respect others, the more likely we will see change.

I completely agree with this.

@JorgeGortex 52995 wrote:

A number of years ago now, when the county decided to put sidewalks in along Washington Blvd. west of George Mason Drive I attended a meeting of homeowners that lived along that stretch. The focus was on the sidewalks and drive ways, but one gent brought up traffic calming and narrowing of the road near Harrison St. He called it a “neighborhood street.” I spoke up, and respectfully, pointed out that this was a fantasy… Washington Blvd is a major travel route and arterial road, to which the county official agreed with me. I think as we discuss ped and bike safety, and crossings, its important to remember that several routes through Arlington are major thoroughfares vital to the commuting population. This will not change and will only continue to be more so as the region grows (unless many new and innovative ideas are brought forth, and old ones thrown out, for changing this). As a life long resident I have only seen traffic increase, despite the propaganda the county spouts. Arlington is not an urban village or happy little town where everyone merrily walks, bikes, and mass transits everywhere (or can). Arlington is a living, breathing, bustling, and densifying (new word alert!) county. And most people are merely passing through at each rush hour.

But not this. One way to change the attitude is to remind people that they are in a neighborhood, even if the road has a U.S. # attached to it. Lee Highway is the main street of my neighborhood. I walk, bike or drive on it pretty much every day, usually with kids. It is not an interstate, nor should it be treated as such. Yes, streets are there to serve the entire community, but they primarily serve those who live closest to them.

Look at Wash Blvd through Westover. It’s not perfect, but it looks like a neighborhood main street. Yes, there’s lots of traffic, and yes, most cars are going through. Lots of cars move through there just fine. But the level of aggression from drivers, and the general feel are better than, say Lee Hwy just north of there (where it’s just strip malls — Cherrydale is somewhere in between).

There’s a circular argument here: yes, most people drive, but not because driving is some inherent right or some wonderful thing. Driving is dangerous: Just looking at this: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/causes-death-world-1990-2010, it’s a significant cause of death (higher than breast cancer, on par with Other diarrheal diseases). People don’t want to be in their cars because it’s awesome to be in cars, they want to be in cars because they think it’s the “best” way to get somewhere (time, convenience, experience, etc.). If you make lots of high speed roads, then, for a while, cars will continue to be the “best” (or at least fastest) way to get around. BUT, (1) eventually, you can’t pave your way out of the problem, and you get congestion, and cars are slow anyway and (2) the cost of that high speed car traffic is mostly born on the locals, not those passing through.

So (1) if we slow down the cars, we’ll get more people on foot and bikes; and
(2) why should the neighborhoods of Arlington have to bear the cost of being bisected because people in Fairfax and Loudon choose to go to DC / people who work in DC choose to live in Fairfax and Loudon and don’t want to spend as long in the car.

[rcannon100]

So I will therefore take the reverse position of dasgeh… Well sort of.

Ultimately, the biggest issue to be addressed is not with road width or raised cross walks, but with attitude and culture. People want theirs, now, and in time crunched and over filled lives they don’t want to slow down and help their fellow man. That is the issue and what needs to be addressed. Can it be? I’m not sure it can, but we can try. The more we do our part, call it like we see it, and teach our kids to respect others, the more likely we will see change.

The question is how do you change society? How do you change norms or set a policy?

I just reread a book by Prof. Larry Lessig entitled CODE. This is a 1999 book, written at the end of the cyberlibertarian era, in which Lessig is responding to utopians that says the Internet is a wonderful thing that will bring world peace and apple pie – and its beyond kings and presidents and governments and economics. But Lessig is also responding to the incumbents who dont get it who simply want to jam the Internet under old laws and old rules. Lessig says (a) I agree with the utopian cyberlibertarians that the Internet is a marvelous place and we need to keep that promise but (b) if we dont do something, the incumbents will have their way and turn the Internet into the vast wasteland of TV or the regulated nightmare of telephone.

So, how do we act? Lessig says there are four modalities for considering policy (jargon alert): law, economics, norms, and architecture. And the power of Lessig was this grand ah ha moment that architecture matters. The Internet is made entirely of code. Code is software. He who writes the software controls how many people are allowed in a room, that this forum has a pretty blue color to it, and whether spammers are blocked at the door thru pointless captchas. Lessigs message was that you cannot ram old incumbent rules on the new internet because architecture matters. Indeed, CODE / Architecture matters so much in the new world that it all but replaces law. Architecture decides who has access, where they can go, what they can do, and what they can say. You can do more by controlling the architecture to implement public policy, says Lessig, than you can do with norms or laws.

Cool. Required reading in all law schools now.

Except. Except there really is nothing new here. We all know this. Architecture is more effective at achieving public policy goals than laws.

Take, um, I know, roads for example. A road designed for 70 MPH is significantly different in architecture than a road designed for 25 MPH. If you want to stop U turns on PA Ave, putting up bollards or a small curb would have far more effect than any enforcement. If you want to slow down cars in a neighborhood, making the neighborhood roads narrower, pinching the intersections, building speed humps, will be far more effective in changing peoples behavior than law or happy thoughts expressed in community meetings.

There is a map that shows where everyone came from for BTWD. It is one of those circle graphs where the circles are bigger where more people came from that neighborhood. If you look at the map, what do you see? The most people came from…. where the architecture permitted them to come from…. where there were bike paths.

If we want to change behavior – if we want to change the way people commute – the single most important thing we can do is change the infrastructure itself. Want people to walk, build sidewalks. Want people to bike, build bike paths. Want people to not cut through neighborhoods – build roads that dont go anywhere and then install speed bumps when you have to.

I was born in Arlington (7 Corners). I have live in the area all my life. I have lived in Arlington for the past 25 years. Arlington has changed DRAMATICALLY in the past 25 years. The number of people cycling has grown dramatically. That is reflected in the bike arl stats. Walkable communities around metro stops have just exploded. Clarendon used to be a ratty sears. Now it is one of the most popular areas to live in the area. And, as the stats show, the people who live in these walkable communities – are opting dramatically to not own cars. Because of where we live, we get away with owning only one car.

My friends in Fairfax dont have this option. Montgomery county? Forget about it. And what has happened to property values in Arlington? We could not afford to buy our own house now. The prices have sky rocketed. And they have done so, in part, because Arlington has become such a pleasant place to live. It is not a deathburb suburb. It is a livable community.

Architecture matters. We will not solve the U turns on PA Ave until the architecture changes. Arlington has become a wonderful walkable, bikeable community because of what has happened to the architecture.

[Amalitza]

@JorgeGortex 52995 wrote:

Ultimately, the biggest issue to be addressed is not with road width or raised cross walks, but with attitude and culture.
JG

But attitude and culture are affected by things like road width or raised cross walks.

Look at seat belt use. In the past 30 years, it’s gone from something a lot of people think is kind of a good idea, but too many people don’t bother with, to about as close to universal compliance as you’re likely to get. Part of that is education, public service announcements, etc.

Part of it is mandatory seat belt laws. Is that because the consequences of a $25 fine that you might get are such a deterrent? Doubt it. But the laws and enforcement help establish it as the cultural norm.

And a BIG part of it is also… automatic seat belts. First, they made cars that beep annoyingly at you unless and until you buckle your seat belt. Then they made cars that automatically buckle you in when you get in and close the door. You have to go out of your way to NOT wear it.

Presto, highly increased compliance with safety feature.

And the more people wear their seat belt every time they get in a car, the more it becomes the normal thing to do, and the more people would not dream of driving or riding without one. Presto, change in attitude and culture.

One of the best things you can do if you want to change human behavior is to make it easy and convenient for humans to do what you want them to do, and annoying and silly to do what you don’t want. Nice, straight, wide roads make it easy and convenient to drive fast. Want people to not drive fast? Then do something to make driving fast difficult, annoying, or inconvenient. Serious enforcement of speed limits is one way to do that. Changing infrastructure is another way.

And personally, when I am a pedestrian, I don’t really care all that much if drivers slow down and watch out for me because they care if I live or die, or if it’s because compliance with pedestrian safety has been engineered into the road design. I just care that they do it.

[dasgeh]

Fair enough, I don’t agree with all of JG’s 2nd point. Just with the attitude and culture part. And I agree with acl that attitude and culture are affected by raised crosswalks and road width.

I agree with pretty much all of what rcannon said, except the dead end streets thing. I don’t think those are ever a good idea.

My main disagreement with JG was his point that the desire of through-drivers on Lee Hwy (and other aerterials) should trump locals to the point that Lee Hwy should remain the unwalkable mess that it is. I don’t think we should ignore the through-traffic, but concerns about through-traffic have to be balanced with the concerns of locals, which should probably get an extra thumb on the scale. Besides, jurisdictions have been able to find happy mediums — roads become more walkable, and traffic still gets through (though maybe slightly slower).

[JorgeGortex]

Because, again, with respect, this is fantasy. You are not going to get people out their cars. Not with the distances that many people have to travel, and the time commitments they have. Some people manage, and I salute them. The majority passing through Arlington can not. (I live in Arlington, and I can not, right now.) Otherwise, they’d simply live and work in Arlington. Right? The commuters through Arlington are part of where are Arlington is. Its geography. And where we choose (or are lucky to) live means we have a choice to accept it, try to make smart and rational improvements, but to embrace the reality of where we live.

I think maybe my point at the end of my earlier post was lost: “This will not change and will only continue to be more so as the region grows (unless many new and innovative ideas are brought forth, and old ones thrown out, for changing this).” The key point here is the change in how we do business and work. i.e. tele-commuting. This really is the best and most necessary avenue for easing congestion on our roads. Until you remove the need to travel to work, the majority of people will need to travel via some form, and the most likely form is by car. With housing prices etc. its not feasible to ask someone in outer Fairfax, Woodbridge, etc. to commute in by bike. At least not everyday, certainly.

As for traffic calming, i.e. your example of Westover which I am quite familiar with… you can’t expect to do that along the entire stretch of road from border to border. In distinct places such as the spots in Cherrydale you mention, it makes sense. But not the entire length of the road.

Ultimately every change we make creates new challenges. Put everyone on bikes? Then we have bike jams and accidents. We have healthier people because people ride bikes… we have greater longevity… and population growth/density/crowding as people live longer. This puts more stress on resources and services, etc. This is a tangent, but you can see it makes the point that every change, action, has an impact. Good or bad.

JG

G.

@dasgeh 53003 wrote:

I completely agree with this.

But not this. One way to change the attitude is to remind people that they are in a neighborhood, even if the road has a U.S. # attached to it. Lee Highway is the main street of my neighborhood. I walk, bike or drive on it pretty much every day, usually with kids. It is not an interstate, nor should it be treated as such. Yes, streets are there to serve the entire community, but they primarily serve those who live closest to them.

Look at Wash Blvd through Westover. It’s not perfect, but it looks like a neighborhood main street. Yes, there’s lots of traffic, and yes, most cars are going through. Lots of cars move through there just fine. But the level of aggression from drivers, and the general feel are better than, say Lee Hwy just north of there (where it’s just strip malls — Cherrydale is somewhere in between).

There’s a circular argument here: yes, most people drive, but not because driving is some inherent right or some wonderful thing. Driving is dangerous: Just looking at this: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/causes-death-world-1990-2010, it’s a significant cause of death (higher than breast cancer, on par with Other diarrheal diseases). People don’t want to be in their cars because it’s awesome to be in cars, they want to be in cars because they think it’s the “best” way to get somewhere (time, convenience, experience, etc.). If you make lots of high speed roads, then, for a while, cars will continue to be the “best” (or at least fastest) way to get around. BUT, (1) eventually, you can’t pave your way out of the problem, and you get congestion, and cars are slow anyway and (2) the cost of that high speed car traffic is mostly born on the locals, not those passing through.

So (1) if we slow down the cars, we’ll get more people on foot and bikes; and
(2) why should the neighborhoods of Arlington have to bear the cost of being bisected because people in Fairfax and Loudon choose to go to DC / people who work in DC choose to live in Fairfax and Loudon and don’t want to spend as long in the car.

[rcannon100]

@JorgeGortex 53011 wrote:

Because, again, with respect, this is fantasy. You are not going to get people out their cars..

You’re right. It’s a fantasy.

[IMG]http://commuter.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f42669e201538fddeb10970b-800wi[/IMG]

Capital Bikeshare sets new ridership record

Bike to Work Day sets record

[DismalScientist]

We have met the enemy and it is us:

Table 4.1: Mobile Emissions (metric tons CO2e)

2000 2007 % Change
Arlington County Residents
Light Duty Vehicles
70,084 78,628 12.2%
Non‐Residents Traveling through Arlington County
Light Duty Vehicles
152,179 152,773 0.4%
Source: http://freshaireva.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Inventory.pdf, page 23.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@DismalScientist 53016 wrote:

We have met the enemy and it is us:

Table 4.1: Mobile Emissions (metric tons CO2e)

2000 2007 % Change
Arlington County Residents
Light Duty Vehicles
70,084 78,628 12.2%
Non‐Residents Traveling through Arlington County
Light Duty Vehicles
152,179 152,773 0.4%
Source: http://freshaireva.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Inventory.pdf, page 23.

But, but… FAIRFAX! LOUDON!

[KLizotte]

Blatant cut and paste from an email I received today that is related to this discussion:

Smart Growth America released an excellent new report on the economic benefits of livability. Building Better Budgets: A National Examination of the Fiscal Benefits of Smart Growth Development surveys 17 studies that compare different development scenarios, including a brand new study of Nashville-Davidson County, TN, commissioned specifically for this report. Please distribute widely!

They find that smart growth development

• generates 10 times more tax revenue per acre than conventional suburban development.

• saves an average of 10 percent on ongoing delivery of services.

• costs one-third less for upfront infrastructure.

In Sarasota, FL, a smart growth residential project required $5.7 million in infrastructure while generating $1.98 million in property tax revenue per year, meaning it would take three years for the project to pay back its infrastructure cost. By contrast, a comparable conventional suburban residential project required $10 million in infrastructure while generating $239,000 in tax revenue per year, meaning it would take 42 years to pay back the conventional suburban infrastructure cost.

An analysis of Champaign, IL, found that a smart growth scenario generated a $33 million surplus to the city, while a conventional suburban scenario generated a $19 million deficit. This was true even though the conventional suburban scenario generated $19million more in aggregate revenue over 20 years, yet its costs are so much greater as to negate any surplus. As with other studies, on a per-acre basis the smart growth scenario generated twice as much revenue than the conventional suburban scenario—about $48,000 per acre over 20 years compared with $23,000.

Read More here: http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/building-better-budgets.pdf

[DismalScientist]

@DismalScientist 53016 wrote:

We have met the enemy and it is us:

Table 4.1: Mobile Emissions (metric tons CO2e)

2000 2007 % Change
Arlington County Residents
Light Duty Vehicles
70,084 78,628 12.2%
Non‐Residents Traveling through Arlington County
Light Duty Vehicles
152,179 152,773 0.4%
Source: http://freshaireva.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Inventory.pdf, page 23.

I misread the data. This is just pickup trucks. The study showed reduced emissions by both county residents and non-county residents within the county. My bad.

[mello yello]

@rcannon100 53006 wrote:

Want people to not cut through neighborhoods – build roads that dont go anywhere and then install speed bumps when you have to.

Architecture matters. We will not solve the U turns on PA Ave until the architecture changes. Arlington has become a wonderful walkable, bikeable community because of what has happened to the architecture.

Point 1. This is a valid strategy to limit CAR trips to the RESIDENTS of said neighborhoods. But this is also counter-productive for bicyclists and pedestrians because it then forces both groups to main arteries with all of the cars, and causes cars that were going from one residential section to another to use the arteries as well.
PG county inside the beltway has many of these neighborhood enclaves (and creeks)… and it royally jacks up my commute, virtually forcing me to take a major artery (MD 704 / MLK Jr Highway) for the better part of 3 miles. I’ve found a way to do about a million turns and cut through a distribution warehouse parking lot to avoid two miles of this mess, but it’s still bad architecture. If these residential neighborhoods were connected with trails for non-motorized vehicles, well, that would be a different story.

Point 2. I agree that architecture totally matters. Livable, walk-able communities are absolutely vital, and beginning to become a new buzzword (a certain DC Mayoral campaign may be using this exact line). I live near PA Ave (SE) and there have been lots of traffic calming measures both on PA (installed ctr median and trees), and there have been some on Branch too. This had the immediate effect of routing commuter buses and cut-through traffic down my street, but adding and enforcing “no buses” on these streets has improved this. I think the plan is to get the through traffic to use the ‘parkways’ to get them to the interstate / 295/695/395, once they’ve finally figured out that mess.
However, no amount of traffic calming is going to reduce the number of people that need to travel into the city. The number of cars can be reduced by better alternative transportation methods, but realistically the only long term solution is much denser mixed use development, that has the effect of bringing lots of people close together, along with the goods and services that they use, as well as (hopefully) making housing more available and more affordable. This is going to mean that a lot of people are going to have to give up the “american dream” of 4 bedroom house on 1/2 acre and a white picket fence. I’m quite attached to having a backyard, and I can’t imagine giving it up, but it’s something you have to pay for either in dollars or level of convenience.

[lordofthemark]

@JorgeGortex 53011 wrote:

Because, again, with respect, this is fantasy. You are not going to get people out their cars. Not with the distances that many people have to travel, and the time commitments they have. Some people manage, and I salute them. The majority passing through Arlington can not. (I live in Arlington, and I can not, right now.) Otherwise, they’d simply live and work in Arlington. Right? The commuters through Arlington are part of where are Arlington is. Its geography..

pardon, but arent the vast majority of those passing through Arlington taking I66 or I395 (I usually do transit to work, but when I do commute by car, I pass through Arlco on I395) I don’t think anyone is calling for traffic calming on those , or even on GW Parkway (though that might make sense purely for motorist safety)

While some people may commute through Arlco on the arterials, I would guess its far smaller than the total who commute through Arlcon by car total. And some subset of them DO have viable alternatives.

I don’t think its at all unreasonable for the govt of Arlcon to prioritize the needs of its residents over those of commuters. Thats essentially what DC is doing as well. Its not like Fairfax County is contributing to support the cost of governing ArlCo.

And of course the evidence is that as Arlco has densified, the traffic counts on key arteries in the RB corridor have stayed the same or declined. Thats not getting everyone out of their cars – but it is getting some.

[Author]

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