The Case for Changing the Transportation Paradigm—by Ken Shelin
For many years we have used a suburban standard for movement through our city. It has focused our roadway design on moving vehicles. It has encouraged streets that went nowhere, often passing through courts and culde sacs emptying on collector streets concentrating traffic onto major marterials that eventually become relentlessly congested encouraging more and more lanes to carry the traffic that had no where else to travel in order to get to their destination.
We need to move from that paradigm to a new one which shifts from a focus on moving vehicles to one which provides a variety of means of movement for people including, not only motor vehicles, but various types of public transit, bicycles, personal mobility devices, walking and running while diffusing traffic instead of concentrating it.
The challenge for us in Sarasota is balancing the interests of travelers and community stakeholders. One will be most concerned about travel time and speed and the other about the character of the community.
There are new tools being used in forward thinking communities for making that shift. One approach is called “Complete Streets” and another is called “Context Sensitive Solutions.” Context Sensitive Solutions look at the built environment through which streets pass such as the suburban context, the urban center and the downtown core and selects design criteria for those streets taking its context (a new urbanist would call it a transect) into account. It also takes into account the type of street it is such as arterial, boulevard, avenue or street. It’s ultimate goal is to create a walkable community by creating multimodal transportation systems with an emphasis on walkability. The solutions take into account speed, on-street parking, sidewalks, pedestrian scaled lighting, street trees, landscaping, placement of buildings, their height and mass.
Complete Streets ( fourteen states already have laws requiring them – there is even a bill being discussed in the US Senate) uses a variety of tools to accommodate all modes of transport, not just vehicles.
These include:
- Resting places
- Ramps (curbcuts) to crosswalks
- Pedestrian friendly medians
- Visible signs
- Recessed bus stops
- Raised crosswalks
- Advanced stop lines
- Bike lanes
- On-street parking
- Wide, raised sidewalks
Other ideas include:
- Flashing lights embedded in crosswalks at busy intersections
- Pedestrian red flags to catch drivers attention
- Railings to guide pedestrians to safe crossings
Route 41 – Tamiami Trail
How can we make Route 41 more pedestrian friendly – several ideas are under consideration
1. Dedesignation of Route 41
• Roadway standards
a. 12 foot wide through lanes
b. 5 foot wide sidewalks
c. 4 foot bike lanes with 1.5 curb & gutter
d. 16 foot clear zone – design speed of 45 mph or less
• Alternative routes
a. Fruitville Road – failing, would need reconstruction with major changes
b. 301 – failing
c. University Parkway – not built to state standards re: lane width and clear zone
d. City funds study of alternative routes
e. FDOT and FHWA must accept alternative route
f. City funds construction of alternative route
g. FDOT will not accept any more mileage than what has been proposed for de-designation
2. Lowering Speed limit without De-designation
• Speed study required
a. Establish reasonable, safe and effective speed zones for meaningful enforcement
b. 85th percentile used to determine appropriate speed – risk is might justify raising speed limit
c. City did speed study in August 2007 – concludes existing 40 mph limit is justified
d. If some roadway changes are made to force lower speeds, we might be able to lower the speed
3. Re-striping of existing Route 41 for traffic calming
• Truck traffic study required by FDOT
a. If truck traffic is less than 10% of average annual daily traffic, an 11 foot lane width is permitted on urban arterial roadways
b. City conducted truck traffic study in August 2007
i. Northbound 25%, southbound 10% – not eligible based on FDOT criteria
c. Assoc. of State Highway & Transportation Officials manual allows for 10 foot lane for urban arterials
d. Staff recommends negotiating with FDOT to narrow lanes to 10 feet and adding striped bike lanes
i. Need to widen roadway
ii. Bike lanes could connect with MURT at Tamiami Trail and Gulfstream
iii. Stripe from Gulfstream to Orange
4. Other Alternatives
- Pedestrian sleeves at Main and Ringling
- Pedestrian Overpasses
- 11 Interim recommendations
a. Texture asphalt south of Gulfstream to north of Orange Ave.
b. Main St. is primary pedestrian connection
c. Pedestrian countdown signals
d. High emphasis crosswalk at Main with cat’s eyes for night visibility
e. Pedestrian scale streetlights to make intersections more visible at night
f. Narrow Bayfront Drive to 10 feet with 2-3 feet bike lane
g. Reduce signal length at Main to 90 second max to minimize pedestrian delay at intersection
h. Pavement markings at entrance to crosswalks for pedestrians
i. Install signage to alert drivers of pedestrian presence
j. Reduce speed limit along Bayfront to 25 mph after above implemented
k. Install “No Turn on Red When Pedestrian Present” signs
