Let every person who claims that all we need to cure Route 9's or Needham Street's problems is a little more capacity read this: the Globe reports that congestion is up -- measurably -- on all roads leading to the Central Artery.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Both a gas tax and a (smart) toll hike
If nothing else, Friday's decision by the soon-to-expire Turnpike Authority to jack Pike tolls through the roof has rendered a statement in favor of a gas tax hike restoration fit for polite company. Even Howie Carr recognizes the virtues of a higher gas tax. (From Dan Kennedy. I haven't listened to Howie since I stopped my Pike commute.)
But, it shouldn't be an either/or. We need an increase in the gas tax to more directly and equitably pay for road and bridge construction and maintenance ... and to help finance more mass transit. We need a smart toll hike to both provide additional revenue and to make better use of Pike capacity. And, we need virtual tolls on I-93 for the same additional-revenue and capacity-management reasons as on the Pike and because it would be more equitable.
Set aside the virtuous reasons for a gas tax hike. We need a gas tax hike because we can't afford to build and maintain our transportation infrastructure. If cars and trucks need more and better roads and bridges, then it should fall more directly on car and truck drivers to pay for them. It's little wonder that the state has no money for roads, bridges, and transit. The price of a gallon of gas has nearly tripled since 1991 (compared to the recent, relatively low prices), and the state's take has stayed the same: $0.21. If you were to simply apply the same effective rate as in 1991, the tax would be nearly $0.75. Imagine the shiny bridges and pothole-free roads the state could afford with more than three times the gas tax revenue. I would also suggest that a higher gas tax be distributed to municipalities for snow-clearing so that drivers bear that burden more directly, too.
If the state were to raise the gas tax, why bother raising tolls on the Pike or applying new tolls on 93? Two reasons. One, because those roads are expensive to maintain and there's a huge debt service on the Big Dig that's fair to allocate to Boston-area Pike and 93 traffic. Second, because there is congestion on both. The second reason demands not a simple toll hike, but a smart one: a peak-pricing scheme that will alleviate congestion at times of highest demand.
During heaviest use, there are two types of drivers in a Pike backup: those who are willing to put up with the traffic, but less willing to put up with a higher toll and those who would be willing to pay a higher -- even substantially higher -- toll if it would lead to a shorter trip time. It's a lousy allocation of demand. The second group is really inconvenienced by the first group, but there's no mechanism to keep the first group off the highway during peak times.
Raise the toll during the peak time and and the first group would avoid a toll hike by using the pike off-peak. (Some would use alternative routes, which is why a toll hike should also include mitigation to cities and towns likely to get cut-through traffic.) The second group would get the benefit of a premium toll. During rush hour, the Pike would be used by the people who value it most.
The benefit would be probably be even more dramatic on 93, where there is much heavier commercial traffic. It might be worth a lot more than the peak-pricing premium for a business owner to get his or her truck through Boston without the typical delay. That premium would help subsidize travel for those who are willing to go at a different time.
Higher gas tax? Absolutely. But, raise the tolls, too. Only not all the time.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Comfort level, not limits
Writing to the NewMobilityCafe user group, Richard Layman of Urban Places and Spaces had an insightful comment on the New York Times speed limit article that I posted about earlier this week. Here is his comment in full:
Many of us have made this point for some time, that roads typically are "over"engineered to allow high speeds, as are cars. Therefore, for areas where you don't want to encourage people to drive fast (on a road on the edge of Greater Capitol Hill in DC--still urban--a car was clocked by a speed camera going over 90mph late at night, in a zone with a posted 25mph speed limit), change the materials of the road. I myself am fond of stone Belgian Block. With it, you get physical, visual, and aural cues that you should drive more slowly. And it's not likely to be supportive of 90-100mph speeds.
Using Belgian block/appropriately engineering roads based on the desired speed in many cases would eliminate the "need" for speed bumps, speed tables, and other road pimples.
But yeah, a truly "robustly" engineered road system wouldn't require secondary enforcement (police writing tickets) to optimize the system, it would engineer the system of pavements to generate the optimal result. (Emphasis added.)
I'm not sure about the universal feasibility of his proposed solution, but he make an indisputable point. The reason people drive too fast through our neighborhoods is that our streets are designed in a way that encourages them to drive that fast.
Clint Schuckel says that the goal in Newton is to make drivers uncomfortable but not unsafe. But, even Mr. Schuckel's very reasonable formulation sounds negative, as if the goal is to do something bad to drivers, to take something away from them. Maybe the better way to put it is this: the goal is to create on every street a level of driver comfort that corresponds to the appropriate speed for the street.
It's not that we have to make people uncomfortable. We need to take away some of the excess comfort.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The limits of limits
No shocker here.
When it comes to speeding, many American motorists don’t worry about safety. They just worry about getting caught.
Those are the findings by researchers from Purdue University who surveyed nearly 1,000 motorists about speed limits and driving habits. They found that many drivers are cynical about the safety benefits of driving within speed limits, and many think they can drive safely while speeding as long as they won’t get caught, according to the report in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour.
Speed limits and enforcement are not the answer to excess speed in our neighborhoods. Design speed is. Take advantage of driver's self-interest and make it uncomfortable to drive fast. Here's a bit from Newton's own City Traffic Engineer Clint Schuckel in a Globe West article last week about student-designed traffic signs in Needham:
In Newton, the idea is to actually make drivers a little uneasy about going too fast.
"I think the goal of traffic calming is to make a driver uncomfortable without making them unsafe," said Clint Schuckel, Newton's traffic engineer. "We want to encourage people to slow down physically - such as a raised intersection or design a road to make it feel more narrow, less forgiving."
Narrower. Less forgiving. Slower. Safer.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Halloween and walking
Last year it occurred to me that Halloween was America's celebration of the joys of walking. I had a similar warm feeling as I walked with dozens of others around my neighborhood this year.
Then, I read about a nine-year-old and his mother killed as he trick-or-treated in Westfield Friday night. That's the part of being a pedestrian in this country that should not be celebrated.
Where could the driver have been going so urgently on Halloween that she didn't take more care looking out for little kids?
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Call to art
The Newton Bicycle Pedestrian Task Force needs a logo. Help make Newton a better place to ride and walk, or at least make the NBPTF a more graphically pleasing presence.
E-mail newtonbikeped (at) gmail (dot) com if you've got something to offer.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Paragon Place, not as bad as I led you to believe
While I have serious issues with the proposed Paragon Place on Needham Street, it would be incorrect to say — as I do in Chrissie Long's article on the Board of Alderman's approval of the Paragon Place special permit petition — that the design reviewed by the Board of Aldermen on Monday night has "no meaningful pedestrian connection." In fact, the developer has made some recent changes that should materially improve pedestrian circulation with the new Filene's Basement building and its neighbors.
So, what gives? Did Chrissie misquote me? Or did I misspeak? Neither. Here are the gruesome details ...
In the article, Chrissie quotes — accurately — language from a letter I wrote to the board last week:
What should we desire for 151,618 sq. ft. in one of our prime commercial districts? Certainly not a total of four curb cuts and no meaningful pedestrian connection. But, that's what we'll be left with according to the Paragon Place proposal, and the proposal leaves little opportunity for improvement if either Paragon Towers or Baza Supermarket is developed in the future. Not only does the Paragon Place proposal isolate the three properties, it consigns these properties to isolation for the foreseeable future. (Emphasis added.)
That language is actually an excerpt from a letter I wrote to the Land Use committee on 10/7 that I included in the letter to the board. In the letter to the full board, I added the following note to the paragraph:
[Please note that the developer has made improvements to the pedestrian connectivity since this letter.]
"[T]his letter" refers to the 10/7 letter to Land Use. Confused yet?
Between my writing to the Land Use committee and then to the Board of Alderman, the pedestrian connectivity of the Paragon Place design improved in at least three areas. Based on the current design, Paragon Place will not be completely isolated. It promises to have some pretty good pedestrian connectivity.
I can't really blame Chrissie for the omission. I included the paragraph in my letter to the board because I felt it was necessary to provide context for another excerpt from the 10/7 letter, my recommendation that the board require Paragon Place to grant an easement to its neighbor Paragon Towers, which easement might convince and allow Paragon Towers to close two curb cuts (driveway entrances) on Needham Street. But, I probably could have been more clear about the improved pedestrian accommodations.
Now, about that easement ...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Hit in the crosswalk
There is simply no reasonable explanation for a middle-school child to have been hit by a car in a crosswalk on Needham Street. This isn't something that we should accept as one of the inevitable and, therefore, acceptable costs of the benefits of living in a motorized society.
The goal should be zero pedestrian injuries or fatalities in the city.
It gives me no pleasure to point out the irony that
- Needham Street is dangerous and pedestrian unfriendly in large part because of the chaos and confusion created by the multitude of driveway entrances along the street
- The Board of Alderman unanimously approved a special permit for a large development on Needham Street — Paragon Place — and did not require the developer to allow for a future easement that might have closed two of the driveways
- The injured young man was hit in the crosswalk directly in front of the site in question
The TAB article describing the new development is on the front page of the paper, but is not yet online. (It's only fair to note that the developer is contributing to putting a signal at the intersection.)
I have requested from the police statistics on the number of citations issued in the city for failure to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. Enforcement is rarely the long-term answer to traffic safety issues, but I think that a little constabulatory attention to crosswalk violations might make drivers a little more careful.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Walk & Roll!
Sean will soon post a few pictures of the convivial crowd scene outside Bowen School this morning, enjoying International Walk to School day. Kids were walking, biking, scootering, running, and their parents were chatting and drinking coffee: altogether far more fun than sitting behind the wheel of a car.
And better for everyone! New federal guidelines recommend adults get 2 1/2 hours of moderate activity weekly (or 1 1/4 hours vigorous activity) to get and stay fit. The key change: try to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. In other words, don't punish yourself with guilt that you haven't gone to the gym. (Who wants to spend hours in the gym every week, anyway... and these days, who can afford it?) Walk your child to school, bike to the post office, walk to the cafe, bike to the library.
But as I saw this morning, it's not just about physical health. It was like a mobile morning block party. Let's get out of our cars and party!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Contested Streets showing Monday, October 6, 7:00 PM
NS&S is a livable streets blog, that is we promote the values and policy implications of the livable streets movement. From Streetswiki, livable streets are streets that are designed and maintained to meet the needs of all constituents -- pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.
[Livable streets] strike a balance between the vehicles that travel through them and the community that lives there, works there, and plays there. They are functional corridors of public realm where people live, shop, interact, travel, and resolve their daily needs. Livable streets establish great neighborhoods and the possibility for true community building. Goods and services are readily accessible while adequate open space is provided for the local community. Unlike other streets that primarily serve the needs of traffic, they cater to the needs of everyone using them.
On Monday night, Bike Newton, Green Decade, and the Newton Conservators are hosting a screening of Contested Streets, an hour-long documentary that vividly illustrates what happens when things get out-of-balance and the automobile dominates our streets and communities. And, it explores what is possible if we strive to restore balance.
It is, in short, a livable streets manifesto. A call to arms (and legs).
If you read this blog, it's likely that you are a proponent of pedestrian and bicycle accommodations in Newton (and elsewhere). I urge you to see this film. It will put your pro-pedestrian/pro-bicycle inclinations into a larger context and give you a framework for understanding and describing why pedestrian and bicycle accommodations are so important. And, you'll spend an hour or so in the company of like-minded advocates.
Jeff Rosenblum, Executive Director of Cambridge-based LivableStreets Alliance, will introduce the movie. He is a major figure in the Boston area and an energizing speaker.
Do not miss this event.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Stop the presses!
Commuters don't want toll hikes on the Turnpike!
In other earth-shattering news, children don't like vegetables, men don't think there's enough football on Sundays, and Sarah Palin actually likes earmarks.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Heading in the right direction
The Pike is considering stupendously large toll hikes, maybe close to doubling the tolls near us (Allston-Brighton, Weston) or adding $5 (not a misprint) to the tunnel tolls or re-instating the western tolls or some combination or blend.
Good: the Pike is looking to tap drivers for upkeep of state highways instead of a subsidy from the general fund.
Bad: there still seems to be no momentum for ending the subsidy to north/south traffic on I-93.
Worrisome: a big toll hike is going to send toll avoiders onto Newton streets; we'll need mitigation
Of course, this would all be less of an issue if we'd get around to stemming the erosion of the gas tax. But, Bernard Cohen and the rest of the Pike board considering such drastic action suggests that maybe a responsible gas tax hike is in our future.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Faster than a Speeding D-Line Trolley!
Alright, maybe only faster if you count the 1/2 mile walk on each end of my D-Line commute. On Friday, I biked from my abode near Weeks Park to Northeastern University (via Beacon Street) in a little over 40 minutes, and back in a little over 45, for a total of 15 miles. And two days later I can say (smugly!) that I'm not sore. Alright, my neck's a little stiff. And I was a little wobbly when I got home, and was snoozing by 9:30pm. But I'm all set to do it again!
Reflections:
If I'm going to keep this up, I need some higher gears than my old mountain bike provides: pedaling like a madman on gentle downhill slopes in my highest gear. Or I need to relax and coast.
Stopped at a light in Brookline, eastbound, 8:20 am. A red Lamborghini revs next to me, its roar mocking my puny attempt to save the planet. In a few moments, the car is a red speck in the distance, which, relative to the planet, so am I in my red jacket. We're all puny. But the driver of the Lamborghini is puny and probably a jerk.
Beacon Street westbound at 4:00pm: sun in my eyes, an easy pace behind another commuter uphill towards Coolidge Corner, a 20-something in spandex on a single-speed passing me, no cars (other than parked ones) in sight. Nirvana! More cycles than cars. At least for a minute or two.
Just past Coolidge Corner, one car is backing into a parallel spot, blocking traffic, and the door of another car opens. As if arranged by a cosmic bike-commuting professor: Hazards 101.
Further west on Beacon, stopped at another light. The driver in the car next to me starts dialing his cellphone. The light turns green. He keeps dialing. I yell (cheerfully, I hope) "Beep! Beep!" It works!
The hills are alive... with the sound of my huffing and puffing. Between Chestnut Hill Reservoir and the Mary Baker Eddy house, I just about got off and walked. I cursed the 15 pounds of notebooks and textbooks in my pannier, and I cursed the road for getting so damn narrow near the the top of the hill. But, ah! The coast down the other side on those broad new shoulders!
There are a lot of cyclists out there. It's a thrill to be part of this growing tribe.
Why don't we in the bike-tribe talk to each other? Are we lost in thought? Overly acclimatized to the isolation of 2-ton steel cages? Coming and going, a good dozen cyclists passed me without warning: no bell, no "passing on the left," nothing. If we aren't civil with our own tribe, are we a we?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Now's the time
With gas prices likely to fall (as oil fell to $93-a-barrel), it's time to really think hard about a higher gas tax. Let's add a dime to the gas tax every two years for the next ten years. We will:
- Survive the up-tick. We survived $4.00-a-gallon gas.
- Continue the virtuous cycle that higher gas prices created in terms of less driving and more transit use.
- Have revenue to help pay for the increased demand on the transit system.
- Have revenue to help pay down the bridge bonds
Sunday, September 7, 2008
What's in the bag?
Find out tomorrow (Monday, September 8) at 8:45. The mayor will remove the bag and reveal a historical first (sort of) for Newton.
The bagged sign is on the southbound side of Chestnut Street Walnut Street, just south of Homer. Please show your support for bicycle improvements and attend the ceremony. Bring your helmet and bike, if you can.
If you drive, probably easiest to park at the library.
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