Somerville Streets - Towards Better Standards — File 210993

Somerville Streets: Towards Better Standards Comparison between Amsterdam and Somerville street features. We can do this here!

Side Street Crosswalks - 30ft of crossing distance on Kidder - Red lines denote where curb could be, without taking space used by cars - Sweeping sidewalk radii allow for fast turns onto the side streets - Crosswalk dips into the car-space of the street, no features which physically force cars to slow down

A Better Side Street Entrance - Continuous Sidewalk - No dip into the street for crossing - Square corners: high speed turns are not possible - Yield flow side streets This design expresses that vehicles are encroaching on pedestrian space when making a turn This is not the city center, it’s a random neighborhood street. Note parking pushed back further on side of the side street approaching corner

Larger/Mid Block Crossings - Large, wide open crossing for pedestrians through the road - Vehicles not physically prevented from parking near or on the sidewalk - Motorists see a wide, open street. No need to slow down - No narrowing of the lanes

Better mid block crossing - A clear pinch point is achieved with a small pedestrian island - IT CAN BE SMALL! It just needs to encourage the drivers to slow and recognize the area as a crossing - Disrupts the “wide, open road” view that the driver has - Total width: 31 ft! 4ft bike lane, 9ft lane at pinch, 6ft island, lanes widen again after crosswalk

No parking around crosswalks - Wide, clear area that is clearly sidewalk space, no parking possible (RED), is in front of the crossing area. - Ensures cars do not block crosswalk, maintains sight lines - Same is true for opposite direction, space in front of the crossing is preserved

T Junction (Holland/Cameron) - Extreme, diagonal crosswalk distance - Parking allowed right up to the crosswalk - Crosswalks are right in the intersection - this maximizes conflict with cars as they are turning. More complicated for drivers to watch for pedestrians - Crosswalks must be located right at corners for some reason? We should move these crosswalks back, this is safer and gives more design flexibility, and allows us to straighten them

T Junction - Better! - Noticeable narrowing of lane as the crosswalk is approached, with pedestrian island - Crosswalks actually pushed back away from the intersection. Vehicles encounter pedestrians as they are going straight, not while turning. Pedestrians are more visible. This also slows down cars before they make any turn - Since the crosswalks are pushed back, not on the intersection corner, they are shorter and straight across https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3 848661,4.9174278,97m/data=!3m1!1e 3

T Junction Windshield View - Parking on right side blocked further back - to prevent vehicles from blocking sight lines or crosswalk - Multiple pedestrian crossing signs visible - Small, advisory bike lanes on this approach, not great but better than nothing

T Junction Straight Approach - Bonus: in lane bus stop! - No parking near the intersection There is a possible left turn into parking here, similar to Holland/Cameron. Vehicles must cross the continuous sidewalk to enter.

Street Parking - Street parking is random and uncontrolled - No physical features to ensure correct parking use - No preventing drivers from swinging quickly into spots - Streets look wide open and massive when cars are not parked

Controlled Specific Street Parking - Specific sections of street parking delineated in 1-3 vehicle spaces - Curb separation, in green, with street trees! - Also keeps street trees out of the way of pedestrians! Much better for accessibility One single vehicle spot delineated! Very wide sidewalk space around the side street entrance Streetscape is sidewalk by default, instead of car storage by default

Roundabouts - where to start.. - Multiple lanes of cars are able to exist in the intersection - Various slip lanes and large radii allow very high speeds - Wide open streets, nothing to prevent drivers from speeding through

Windshield View - Wide open spaces - Parking allowed right at intersection, or a de-facto turn lane? - Pedestrian crossing is right at entrance to roundabout - Could take a very fast right turn without slowing down at all - No pedestrian crossing signage, just a stop sign

Windshield View, pt 2 - Wide open space for multiple lanes of traffic, high speeding is possible - No guiding or slowing features

Dutch Roundabouts - A work of art - RED: A fully separated bus only lane through the roundabout! Amazing! - GREEN: There is separation between every single lane, by curb or pedestrian islands. - ORANGE: Complete protected path for bicycles through the space - Bikes and pedestrians also have separate spaces from each other - Pedestrian crossing happen before the roundabout Cars are completely constrained in this roundabout. It is clear where they can go, and anywhere they shouldn’t be is hardened curb space. There are no special slip lanes for right turns (except for the bus!)

Windshield View - Pedestrian crossing are large, and happen before the vehicle can enter the roundabout - Your eyes focus on the pedestrian crossing as you approach - Curbs are clear and show the path of travel - Crosswalk signage - No straight through travel path