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Road Diets


OneSweetWorld

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well it may have been a bit of hyperbole to say that bicyclists will get plowed over. It doesn't change the fact that that you will have a lot more A--hole drivers because some slow biker is taking up the whole lane for several blocks through downtown. I think the whole concept is trying to jam a square peg in a round hole to the detriment of both drivers and cyclists.

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well it may have been a bit of hyperbole to say that bicyclists will get plowed over. It doesn't change the fact that that you will have a lot more A--hole drivers because some slow biker is taking up the whole lane for several blocks through downtown. I think the whole concept is trying to jam a square peg in a round hole to the detriment of both drivers and cyclists.

The sharrows on Division aren't like what you are talking about where the rider is placed exactly in the center of the lane. Because the lanes were reduced from 4 lanes to three, the two outside lanes are pretty wide, 13.5' according to the engineering drawings, just not wide enough for an adequate 6' - 7' bike lane that is preferred next to parked cars to keep bicyclists from being in the "door zone", the area where car doors reach when they swing open.

As a result of that wide lane, there is enough room for the bicyclist to be riding on the sharrow, safely outside of the door zone, and the motorist only has to move a few feet into the center turn lane to provide adequate, safe passing room for the bicyclist. Typically a motorist barely has to slow down at all, and a cyclist will not be "taking up the whole lane for several blocks through downtown." Additionally, motorists having to slow down and watch for bicyclists also makes the road safer for pedestrians. You can see the dramatic crash reduction numbers for road diets in the first couple of pages of this report by the Federal Highway Administration: http://www.revisiondivision.com/media/documents/Evaltuation%20of%20Lane%20Reduction_Road%20Diet.pdf

Here's what I'm talking about in this photo:

5851916288_d6b3c22ceb_b.jpg

The sharrow is not directly in the middle of the path of travel of the motor vehicles, like you seem to imply in your posts. In my opinion, this is an excellent application for sharrows.

Gary Howe in Traverse City has written an excellent, straightforward article with more information on these "shared lane pavement markings": http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/07/08/dude-wheres-my-sharrow/

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  • 1 month later...

What Division needs is to eliminate parking and standing between 28th Street and Michigan Street. All businesses need to have sufficient parking for employees and customers/clients next to or behind their place of business with some being able to have parking across the street with a nearby crossing. Then we could have a safe smooth flowing "main street" with two lanes in each direction with a left turn lane where their is room and a bike lane that would be shared with buses and right turning vehicles. There should not be a dedicated lane for the Rapids Silver Line if there can not be two lanes for other traffic in both directions.

~John

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It may at first but it will allow business to establish themselves when people get use to "their" parking. How many businesses on Division rely on street parking? Should they? For Division to prosper as a shopping or business "main street" they NEED to make changes. Obviously the current setting is not working.

~John

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  • 4 months later...

This isn't news to many here, but I figured I'd put it on the record:

Burton Street to be put on 'road diet'

I'm really looking forward to this (other than the construction next summer). My family and I live a few blocks south of Burton and attend Hope Reformed Church at Burton & Kalamazoo, so this will impact our transportation plans quite a bit (mainly mine - still trying to get my wife to bike with me more).

Sorry for the WOOD link - no other news outlet has mentioned it yet. The ill-prepared reporter in the video mentions that they'll be sure to continue to cover the story as it develops (to stoke the anger in the typical viewer, I'm sure) - good to know that Target 8 Is On My Side. :rolleyes:

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Burton Street to be put on 'road diet'

I'm really looking forward to this...

I attended the public meeting about this project last month and most everyone at the meeting was in full support of the idea. And if the road diet turns out to be a disaster (it won't), the city can very easily re-paint the road as the location of the curbs will be unchanged. I hope News 8 provides additional information, because that report was pretty thin and the angry story commentators would benefit from more in-depth coverage. A few highlights from the meeting:

  • The change is expected to reduce side-swipe and rear ending accidents
  • That stretch of Burton sees about 16,000 daily vehicle trips, fewer than the other GR streets that have already undergone diets
  • One mile south, 28th Street sees between 35,000-40,000 daily vehicle trips (pdf)
  • Traffic lights along the changed route will be timed in order to create "pods" of traffic, making access to residences and businesses easier

I think it's a great move. If you want a quick east-west trip across town, 28th Street is one mile to the south, offers a 45mph speed limit, no RR stops, and has seen reduced traffic since M-6 was built.

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Also, it will be nice to have a bike-friendly E-W street at that latitude. There are some other options (Boston, Alger...), but none that have the same connectivity; Hall is the closest street that compares.

The opposition seems to be mainly from the party store owner, who complains about losing parking. I'm not sure what the road diet has to do with that - if the streetscape is going to be reconstructed, he'll lose parking whether there are four lanes or three. My guess is that he's mainly concerned about the construction closing off access to his business for the summer, which could put him out of business. Again, this is unrelated to the road diet - the road needs to be reconstructed regardless.

It'd be awesome if Burton east of Plymouth could see the same treatment some day - would the traffic volumes be too high? Burton from Plymouth to the East Beltline would certainly benefit from adding a turn lane.

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  • 11 months later...

Grandville voted 4-3 to approve their $4.9 million streetscape project this evening, after a marathon 4-hour meeting I had the pleasure of attending.

Off the top of my head, the budget broke down like this:

$950,000 - Federal Transportation Enhancement grant (which had to be used this year or it would expire)

$1,700,000 - 20 year municipal bond with a ~$180,000 annual payment by the DDA (A good portion of their ~$240,000 current tax capture will go here. It was also stated they have a $200,000 cash reserve, in case the capture did drop below the amount of the bond payment. The capture has already dropped ~$60,000 from its peak, due to declining property values. The fact that the city would be on the hook if the DDA couldn't pay was cited as a major reason some were not sure this was a good idea. With the cash reserve, I think this is pretty unlikely.)

$250,000 - City of Grandville Major Roads fund

$2,000,000 - DDA funds set aside since at least 2004 to pay for the anticipated project.

Very happy to see this move forward and the chance for another Grand Rapids suburb to really create a place that its citizens can be proud of. I think this investment will leverage additional private investments, as countless other small downtowns have experienced through similar projects. The next step is finding funds for the $650,000 multi-use Farmer's Market pavilion that had to be removed from the plans because of $, and really create some desirable, unique destinations for that city.

On a side note, the traffic noise from Wilson Avenue was really loud and distracting at times during the meeting.

 

If anyone has driven through downtown Grandville at night recently, the difference a bunch of Christmas trees, some holiday lights, furniture, and a narrower road makes is AMAZING!  It actually looks like you are somewhere that people care about and might want to go.  I think if the new brewery is a successful destination, some other businesses (ice cream shoppe a la Jersey Junction?!?) will feed off that and within a few years Grandville will have a much more vibrant downtown.

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If anyone has driven through downtown Grandville at night recently, the difference a bunch of Christmas trees, some holiday lights, furniture, and a narrower road makes is AMAZING!  It actually looks like you are somewhere that people care about and might want to go.  I think if the new brewery is a successful destination, some other businesses (ice cream shoppe a la Jersey Junction?!?) will feed off that and within a few years Grandville will have a much more vibrant downtown.

 

I've been through it during the day and it does look nice. I think a brewery, a good coffee shop and another restaurant would do wonders.

 

We're starting to get a nice collection of downtowns/business districts in the metro area that are seeing new life, Rockford, Grandville, Lowell, Gaslight Village. Go figure, people are getting tired of parking lot, parking lot, parking lot, oh look another parking lot, parking lot.

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I've been through it during the day and it does look nice. I think a brewery, a good coffee shop and another restaurant would do wonders.

 

We're starting to get a nice collection of downtowns/business districts in the metro area that are seeing new life, Rockford, Grandville, Lowell, Gaslight Village. Go figure, people are getting tired of parking lot, parking lot, parking lot, oh look another parking lot, parking lot.

Don't forget about Ada... :)

 

From the 2007 design charrette in the mlive article in the other thread:

 

 

 

The Good Places
A strong consensus emerged among the 15 small groups about the location of Ada Village’s good places. These include:
 
Ada Drive between Bronson Street and Thornapple River Drive –
This single block was identified as the premier commercial place in the Village. Converted residential buildings and recently renovated commercial 
buildings create the diversity and quirkiness that are the hallmarks of the Village.  Participants mentioned “buildings close to the street,” “the mix of stores,” “the scale of the buildings,” and “parking behind businesses” among the characteristics that make the place special and “pedestrian friendly.”
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This is probably old news by now, but I'm back in my native Kentwood for the holidays, and I noticed Breton between 52nd and 44th was road-dieted.  I knew they were working on it over the summer, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they made that road so much safer, with only one lane each way, bike lanes, and a traffic circle at Walma.

 

That road was potentially dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, especially if trying to get to the new public library.  I'm glad they fixed it.

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