This video explores traffic calming amenities Paris has installed. For example, in several areas of Paris curbs have been removed and bikes, pedestrians, buses and taxis coexist at low speeds. On wider roads bikes share the BRT lanes with buses and taxis. Counter-flow bike lanes expand the bike network. Raised crosswalks and neckdowns slow traffic and make pedestrians more visible at intersections. Watch for more.

Compare the photos below, showing the sight line difference with and without a parked car.

Neighborhoods around NYC and beyond are nearly shouting for daylighting to be implemented for safer streets. Streetfilms went to Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan to check out what some neighborhood leaders have to say. And though we love the concept, we think the term, Daylighting, is a little stale. So how about some suggestions? As you'll see, we came up with one, "Pedestrian Peek-a-boo," but we're sure there are others out there.

Learn about daylighting on Streetswiki.

In our exclusive Streetfilms interview, she talks with The Open Planning Project's Executive Director, Mark Gorton, about some of the highlights her department has achieved in a very short period of time including a physically-separated bike lane on Ninth Avenue, multiple pedestrian plazas (including Madison Square and Broadway Boulevard), new efforts to boost efficiency and speeds on some bus routes, and the city's phenomenally successful, Ciclovia-style closure "Summer Streets".

Marni Ratzel, the Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Planner for GO Boulder met up with us to talk about the art of contra-flowing.

For thirty-four years, Mr. Toth worked for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), and become known for his collaboration and facilitation skills, and was one of the architects of the transformation of NJDOT to a stakeholder inclusive process helping the state become a national leader in Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS).

Mr. Toth has written, "A Citizen's Guide to Better Streets," which is designed to help the every person and advocacy community better understand the behind-the-scenes processes that occur when dealing with transportation departments and how to better prepare and speak their language. He shares some of his views and advice with Aaron in this very important interview.

Transportation Alternatives has recently begun a push to make these more common in NYC. Here's hoping our video (featuring some nice visuals from TOPP's own Carly Clark) can help aid the case and explain what this arcane phrase means.

How'd we get here? Check out: Grand Army Traffic Survey, Reclaiming Grand Army, Minding the GAP.

Diagonal diverters, half closures, entrance barriers, median barriers, semi-diverters; traffic calming techniques come in all shapes and sizes. They can help create more livable communities. As demonstrated in this short animation, once the diverters are in place, traffic decreases on the side street. Cars on the side street must turn left, but cyclists can continue straight. This makes the side street safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Related traffic calming animations:
Chicane
Raised Crosswalks

On alternate side of the street parking days, many communities in Brooklyn have worked out a deal so car owners are allowed to double park with impunity so the streets can get their weekly brushing. (Okay, let's not touch that argument today.) During the interim switchover when drivers are relocating their cars - usually lasting about 15 to 20 minutes - chicanes are temporarily created, which delightfully slow car speeds to more human levels.

We're always trying to enlighten the public here at Streetfilms, by getting inventive using already existing street reality to placate opponents of traffic calming. (Remember our snowy neckdowns?) To add, yes, I have seen vans and small trucks successfully navigate narrow blocks like these. Also please note: in my travels, typical neckdown installations are usually much less drastic then the conditions created here.

Raised crosswalks are Speed Tables outfitted with crosswalk markings and signage to channelize pedestrian crossings, providing pedestrians with a level street crossing. Also, by raising the level of the crossing, pedestrians are more visible to approaching motorists.

Raised crosswalks are good for locations where pedestrian crossings occur at haphazard locations and vehicle speeds are excessive.

Previous animation: Chicanes (:24)

There's only one place we know of in Manhattan (please tell us of others!) where you can go out and do it: the Barnes Dance intersection of 17th Street & Broadway. There you'll find red lights in all directions for about 17-18 seconds or so, allowing pedestrians to have an exclusive phase in which to cross safely. You can even groove it diagonally if you wish. So get out and dance; no cover charge.

This 24 second stop-animation Streetfilm can show you almost as fast as I can describe it. A chicane is a sequence of tight curves in a roadway used to slow cars. Sidewalk extensions jog from one side of a street to the other to create a circuitous route. Literally, the word chicane comes from the German word schikane, meaning harassment.

The Project for Public Spaces has more on chicanes and various traffic calming techniques.

In the near future, please look for other educational claymations here on Streetfilms. Also: let us know in the comments field below what other traffic calming techniques you would like to see animated.

Previously we have posted very short primers here, but today we offer the full tour, complete with many diagrams and photos, which we hope will inspire denizens of Gotham and beyond to use these ideas in their neighborhoods. So go take a walk around your block and start the transformation!

Photosims are a valuable tool for empowering communities to see the potential of their neighborhoods to be more than just conduits for car traffic. The dramatic before & afters re-imagining Amsterdam as a complete street, a traffic-calmed 81st Street, and a car-free Broadway are the types of bold ideas that will be discussed at Tuesday's November 6th event to promote safe livable streets.

Related: Public Space Transformations (2:00)

In this segment, Mark Gorton and Lisa Sladkus talk about space allocation and how much of our city is dedicated to moving people in private automobiles. In addition, Mark shows how free, on-street vehicle storage is favored - even when pedestrians are crammed on to sidewalks. These are things we live with daily, things that are often invisible to our comfort, things that even if we take notice we often think cannot be changed. But we can re-design our streets to make them more people-oriented and enhance the vibrancy of our city.

Related:
Ped Density (:30)
Psychic Space (1:37)

We went back to check in how things were progressing on the NYC DOT's plans for the 9th Avenue physically separated bike lane. The pleasant surprises continue as lane improvements, ample signage, and cyclist-only bike signals have now appeared making the innovative project even safer. And although driver behavior continues to improve, there are a few problems to highlight.

If you enjoyed this, check out others in the series: Clarence: The Traffic Calming Sasquatch & Clarence: The Traffic Calming Maniac

You've previously seen bits and pieces of that trip here on StreetFilms, but we've never posted the entire half hour adventure which contains over 12 minutes of additional footage. And with the incredible turn in leadership in the past months and the speed at which changes are coming, it gives me hope that NYC could one day become as livable as Portland!

This is our first video posting over 15 minutes so we've tried to keep the file size as small as possible. Thus, the quality is a smidgen lower. Please send us feedback on how it looks and if your computer is able to play it.

I was so overjoyed to see so many cool things in progress to help NYC become a better world, I couldn't wait to share some b-roll with with you. Hopefully, this will get us psyched about things to come.

So check out this quick short on before/afters of 9th Street Bike Lane, DUMBO Pearl Street Plaza Piazza, Broadway Bus Bulbs, Bedford Avenue Parking Swap, and, my personal favorite, bike rack outside my house!