Madison Square Before & After Pedestrian Plazas (and more!)
Check out this video montage showing how horrible and inhumane Madison Square/Flatiron Building area was for pedestrians & cyclists in 2007 compared to now!
Posts tagged "tactical urbanism"
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Friday, August 16, 2019
Jersey City’s Bike Master Plan: Using Surveys, Rides & Tactical Urbanism to Generate a Connected Network
Let's Ride JC is Jersey City's first bicycle master plan. While multi-faceted, the project's cornerstone is the development of a low-stress, protected bikeway network serving neighborhoods citywide.
Developed in just over a year, and in conjunction with Jersey City's Vision Zero Action Plan, the planning process included workshops, "handlebar survey" rides, and a large-scale demonstration project showcasing the value of protected bike lanes.
The final master plan and companion bikeway design guide will be adopted early this fall, however the City has already begun implementing 9-miles of protected "quick build" bikeways along some of the most dangerous corridors in the city core, making progress against the goal to become one of the best cities for cycling in America.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Jersey City Experiments with its first Protected Bike Lane
The Bergen Avenue protected bikeway is a temporary facility, implemented with removable materials to demonstrate to Jersey City residents and businesses how protected bike lanes could be implemented in Jersey City. The protected lane is Jersey City's first and is 75% wider than other lanes in Jersey City so that people cycling can travel side-by-side. The lane also welcomes people using scooters, skateboards, and rollerblades.
The 6-block, .4-mile project links Journal Square and McGinley Square and was built to last over the duration of JCAST 2018, the city's three-day, citywide arts festival. Not an isolated project, the demonstration project is part of the engagement process for the Let's Ride JC Bicycle Master Plan, an effort being lead by Street Plans with support from Arterial, Equitable Cities, Streetfilms, and many community groups and city departments who desire safer streets.
Monday, August 6, 2018
Barcelona’s Superblocks: Change the Grid, Change Your Neighborhood
Two years ago, Barcelona announced it would transform chunks of its street grid to prioritize people over cars. The method: superblocks.
When American planners think of superblocks, they probably think of big parcels that disrupt the pedestrian network and discourage walking. Barcelona's superblocks are different. They only limit motor vehicle movement, which makes walking and biking easier and opens up streets for people to gather.
On Barcelona's superblocks, local access for motor vehicles is still permitted, but through traffic is not. The streets are designed to make drivers feel like they are visitors, with narrow rights-of-way for cars. Almost all car traffic is local residents or people with personal business on the block.
Without dangerous car traffic overrunning the streets, generating noise and pollution, superblocks are full of life. Children can play and explore. Seniors and people with limited mobility can relax and socialize. People -- including young kids -- can feel safe and confident riding bikes.
I visited Barcelona in June, when some of the initial, temporary superblock treatments were being made permanent in a nine-square-block section of the street grid with a lot of public housing in the Poblenou neighborhood. The drone of cars was gone, and you could hear sounds you normally can't in the center of a city. Street life ebbed and flowed through the course of the day and the week.
Barcelona has not installed many superblocks yet. In fact, until recently Poblenou was the only one. A second superblock officially opened in Sant Antoni just days before my arrival, a project tied to the redesign of a public market.
More superblocks are on the way, according to Barcelona officials, with roughly a dozen others in the pipeline. It will be exciting to see this experiment continue to transform Barcelona and show the rest of the world what cities can do when they tame car traffic and put people first.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Transform Your City With Tactical Urbanism
Tired of waiting for local governments to fix dangerous conditions, in many cities everyday citizens are practicing DIY traffic-calming to make streets safer for walking and biking. Some are forming “Departments of Transformation” to show others how to implement low-cost interventions, like traffic cones, to slow drivers down.
Often these installations are quickly removed by local DOTs, but in other cases, cities are embracing what’s come to be known as “tactical urbanism.” Some cities are making citizen-generated improvements permanent, while others are encouraging the movement by sanctioning, and even sponsoring, tactical urbanism projects.
Watch as we check in with people who are making this happen around the world!
Monday, June 26, 2017
Streetopia: Reclaim Your Streets! (Streetopia Kickoff Promo)
Welcome to Streetopia the new push to drastically reimagine our city streets as places for people, with more efficient transport and safety for children & seniors to recreate and live. This is the "kickoff" promo, one of five we produced for the event.
The below paragraphs were so excellently written by Streetsblog's David Meyer in the article "Envisioning NYC Next Streets Revolution" that I'll now just lift those paragraphs below to describe some of why Streetopia is upon us.
About 12 years ago, a coalition of advocates under the banner of the New York City Streets Renaissance set out to transform city transportation policy away from the car-oriented status quo and toward people-first streets. Streetsblog and Streetfilms have their origins in that campaign, propelling a growing public awareness that NYC doesn’t need to settle for dangerous, traffic-choked streets.
While small interventions like signal changes, pedestrian islands, and safer markings have touched many neighborhoods, only a sliver of a fraction of city street space has been reallocated from cars to other modes. You’re less likely to lose your life in traffic now than 12 years ago, but New York still doesn’t have streets where, say, parents feel comfortable letting a child in elementary school walk a few blocks on their own to a friend’s house.
New York can be a city where everyone from young kids to elderly seniors can get around without fear, where neighborhood streets can be places of congregation and activity instead of motorways. To become that city, we’ll have to shift a lot more street space from cars to transit, biking, and walking.
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Riverside, CA Tries Out Pedestrian Scramble Intersections
Go Human is a community outreach and advertising campaign with the goals of reducing traffic collisions in Southern California and encouraging people to walk and bike more. Developed by the Southern California Association of Governments, Go Human implements open streets and pop up events throughout the Southern California region.
Recently in Riverside, CA, the Go Human campaign employed Street Plans & Alta Planning to help install temporary tactical urban installations at two intersections and develop and implement a 3-week pilot for a pedestrian scramble on Mission Inn Avenue and Market Street, considered to be the gateway to the city of Riverside. These efforts are a fun way to help educate and inform city residents while gathering feedback both visual (from city engineers) and written (from users) at kiosks set up by Go Human. The quick feedback in our Streetfilm shows people seem to love the idea!
Over the years, also known as the Barnes Dance and Diagonal Crosswalks, the NYC Council recently passed legislation that would require having the NYC Dept. of Transportation bring 25 such treatments to high-crash, dangerous intersections in the city. This is great news.
But let me add this: although Pedestrian Scrambles are an effective implementation in very complicated, high volume places, Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) - where pedestrians get a 5 to 7 second head start on traffic - are also extremely effective and can be done with a flip of the switch. NYC DOT has installed many of these in my neighborhood in the past few years.
All in all, the more tools to slow cars and tame the streets, the better.
