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We Want To Stop Speeding In Asbury Park!

What the heck is the 85th Percentile Rule?

We recently had a meeting in Asbury Park about the problem of speeding, and slowing drivers on our streets, a proposed traffic calming measure, specifically mini roundabouts, and how speed limits are determined.

Our Transportation Manager attempted to explain to the attendees what the 85th Percentile Rule is as they questioned why we can’t change speed limit signs. We just can’t. Or at least not without great difficulty.

In simple terms it’s an engineering calculation that the speed limit is determined by the actual speed that people drive. It’s hopefully soon-to-be edited Manual For Urban Traffic Control Devices, MUCTD.

The 85th Percentile Rule is horrible. It’s not about safety.

Hear me? IT’S NOT ABOUT SAFETY.  IT’S NOT ABOUT SLOWING DRIVERS.

It’s about expediting the movement of vehicles.

Here’s a simple, short video with great graphics with Transportation 4 America director Beth Osborne, who joined Wall Street Journal correspondent George Downs to explain why one controversial method for setting speed limits results in higher and higher speeds.

It’s also clearly explained in the excellent site for National Association of City Transportation Officials, NACTO. These folks get it.

The crazy thing is that traffic engineers and planning people don’t seem to speak the same language.

We have city planners who are hamstrung by these regulations, but we can get around them with creative solutions to #slowthecars like mini-roundabouts, speed humps, street narrowing…and we have the grant money do do it.

Let’s get on the same page about saving lives and saving the planet.

Onward.

 

 

 

 

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The Oil Crisis Is a Driving Crisis

…and it’s a human health crisis.

People who bought huge new SUVs and trucks when prices were down are paying the price big time (as are all drivers of personal vehicles). Drivers of these oversized machines have contributed to a huge increase in road fatalities. The consumption of gas by vehicles of all sizes has contributed to deaths due to respiratory diseases resulting from the impact on the environment.

We must figure out a way, “both immediately and over the long term, to curb the addiction to oil. In the United States, transportation accounts for over 70 percent of total oil consumption, and more than 65 percent of that is for personal vehicles, according to the Energy Information Administration. Put another way, personal vehicles alone account for almost half of the burning of petroleum in America. A whopping 80 percent of U.S. climate emissions from transportation come from driving.”

The bipartisan infrastructure bill doesn’t come close to addressing the real problem, which is too many cars, which will be exacerbated by expansion of highways, rather than fixing existing infrastructure, investing in transit, and helping cities reduce car dependency.  It could have funded initiatives for cities to be bold, to help to create streets that are people-centric, to make transit free, and to give rebates to people who buy bikes, and bonuses to folks who get around without a car.

“…as the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) said in a statement last year, the “bill goes in the wrong direction, giving a whopping $200 billion in virtually unrestricted funding” to unsustainable forms of transportation.”

It’s still possible for Biden to make an impact. He can publicly call upon mayors to accelerate transit development, bike, and pedestrian programs using funding in the American Rescue Plan.

“The bipartisan infrastructure package has only made the challenge more difficult. But municipalities could still make it right.”

Read more…

By pouring money into fossil fuel infrastructure, the bipartisan law is already showing its tragic inadequacies.

By Alexander Sammon

 MARCH 14, 2022

If Only There Were an Infrastructure Bill to Deal With This Oil Crisis

 

 

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National Roadway Safety Strategy

The US is at the highest number of roadway deaths in 30 years.

We can take bold steps in our cities and design streets with traffic calming elements to slow drivers, move toward less less car dependence by providing transit, and micro mobility options. We can lobby the auto industry to stop advertising dangerous driving behaviors, and stop building larger and more murderous vehicles that can reach speeds of 160mph and beyond.

The USDOT supports Vision Zero, by preventing dangerous driving, reducing car dependency, and building more and better infrastructure to protect the most vulnerable road users.

Read the letter from the Secretary and the report.

Find out what you can do in your town to make it safe for walking, biking, and rolling in New Jersey. Join NJ Bike And Walk Coalition

Share your email to apcompletestreets@gmail.com to join the movement in our city. Follow  Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition on FaceBook, Instagram, and Twitter @asburyParkCSC.

A letter from US Department Of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Our priority at the Department of Transportation is to make our transportation system safe for all people. Right now, we face a crisis on our roadways. Almost 95 percent of our Nation’s transportation deaths occur on America’s streets, roads, and highways, and they are on the rise. An estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2020. In the first half of 2021, an estimated 20,160 people died, up 18.4 percent compared to the first six months of 2020. And every year, millions more are seriously and often permanently injured. Those lost are our family members, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors. They are the people who build, maintain, and fix our roads. They are the people who deliver critical goods, and those who risk their own lives to keep us safe. The status quo is unacceptable, and it is preventable. We know it’s preventable because bold cities in the United States, and countries abroad, have achieved tremendous reductions in roadway deaths. We cannot accept such terrible losses here. Americans deserve to travel safely in their communities. Humans make mistakes, and as good stewards of the transportation system, we should have in place the safeguards to prevent those mistakes from being fatal. ZERO is the only acceptable number of deaths and serious injuries on our roadways.

USDOT National Roadway Safety Strategy / January 2022

The United States Department of Transportation National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) outlines the Department’s comprehensive approach to significantly reducing serious injuries and deaths on our Nation’s highways, roads, and streets. This is the first step in working toward an ambitious long-term goal of reaching zero roadway fatalities. Safety is U.S. DOT’s top priority, and the NRSS represents a Department-wide approach to working with stakeholders across the country to achieve this goal.

Read more…

 

 

 

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Slowing Drivers In Asbury Park

Asbury Park can redesign and reinvest in our streets as spaces for people, as well as critical arteries for traffic. 3rd and 4th Avenues are through streets into and out of our city. These are wide, lovely residential streets that are treated as speedways for drivers.

Drivers will speed if they are able to do so.  Education and enforcement are certainly ways to attempt to change driver behavior. But the most effective way to prevent speeding is to erect visual and physical obstacles, so drivers are less likely to press down on the gas pedal.

One such traffic calming measure that has been discussed in Asbury Park is the use of mini roundabouts. There are other effective measures as well.  Please take a look at the Urban Street Design Guide, offering the best principles and practices of the foremost engineers, planners, and designers working in cities today.

 

 

The guide outlines options that are effective and attractive to keep the most vulnerable road users safe, and to maintain the beauty of our neighborhoods.

Here are a few:

Mini roundabout

Curb extension

Chicane

Note: these traffic calming designs are not those which have been proposed for Asbury Park. They are examples from the Urban Street Design Guide prepared by the National Association of City Transportation Officials

 

As always, APCSC values your comments, and please share!

Polli Schildge, APCSC Editor

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NEWS! NJ SAFE PASSING LAW IN EFFECT TODAY!

Drivers must now move over when passing people walking and on bikes

 

“The N.J. Safe Passing Law comes at a critical time for making our roads safer for everyone, especially vulnerable road users,” said Jim Hunt, Safe Passing Law Campaign Leader for the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition. “(During the pandemic) we have seen an increase in people walking, biking and rolling to get to work, to school, or to parks or take their health and fitness routines literally on the road.”

Meanwhile vehicle traffic has increased to pre-pandemic levels on roads, he said.

“This has resulted tragically in an increase in serious injuries and deaths in the state,” Hunt said.

Advocates cited State Police records that said bicycle rider fatalities in 2021 already match last year’s total at the same date. Pedestrian fatalities now almost match 2020 and are on a pace that could lead to a 60% increase in 2021.

Passage of the bill caps over 10 years of advocacy led by the NJ Bike and Walk Coalition, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the grassroots TEAM4 the NJ Safe Passing Law, advocates said.
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NEWS! Asbury Park Bikeway Grant

NEWS!
THE CITY OF ASBURY PARK AWARDED $1,135,000 from NJ Department of Transportation through Bikeway Grant and Safe Streets to Transit Grant Programs.
The City will begin the Asbury Avenue Bikeway project and upgrade the intersection at Bangs and Prospect Avenues.
The Asbury Avenue Bikeway project will include upgrading the traffic signal at Asbury and Grand Avenues and bike infrastructure improvements to benefit cyclists and pedestrians.
Safe Streets to Transit projects facilitate the implementation of projects and activities that will improve pedestrian conditions within a 1-mile radius of a transit facility or station.
The grant funded by this program will be used to install a new traffic signal at Bangs and Prospect Avenues as well as to make necessary safety upgrades to the intersection.
“We’re thrilled to be awarded these NJDOT grants and look forward making much-needed improvements to Asbury Avenue and the Bangs Avenue/Prospect Avenue intersection,” said Mayor John Moor, “Funding like this allows us improve overall safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists in Asbury Park without burdening local taxpayers.”
Friends, share your emails! Please email apcompletestreets@gmail.com for the new Google Group!
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APCSC And Monmouth University Grad Students: Digital Design For Asbury Park

APCSC Founder Polli Schildge was honored and delighted to work with students earning an M.A. In Communication Idm (Interactive Digital Media) in November 2021 along with Professor Amanda Stojanov.

MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY INTERACTIVE DIGITAL MEDIA STUDIO X APCSC GRADUATE COURSE

 

With the guidance of Professor Stojanov these creative digital design students gained understanding of the need for safe streets for the most vulnerable road users in Asbury Park. They learned how streets designed for motor vehicles endanger the lives of people walking and using micromobility like bicycles and scooters,

The projects were focused on Vision Zero, (adopted in cities and states all over the US, and recently adopted NJ 4′ Passing Law.

The students got out on the streets of Asbury Park, on bikes, walking, and on scooters. They used drones,  and created videos and graphics.  They used advocacy language, “crash not accident”,  learned about infrastructure such as traffic circles and protected bike lanes, and they were spurred to action learning the number of deaths in traffic violence in the US.

For more information on the project or student work please contact astojano@monmouth.edu

Project Overview: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gKpI2Sp6N-Yb4Dxs3BJ_Ls5DSvR0vDZN?usp=sharing

Video by students Skylar Smith and Stella Clark

Posters by students Skylar Smith and Stella Clark

 

 

Video by Gianna Acquavella

 

 

Video by Idalis Maldonado & Nicole Totland

 

AJ Benfante’s project is a visual narrative in a storybook format.

Explore the project here: https://editor.p5js.org/AJB322/full/KkqVutBFX

 

Abby Brooks envisioned a non-linear storyline.

Explore the project here: https://editor.p5js.org/AbbyBrooks/full/AAqNVCwUx

 

 

 

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MLK DAY 2022: Mobility Is A Racial Justice issue

“…when we talk about transportation, when we talk about planning, when we talk about anything in the built environment, we have to be willing to talk about race.” -Tamika Butler

 

Today on Martin Luther King Day 2022 I present you with impactful thoughts in text and audio from two leaders in Mobility Equity.  Charles T. Brown and Tamika Butler have spoken and written eloquently and tirelessly about the need to make cities and towns fully accessible to people in marginalized communities, and that we must stop policing people of color on bikes and walking.

Street Smart offers a one-stop resource for city leaders and advocates to find what they need to address Mobility Equity, and Transportation as a Social Justice and Racial Justice issue in our cities.

Read on. Please comment.

Onward. -Polli

Arrested Mobility: Exploring the impacts of over-policing Black mobility in the U.S.

“Arrested Mobility is the assertion that Black people and other minorities have been historically and presently denied by legal and illegal authority, the inalienable right to move, to be moved, to simply exist in public space. Unfortunately, this has resulted — and continues to result — in adverse social, political, economic, environmental and health effects that are widespread and intergenerational. But they are preventable, which is why we are here talking about it today.” – Charles T. Brown

 

Mobility Equity: Whose Data Counts?

“Transportation is the prism through which we should see many other social justice issues. Because I can’t be economically mobile, if I’m not able to be mobile. I can’t have health care, education or access to those things if I literally can’t get there.” Tamika Butler

 

Evidence and Insight for Healthy Transportation

“Transportation connects people to the places that are essential for their well being. We believe that transportation systems can create and support healthy, just, and climate-resilient communities.”


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​”Yet, for many people, destinations are too far from home, transit is not reliable, walking and bicycling are impractical, or the streets are not safe. Rather than connecting people to opportunity, lack of adequate transportation is a barrier to reaching employment, schools, health care services, and social networks. Vehicular emissions expose communities to air pollution, increasing their risk of asthma and heart disease. Transportation is also the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the US, driving climate changes that will disproportionately affect many communities of color.”

“Find success stories with key lessons learned in one easy-to-search place. Why re-invent the wheel? Streetsmart offers insight via guides, case studies, and fact sheets relevant to each topic area. Learn from others working on issues similar to yours.”

 

 

 

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Year In Review 2021 Part Two

And Now For Some Good News

Sharing the news collected and reported by our friends at StreetsblogUSA about reducing dependence on cars and improving conditions for walking, biking, and transit.

Let’s take a look at some of this year’s best news — and start thinking about how to build on it in 2022.

Advocates found big silver linings in a flawed bill

Those bright spots included new dollars for transit station accessibility, electric school buses, and road diets, as well as a 60-percent boost for the largest federal program aimed at building safe walking and biking infrastructure. A slate of new policies became law, too, like one that will force most urbanized states to spend more money on saving vulnerable road users lives, and a new requirement that automakers test how likely their vehicles are to kill a vulnerable road user in a crash and make those stats known to prospective buyers.

New US DOT leadership wrote some great grants

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been the subject of intense scrutiny among sustainable transportation advocates since he was confirmed to the top spot at US DOT in January, some of whom who questioned his mobility resume and commitment to radically reimagining the role of safety for communities of color in the street realm. But in the months sense, many have been pretty happy with how the former mayor’s team has wielded their limited discretionary power so far – and optimistic about how he’ll allocate the billions of new grant dollars that will fall under their sole purview in 2022 and beyond.

Feds promised a potential sea-change on safety

The other good news out the Buttigieg administration followed some of 2021’s worst news: that road traffic deaths were on track to reach their highest level in over a decade.

To its immense credit, US DOT responded to that news by immediately promising a new “National Road Safety Strategy,” which the agency said would be “rooted in the Safe System approach” that’s been embraced by the countries around the handful of countries world that have made the most progress towards Vision Zero.

The Covid-19 bike boom kept booming

The uncertainty of 2020 may have effectively scared many erstwhile transit commuters onto two-wheeled transportation — or at least scared them out of gyms and onto outdoor rides. But even after mass transportation was largely proved safe and gyms started re-opening their doors, many Americans stayed in the saddle, and advocates are hopeful that cities will start building infrastructure to serve that sustained surge in riders.

Big state and local wins

In sustainable transportation, some of the most seismic victories seem pretty small at first — and 2021 was full of significant local wins that could set an example for cities across America.

Happy New Year To All From Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition!

 

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Year In Review 2021

Bad News First  

(Don’t worry: we’ll have the good news tomorrow.) 🎄

Thanks to our friends at Streetsblog USA for great journalism reporting every day.

Here were the five biggest bummers on the Streetsblog beat last year, and a few thoughts on what we can take away into next year.

Traffic violence on the rise…

…And legislators were slow to respond

Bad news for pollution — even during a pandemic

EV-mania instead of mode shift

An infrastructure fight with disappointing results

As always, love to hear your thoughts.

Onward.