Transportation Equity in Our City
If you’re a little bit interested in the science of parking, check out this fun and informative podcast with Adam Ruins Everything Adam Conover, and foremost urban planner Donald Shoup.
Listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj3gOlyms-M&feature=youtu.be
A clear explanation of “Bicyclists May Use Full Lane”. Can drivers be educated?
On a personal level, as a recreational and commuting road cyclist, my life is endangered numerous times every time I ride by motorists who assert what they think is their “right” to the road. Sometimes it’s outright aggressive behavior, and sometimes it’s in the form of inattentive entitlement, like rolling though stop signs and turning right on red without a pause. Drivers yell that I should get off the road, even though I have made eye contact and acknowledged drivers near me, and I’m riding in a courteous and careful manner. The reaction by many bicyclists is to move as far to the right as possible to allow drivers to pass. But hugging the line or riding in the shoulder (gutter) only reinforces the belief of any drivers passing people on bikes that they inherently deserve the entire lane, and puts bicyclists in danger of having to swerve around debris, and potentially ending up in the path of a vehicle. Can drivers be educated in this car-centric culture?
Bicyclists May Use Full LaneCarlton ReidOct 12, 2018
Some motorists think roads were built for cars, and that people on bicycles are interlopers. Historically and legally, this is not the case: most global jurisdictions enshrine the right of bicyclists to enjoy the public highway – that is, to enjoy it in law if not always in reality. International traffic treaties also guarantee this basic right. Some bicycle advocates like to remind motorists that they and their motor vehicles are allowed on the road only under license while cyclists are allowed on the road by right.
As evidenced by the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, U.S. bicyclists “may use [the] full lane,” but this doesn’t stop some motorists shouting that cyclists do not belong on roads.
Read more…
With this plan cars would be banned from half of all roads in the city center, and vehicles passing through on access roads would be limited to 15 mph. The ban is intended both to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety, and reduce emissions.
This line in the article pops out: “…future-proofing the Square Mile”. The area of the entire city of Asbury Park is 1.4 square miles, and almost one-third of all households in Asbury Park are zero-car households. If London can make this work for the currently 480,000 people who work there, and for another 90,000 expected to join over the next decade, it’s possible that a city with a population of only 16,000 can do it. American cities and cities all over the world are dealing with the same issues regarding cars: human and environmental health, deaths and injuries, traffic congestion, parking, and speeding. All of these issues can be alleviated by eliminating or at least drastically reducing numbers of vehicles.
The City of London is kicking cars off half its roads
“Top of mind for the City of London Corporation is ensuring that people will be able to navigate the district in the future. Chris Hayward, the City’s chair of planning and transportation, called it “future-proofing the Square Mile,” where currently, 480,000 people work, with another 90,000 expected to join over the next decade. To Hayward, prioritizing walking, cycling, and public transit over private cars is a matter of pure geometry. According to a report from the City, over 600 square meters of street space is needed to move 80 people in 55 cars or taxis; the same number of people traveling in five buses need 170 square meters, and 160 if traveling by bicycle.”
“If the City moves forward with the plans, which are up for a vote later this fall, it will not be the first step the district takes toward creating a more human-scale and sustainable streetscape: Over the summer, the local parking authority began adjusting parking fees in accordance with a vehicle’s emissions, and its also considered banning high-emission vehicles altogether from some streets (Central London is notorious for terrible air quality). It also falls in line with policies under way in other cities. Oslo, for instance, is moving toward a car-free city center next year, and Madridplans to outlaw cars from 500 acres of its city center by 2020.”
Read more…
https://www.fastcompany.com/90248746/the-city-of-london-is-kicking-cars-off-half-its-roads
Electric Vehicle Car-Share Program in Progress in Asbury Park City Hosts Electric Vehicle Ride-and-Drive Event on Tuesday 10/23/18 10/17/18, Asbury Park, NJ – The City of Asbury Park is installing an electric vehicle car-share program, making Asbury Park the first city to offer the service along the Jersey Shore. The City’s electric vehicle car-share partner, Greenspot, will be installing electric charging station infrastructure throughout the City. Vehicles will be available for rent hourly or daily with pricing still to be determined. “We’re starting with 2 car-share vehicles each on Sunset, Mattison, and Springwood Avenues, as well as a dual-port charging station installed for public use on Sunset and Mattison Avenues,” said Transportation Manager Michael Manzella, “Almost one-third of all households in Asbury Park are zero-car households, so this will help improve accessibility for residents, as well as serve as a draw for visitors.”
Read more…
http://www.cityofasburypark.com/egov/documents/1539709020_66182.pdf
There are only 2 American cities among this list of 13 taking steps to reduce use of automotive vehicles. The US is in love with cars, particularly BIG cars, despite emissions and damage to the environment, and the fact that they are responsible for most pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths. Take a look at these cities without cars. Thriving businesses and restaurants, people walking and on bikes, and few if any vehicles. Wow, where do their delivery trucks park?
02 Mar 2018 Leanna Garfield
Germany’s highest administrative court ruled that, in an effort to improve urban air quality, cities can ban cars from some streets.
As the NYTimes notes, the ruling could open the floodgates for cities around the country to go car-free.
But German cities are not the only ones getting ready to take the car-free plunge. Urban planners and policy makers around the world have started to brainstorm ways that cities can create more space for pedestrians and lower CO2 emissions from diesel.
Here are 13 cities leading the car-free movement.
Oslo plans to permanently ban all cars from its city center by 2019 — six years before Norway’s country-wide ban would go into effect.
Read more…
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/13-cities-that-are-starting-to-ban-cars
“Urbanism at it’s core is connective and fluid…”
Renaissance Village has accepted applications and residential spaces are being occupied. The objective of the redevelopment of Springwood Ave is to create an affordable place where people live, work, shop, and visit. The intention is to create a truly walkable and livable, vibrant part of the city, with commitment from the city and investment. The redevelopment of Springwood Ave connects it with Memorial Drive, the Transit Center, and Main Street, making it a great example of revitalization, connecting it “seamlessly to the surrounding area” and the rest of the city.
“Urbanism, at its core, is connective and fluid, creating places where people want to be, not simply via neighborhood revitalization, but by blending that localized revitalization seamlessly into the surrounding area. There must be a sort of “transition” from one area to the next that guides the resident or visitor gently, instead of assuming that a large-scale new-urbanist creation can suddenly spur arteries of growth in inhospitable urban deserts.”
“…successfully landing commercial tenants and creating an intended neighborhood effect is based largely on the overall health of the environment in which they are built. Mixed-use developments are, inherently, intended to welcome and amplify walkability.”
Asbury Park is building a better Main Street and designing infrastructure for accessibility and safety for everyone. Asbury Park is committed to #slowthecars and implementing ways to achieve it.
“It’s the speed, stupid.” Roughly half of this book addresses different aspects of the street and how they are designed and managed. Many of these points may serve multiple objectives and audiences, but they all aim back, in one way or another, at a single issue, vehicle speed.
An excerpt from Jeff Speck’s Walkable City Rules, a step-by-step guide to fixing America’s cities and towns.
JEFF SPECK OCT 9, 2018
Street improvements should be linked to keeping speeding in check.
“It’s the speed, stupid.” Roughly half of this book addresses different aspects of the street and how they are designed and managed. Many of these points may serve multiple objectives and audiences, but they all aim back, in one way or another, at a single issue, vehicle speed.
Read more…
How do we stack up in our initiatives creating an age-friendly city? It can start with safe streets for the most vulnerable. If streets are designed for the elderly they are safe for everyone. This is a list Asbury Park can be on as we continue to make the city more liveable: “…more than 700 cities in 39 countries are signed up to the World Health Organization’s global network of age-friendly cities and communities to promote healthy active ageing and improve the quality of life for people over 60.”
As the world’s population grows older and more urban, cities around the world must decide how to adapt
by Alice Grahame
With the world’s population getting older and more urban, the needs of older residents will play an increasingly important part in the shaping of cities. According to UN figures, the number of over 60s is set to double by 2050, rising from 962m in 2017 to 2.1bn. Already in Akita, Japan, one in three people is over 65. All cities will need to adapt to meet this massive demographic change.
Currently more than 700 cities in 39 countries are signed up to the World Health Organization’s global network of age-friendly cities and communities to promote healthy active ageing and improve the quality of life for people over 60. Membership doesn’t necessarily denote an age-friendly city, but that it is committed to listening and working with its older population to create one.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/10/what-would-an-age-friendly-city-look-like
Asbury Park is taking measures to make streets safe and transportation options accessible to everyone. We’ve often thought that all of it needs to be done and it needs to be done NOW. But what we have learned is that 1. these improvements are so much more complicated than what we see on the surface, like paint and concrete. And 2. many of the improvements and changes have to be done incrementally in order to be successful.
CITY OF ASBURY PARK COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
New Jersey Department of Transportation’s work on the Main Street Revitalization Project also continues with crews installing electrical wires and underground storm sewer infrastructure along Main Street/State Route 71. Residents are asked to use caution during 24-hour lane and parking closures, while Northbound and Southbound traffic is accommodated via lane shifts. Sidewalk access to residences and businesses will be available at all times. The project, which is anticipated to be completed in the spring of 2020, will include replacement of 18 traffic signals with new pedestrian signals, replacement of electrical utility poles, curb upgrades for ADA compliance at every intersection, upgrades of underground utilities, drainage improvements, lighting improvements and partial sidewalk
replacement. Road reconstruction, final repaving and restriping will follow a traditional road diet plan to accommodate all corridor users and will include creating a center two-way left turn lane with a travel
lane in each direction, bicycle lanes and parking.
“With the tremendous amount of improvements we’re making to our City’s streets, it’s a given that the work is going to be disruptive,” said Mayor John Moor, “ but we need to remember that the goal is to
make our streets safer and create more efficient traffic flow— and the end results will be well worth it.”
Read more…
http://www.cityofasburypark.com/egov/documents/1539291752_72533.pdf
There is no time to lose. Right NOW we need to reduce use of cars. This can be done if there is the will to do it. The planet depends upon us all globally–and Americans are among the worst offenders.
LAURA BLISS OCT 9, 2018
A landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released Monday spelled out a grim planetary future in no uncertain terms. If greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere by as much as 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most dire effects of climate change will be unleashed. Coastlines will be submerged, droughts and wildfires exacerbated, coral reefs exterminated, severe food shortages and poverty deepened. And humanity has only a fast-closing 12-year window to make the changes necessary to avoid this fate.
According to the report, decarbonizing the transportation sector would require electrifying vehicle fleets, shifting mobility choices from low- to high-efficiency modes en masse, and transforming urban planning to curtail sprawl and make walking, biking, and transit use easier.
Read more…
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/10/un-climate-report-transportation-choices/572494/