11-10-1997 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

TRAFFIC from B1Consultant advises adding space for walking, cycling Kulash said he used to share the widely held professional view that traffic must move at the highest possible speed and . that almost nothing else mat tered." Now he believes that traffic engineering must balance the de sire to move cars against the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and shoppers. “We are still veiy much in favor of traffic moving as well as possible." he said, "but our idea of what is 'as well as possible’ has really changed." Kulash has been hired by St. I’aul to help redesign Shepard Hoad; by Roseville and six other northern suburbs that want to serve their communities better with local roads and transit, and by the University of Minnesota Uesign Center for American Ur ban Landscape to help first-ring suburbs cope with the aging of their communities. Roads are big enough His opinions are arresting. He says, for example, that I here is not much to be dnnp about Iree^ay congestion"" ters. ‘They would much prefer to be going slower but without long delays in a nice environment." If speed and absence of inter ruptions aren't the most impor tant things to drivers, it may be possible to improve conditions for motorists while also improv ing the streets for cyclists, pedes trians and shoppers. Kulash said. “An example is changing a sh; '•by, blighted strip area into a vib;.: town center that makes most t‘, vers think that the traffic servii has improvetl even though it may be slower." he said. L ry: «•; *ir ■ ‘ •* Consultant Walter Kulash prescribes slower speeds for traffic woes. Hoads and freeways — their 1Hits come and gone, essem" tjally.•• he satd. “We can't keen mtiking them bigger because they ■<!re_at a reasonable maximum VVe think that light rail is definitely what’s next for a city the size of the Twin Cities." 1-ighi rail would not greatly re duce traffic congestion. Kulash concedes, because "as soon ac you rpffiif^p ffaffir nr m.-iku mnpp room for it, traffic just expanse to riiLitup.." ------- Rut it s a huge, huge trans portation soiutiott for people who (wouldl now have the option (of) traveling by something other than silting in their car." he said. Something to look at People who are silting in a car iire hungry for a better environ- ■nient. Kulash says. As proof, he •points to the motorists who cut through neighborhoods. ' "We all thought that was short-cut traffic." Kulash said. But we found that a good num ber of drivers ... can’t stand to be out or. the ugly, blighted streets" or waiting for traffic me- People want livability The notion of "livability.” however that’s measured, is the part of the asphalt rebellion catching on quickly in the Twin Cities area. "All over the couniry, traffic is an issue — a huge issue." said St. Paul Public Works Director Stacy Becker. It s an issue that people care about and that they com plain about. You have to start experimenting with something new because there is a demand out there." St Paul slowing traffic St. Paul is experimenting with several traffic-shaping strategies, some with and some without Ku lash’s help. Kulash is helping the city rede sign busy Shepard Hoad, which runs iilong the Mississippi River, to make it safer and more invitir.g to development, pedestrians and cyclists. The question. Becker said, is how can the road be designed to enhance the riverfront "and how can it be part of the urban fabric rather than a road that races through it?" On Wabasha Street, one of downtown St. Paul's tho roughfares, the city has made two dozen low-cost improvements over the past two summers, in cluding the addition of «0 on street parking spots, a bike lane, flower beds and banners, brighter street lights and tiilier operations by store owners. The goal is to a make the street a more pleasant place and em- jthasix.e it as downtown's main stieet, said citv engineer Tom Lggum. Pedestrians have told the cii\ in a survey that they feel more protected from moving cats iiou that Wabastia has mure on-street parking, and "the ptirked cats serve to frame the street a bit. make it look a little more pleas ing, a little busier atid a little more lull of people." nggutn saitl. What has been the impact on traffic? "It takes longer, but it s not stopped." Eggum said. "If it takes a couple more minutes to get oitt of town and the tradeoff is that pedestrians feel that their walk is a lot tnore pleasant — that's not a bad tradeoff," Eggum said. 1 hat s the thinking behiiul the asphalt rebellioti. But where is the slower traffic heailed? loward a transpoitation s\s- tern more like Europe s. wnl. more public transit, bike parking and pedestrian crosswalks, said *fob Works, assistant director of the pepartnient of TransporTa- lion’s advanced transpon.iTmn systems. “There is a real awaren.-ss ihai it's not physically possible or ei-,i way out o said. The department is wurki;ig toward making biking, walking and transit as viable in the ne.xt centuf)' as highways have been in the 20th century, he said. This squares with Kulash s view that people should never have to get on an "ugly, bliglited. six- or seven-lane street' to do such ordinary things as shopjring for groceries, taking cliildreii to day care or picking up something at the dry cleaners.