#PBOT's "traffic calming" projects are such kid-gloves weaksauce that doesn't pretend to control the kinds of drivers who are actually making our streets feel unsafe. Their machines are 5-7000lb lumps of steel being flung around at 30mph with 400hp and Portland has, after a decade of organizing by neighbors and careful work by professional #trafficEngineers, delivered like a dozen rubber bumps and some paint. #tacticalUrbanism is this stuff but overnight, & then iterate
@daihard yeah it needs to have a bypass so you can keep riding while oncoming drivers deal with each other only, instead of trying to beat you to it, or some other nonsense where they are in your way. It's not rocket science, but it does require a DOT to remember that bicycles exists, which is an advanced skill. #BikeTooter#TrafficCalming#Bollards#Bollards#Bollards
@enobacon@daihard I’ve seen this bollard and bypasses in the UK and France, and they work brilliantly. Would love to see them in the US where only potential damage to a vehicle is enough to make someone slow down.
Years ago, @vmbrasseur gave a talk at OSCON/osbridge about the importance of failure, as a way to learn, as a key to innovation, about how failure needs to happen or you become averse to change. I haven't really thought about how using that wisdom in my software experience has shaped my opinion about how cities should do public works & planning, #transportation, #zoning, #tacticalUrbanism, etc until this #StrongTowns video. Prototype, test, measure, don't guess. #JFDI
"The reaction from walkers, bikers, families, and nearby business owners was overwhelmingly positive."
“We'll have to see how we can apply pressure and what it takes to get the city leaders to listen or do something for safety.” (Try not letting #trafficEngineers over-inflate the costs with their convoluted excuses for trying to preserve car speeds.)
I'm making it a rule to always be asking for names, of who is making the decisions about what is or isn't within the realm of possibilities. I'm not getting answers that include names though... 🤔
@enobacon Our latest piece of tactical urbanism is a basketball goal in the street next to our neighbor's old Rav4 that's had a flat tire for three months.
Mailboxes built of bricks to match folks houses. Every weekend, some joyrider in a pickup truck would take out one. And then repeat the laborious process of putting it back together…
After the 5th time, neighbor buried a heavy steel pipe 5’ down and built bricks around it.
Next weekend- mailbox still hit; neighbor happy his bumper fishing has gone so well. 😂
Amazing stuff in this video of Denver's #quickBuild#tacticalUrbanism street designs @activetowns this is what north america's #trafficEngineers need to be doing, like mini-roundabouts for the price of a speed hump 😍, choke points mid-block on side streets, let's go!!! I particularly love how much they are squeezing these car lanes, if you want to change culture, only give #drivers like 3in of slack and engineers can go "🤷 just slow down, it'll fit" 😎 #ClimateAction
The Case for Guerilla Crosswalks
Activists are painting unsanctioned DIY crosswalks at intersections in cities like Seattle and LA. Transportation officials should understand why.
"When motivated, transportation agencies can quickly alter streetscapes. But they often seem to show more urgency removing citizen-built crosswalks than they do installing official ones." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/when-crosswalks-go-rogue #davidzipper#tacticalurbanism
@enobacon i just saw someone drive right through the crosswalk at the diverter at the southeast corner of beverly cleary school the other day. i yelled at them, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"