#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
Next question is from @meganL about national cycling advocacy organizations:
Q3. What advocacy item would you like the League of American Bicyclists (or whatever your national/local cycle advocacy group is) to add to their lobbying agenda?
A3 #BikeNite it seems like every politician and even most drivers "support bicycling" but what's lacking is the connected low-stress infrastructure to get people of all ages and abilities from all points A to all points B by bike. DOTs' bike plans are being built on like a 200-year timeline and #CompleteStreets are never going to happen before the climate extincts us unless we do #TacticalUrbanism and network-level reprogramming of space that's effectively reserved for cars
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
VICTORY! We painted crosswalks at Ave 53 & Lincoln in Highland Park after two separate requests: "People drive fast thru stops on all 4 corners." "People drive thru stop signs. Tried crossing w/ granddaughter in stroller." We are happy to report our two crosswalks are now four.
IDK what #DOT needs to hear this but just take your entire outreach budget and let every kid decide where to put one jersey barrier, then do that instead of building freeways. #BanCars#StuffInTheStreet#TacticalUrbanism
Let's just imagine that we took the #ClimateAction or #VisionZero plans seriously, with the urgency to quit killing people for not driving (& killing plenty of drivers too), and some actual wish to survive as a species. NONE of the current plans are within 10x of doing it. You need a different strategy. Stop building for cars and just put the actual #StuffInTheStreet that you would 🚧 if you took the lack of network seriously & opened a city-wide project to fix it this year. #TacticalUrbanism
people keep literally saying exactly how to transform your city urgently and without a lot of money but mayors and traffic Engineers just roll up the windows and stare straight ahead at a red light. #ClimateAction#Transportation#InducedDemand#TacticalUrbanism#JFDI