Comments on: Episode 11 - Traffic Calming

By: Bill Ruhsam

Bill Ruhsam — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:37:47 +0000

There’s a whole episode about functional classification and what sorts of road features are appropriate for what sorts of different road types. Parallel parking is a traffic calming measure, and it occasionally employed to slow vehicles in urban areas. Of course, if it narrows a two way street to effectively one lane, then there may be other things to consider.

By: Annie

Annie — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:27:02 +0000

I’ve never seen a genuine Chicane, but I essentially deal with them on a daily basis. It’s called city roads that aren’t really wide enough for parking on both sides of the street, but it’s allowed anyway. Just replace the pretty landscaping with mostly dead parked cars. It gets even more fun in the winter when the city doesn’t enforce the parking bans when it snows.

By: Bill Ruhsam

Bill Ruhsam — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:04:38 +0000

Regarding the cobbles, I hope that they aren’t slippery when wet or icy? I’m not a fan of brick pavers or antique cobbles; they’re dangerous.

Regarding the chicanes: I’ve never personally seen one in use. Most of the news stories that feature them originate in Britain.

By: James Cronen

James Cronen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:08:12 +0000

Sorry to spam you, but I missed the chicane photo the first time I ran through the show notes. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a chicane in real life. But then again, I don’t get out much.

Do you know if there are any regional preferences as to the traffic calming approach used? I’d imagine that the Northeast has more vertical deflections due to there being less available horizontal space, but I could be wrong.

By: James Cronen

James Cronen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:04:54 +0000

Lark Street in Albany, New York was recently re-engineered.

The asphalt in the “box” in the middle of each intersection was replaced with cobblestones. The net effect being that if you travel more than 20 miles per hour over said cobblestones it makes a huge racket. If you dare to travel over said cobblestones at greater than about 40 mph, you’ll certainly suffer vehicular damage.

I thought it was a great idea when I first saw it, for both aesthetic and safety reasons, but hadn’t realized that this fell under the purview of traffic calming.

Thanks for a great podcast!