Talking Traffic

Cross posted from The Evil Eyebrow, this is an Atlanta-centric posting.

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The City of Sandy Springs, Georgia, has proposed a pedestrian bridge across the Chattahoochee River between Morgan Falls Park (Sandy Springs) and National Park Service land adjacent to Hyde Farm Cobb County). There is a public information meeting on June 17, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the North Fulton Government Service Center, 7741 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, GA 30350. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you may comment at their online survey.

Why should you support this bridge? Because you want to walk or bike across the river without being hit by a car.

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If you are not familiar with the geography and road network of East Cobb and North Fulton Counties, then you might not be aware that it is difficult to move from northwest to southeast due to the Chattahoochee River. The Chattahoochee is the primary land feature in this area, forcing roads to conform to its meanderings. Between where US 41 crosses “the Chatt” near Cumberland Mall (just south of I-75) and where SR 140/Holcomb Bridge Road crosses at the Gwinnett County border, there are only three pedestrian- and bicycle- accessible crossings. This is a distance of 19 miles along the river. That’s an average of 3.8 miles between crossings and that’s along the river. It’s much farther by road.

To make matters worse, all of the crossings mentioned (including the ones at the ends) are pedestrian unfriendly, designed as arterial roads to maximize the amount of vehicular traffic that may flow across the river. I can state with personal experience that of the five crossings, I would hesitate to use two of them (Johnson Ferry and US 41), and downright refuse to use another two (Roswell Road and Holcomb Bridge Road).

The Morgan Falls Bridge would address these concerns by building a ped/bike bridge which is accessible through low-volume streets on both sides of the river. It would … (dammit, I’ve falling into passive engineer talk! I hate the way I’ve been trained to write like this) … This bridge will make it easier to bike and walk across the river between the parks. From my personal perspective, it will make it easier to travel between Cobb County and Atlanta by bicycle. My route of choice to cross the river on bike is Johnson Ferry Road. Johnson Ferry is unfortunately steep on both sides of the river. It is fun going down, but very much un-fun going up. The Morgan Falls bridge would have less terrain for me to enjoy and that’s fine. If I need to train on hills I’ll go to the mountains.

The Map above shows the location of Morgan Falls park, which is one end of the bridge or you can use this link to get the Google Earth KMZ file that I hacked together.

Comment online or show up at the public information meeting! There is a vocal minority (primarily Cobb County citizens) who oppose this bridge and from professional experience I can tell you that the squeaky wheel indeed gets greased. All too often, the people who show up and/or comment on transportation projects are those opposed, rather than those for. Help make this project an exception and support the growth of Atlanta Metro’s pedestrian and bicycle accessibility.

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Here is a quote from the public affairs officer:

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) is working with The Sandy Springs Conservancy, City of Sandy Springs and Cobb County on preliminary plans to construct a bridge below Morgan Falls Dam. The bridge would be for pedestrian and possibly bicycle use only. It would be constructed as a free span bridge over the Chattahoochee River and would connect visitors to the Sandy Springs’ riverside parks at Morgan Falls with National Park Service land in Cobb County below Hyde Farm. Funding for the bridge has not yet been obtained, but the planning and public review process began in March 2009. In addition to the bridge, the plan will evaluate possible trail connections to Hyde Farm and the Johnson Ferry North unit of CRNRA

Link to the Sandy Springs Conservancy
Directions to the North Fulton Government Service Center
Google Earth link to the project location
Chattahoochee River facts

Topics: NHTSA Fatality Statistics 2008, Speed Humps, Bicycles and Pedestrians in the Motorized Environment

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Fail Blog is a compilation of user-submitted images and videos with the colloquial title of “Fail”. If you don’t know what that means, I suggest perusing the latest postings and it will become obvious.

Signage is often a topic. This one just came up and I find it horribly amusing. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is all too common.

Warning: A great deal of the subject matter on Fail Blog is not safe for work. This particular link is fine, however

Topics: Safe Routes to School

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Navigation Devices causing Havoc: An English village is complaining that since satellite navigation devices have started identifying their main street as the “quickest route”, the traffic has been a nightmare. It’s time to do some strategic networking with the various navigation companies.

Welsch Speed Bumps: I won’t even attempt to pronouce this word. Twmpath (/tʊmpaθ/).

Why is Israeli Traffic Different? Tali Aben answers that question on her blog.

Bicyles as Second Class Citizens: Bill Bean of Take the Lane points me to the website of Bob Shanteau, who is asking why there is such an engineering bias against bicycles in this country. He rightly complains that there is little data, and less reliable research that treats on how to effectively manage a bicycle/vehicle roadway project. I talked about the historically anti-pedestrian bias in road design in my last podcast, but I think we need to talk about bicycles soon.

Traffic Congestion in India: American drivers are exceptionally tame and law-abiding compared to some of our brethren in other countries.

Transportation Alternatives Advocate for New York Non-Automobiles: Do you live or work in NYC? Do you walk or bike? Then read the Transportation Alternatives website.

Texas Transportation Institute Urban Mobility Report: The TTI Urban Mobility report for this year is out, dealing with 2005 data. Congestion is up; that’s no surprise. Time spent in traffic climbed to 4.2 billion hours in 2005, up from 4.0 billion. The full report can be found at the TTI website.

Green Vehicles in Frankfurt: I’m continually amused by the transition of the adjective “green” from “this thing is colored green” to “I’m a super-duper world-saving environmental process/vehicle/practice/industry”. Inhabit reports on green vehicles at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

I-35 Bridge Rebuilding Contract Awarded: Minnesota has awarded a contract to Flatiron Constructors Inc. to rebuild the collapsed I-35E bridge. The Price? $233.8 Million. A bargain.

Bicycle vs. Automobile: News about the ongoing conflict between bicycles and larger motorized vehicles, out of San Diego.

Increase Safety be Reducing Comfort: A German town has followed the lead of several Netherlands projects by removing traffic signals and stop signs and other positive control devices. The theory is that with less direction, drivers/pedestrians/cyclists will be forced to pay more attention and act accordingly.

Teen Driving in Kansas: Kansas is pursuing more restrictive teen-driving regulations in order to gradually ease teens into the driving milieu. Statistics show that teen drivers are more likely to get into collisions not because of drinking or cellphone use, but because of inexperience.

Transporting Chickens: Don’t drive with chickens in your trunk (or cocaine in your cigarettes).

I-35 Bridge Wagons are Circling: There is blood in the water, and the scent of lawsuits in the air. Not to put to fine a point on it, but this is exactly what this case does not need. As I discussed in Episode 2, there are lessons to be learned from this tragedy, but no one will learn anything if all the time is spent trying to sue someone with deep pockets.

• Five Cities awarded Close to $900M: Five american cities have been awarded funds as a part of the US federal government’s Urban Partnership Program.  New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, and Miami have been awarded varying amounts of funds.
• Minneapolis is Respecting the Disaster Site: The site of the I-35W bridge collapse is being restricted from view as much as possible, in respect for the dead.
• Traffic Light of Death!: Any blog entry that pops into my feedreader with this title gets a look-see. The topic may not be wholly fascinating, but the prose that accompanies it definitely is.
• US DOT Not Committed to Bicycles: Malcomxpark reports that Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters does not feel that bicycles are transportation.  He links to another blog with transcripts of interviews with secretary Peters.  You won’t find me being the administration’s defender all that frequently, however Mary Peters seems to be a levelheaded middle-of-the-road Transportation Secretary.  The policies being criticized are rampant throughout the country, not only with this administration.  Americans love their cars and trucks and have not been culturally raised to respect the bicycle.  This attitude is reflected at every level of the transportation infrastructure process, from policy to planning to construction, including funding, which is the linchpin that everything turns on.  To have a bicycle-friendly nation, we need to work with everyone, not just rail at the administration.
• German Prognostication: German Autobahn traffic experts want to predict traffic jams a day in advance.  Sounds cool, I hope they manage it. 

• New Roundabouts in Detroit: Many intersections are being replaced by roundabouts in the Detroit, MI, area.
• Innovative Traffic Calming:  This man used cardboard likenesses of his children to slow vehicles through his neighborhood [video].
• British Airports Are Having Long Lines, Too: Transport Blog debates whether the government-run British Airporty Authority should be broken up.
• NASA Solicits Information:  If you can provide efficient logistical support to a far off outpost, e.g. the International Space Boondoggle, NASA wants to talk to you.  Of course, any commercial or private service that can lessen the cost of achieving low Earth orbit will benefit the entire space program, Space Station or no.
• Traffic Prediction:  NPR stands up for us traffic engineers!
• Bicycles in the Traffic Stream: Mr. Viddy discusses his experiences with being a bicyclist mixed with cars in the Pacific Northwest.
• Physics of Inductance Loops: Physics is Phun explains the inductance loops used to detect vehicles at stop bars.