#shared streets

As I was reminded while walking here earlier today, the sidewalk on Edgewood Avenue is way too narrow. Folks regularly have to step into the roadway to pass others.

It shouldn't be like this anywhere, but especially not on the streetcar route. We're missing an opportunity to match transit investment with great pedestrian conditions.

Please look into redesigning this as a shared street, Atlanta! This is an incredible success story waiting to happen.

Some people complain that the streetcar "doesn't go anywhere people want to go," but I see the problem as being that we have 2.7 miles in the middle of the city that can be described by too many as a place they don't want to go.

What we should be asking is: how many people are we delivering to the streetcar by way of a combination of rail-supportive land use that puts an appropriate density near the stations -- and excellent pedestrian conditions that help alternatives to driving be competitive.

We're failing on all those fronts, but we can turn this ship around. We're capable of succeeding in Atlanta and becoming a city that truly supports alternatives to driving (like the streetcar) through our urban design and policies.

Posted by Darin Givens

Someone contacted me on Twitter recently with this question about problems at heavily-trafficked intersection near the Atlanta Beltline in Inman Park:

“Have you ever seen the design of Highland Ave near Inman Qtr @ Elizabeth St? Totally inadequate for the # of peds/bikers. it’s amazing no one has been killed. Tons of per/bike traffic from beltline. Few crosswalks and poorly marked.”

It is pretty awful for pedestrians crossing this intersection. It feels unsafe when you have to negotiate with all the car drivers who are already negotiating with each other at the 4-way stop, and the sidewalks north of Elizabeth Street are kind of narrow. A redesign is definitely needed.

But something else could stand some attention in this spot. The section of Elizabeth just west of North Highland is vexing for pedestrians because a piece of sidewalk there simply disappears and becomes car parking. See the photo at the top (view full photo here) for a look at how awkward this is. Can anything be done to help?

Safer crossings have been recommended by a transportation study

First, let’s address that crossing. Fortunately, the RenewATL website lists Inman Park improvements for streets within this area, including where Elizabeth and North Highland meet. The image below shows the recommendations from the “2013 Krog-Lake-Elizabeth-North Highland Transportation Study” referenced in the RenewATL page. The plan looks good in terms of pedestrian improvements. It suggests enhanced crossing and refuge islands as well as rapid-flash beacons nearby for safe pedestrian crossing. You can see the full study here.

Above: Image from the 2013 Krog-Lake-Elizabeth-North Highland Transportation Study

One unanswered question is this: are all the study’s recommendations going to be implemented? It’s not clear from the info on the RenewATL site. I’ve sent an email to some folks at the city asking about it, and I’ll update this post when I get a reply.

How about a shared-street designation for Elizabeth, west of North Highland?

The sidewalks on Elizabeth Street between North Highland and the Beltline aren’t just narrow, as mentioned above,  they’re nonexistent on one side. You could put in a sidewalk in the section where it disappears, but without preventing use of the existing parking spaces it would likely just be a really wide curb cut, and not that helpful. Here’s an aerial view of the intersection, showing the parking spaces along Elizabeth in the center:

Above: Aerial view North Highland and Elizabeth

Thankfully this section of Elizabeth is narrow enough that the street essentially functions as a shared space. But could the city make this an official shared space instead of just a de facto one? Could the  full width of the street be designed for safe use by drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike? It seems like it would be better from a safety standpoint if we could commit to that status and fund paving textures (cobblestones, etc.) here to keep speeds low, and to incentivize the shared nature of this heavy pedestrian/cyclist area.

What does a good shared space look like?

You may be familiar with the concept of pedestrians and cars using the same space from seeing it in action in european cities. But just because those cities are older and were largely built before the automobile era, that doesn’t mean these designs can’t work here. Project for Public Spaces has a post on the topic and concludes that: “it is perfectly clear that from the engineering perspective, there is no reason why successful Shared Spaces cannot be created in America.”

That post lists some places in the U.S. that have already created shared streets. Here’s a look at one that isn’t included in the list but that’s a little closer to Atlanta. Pictured below is Wall Street in Asheville, NC. It’s an officially-designated shared street with a design that allows all transportation modes to safely co-exist.

Above: A shared street in Asheville. NC. Photo from Flickr.

In 2015, the question of whether bars and restaurants should be allowed to spill out onto downtown sidewalks became all-consuming in Raleigh.  An ad that appeared in The News & Observer a week before the October election depicted a hunched-over man, leaning on a lamppost, seemingly seconds from puking.  It ran with the instantly infamous caption, “Do we really want Raleigh to become drunktown?”

Times have changed.

For starters, Mary-Ann Baldwin — the city council’s biggest backer of downtown nightlife back then — is now mayor.  But more importantly, the coronavirus pandemic has Raleigh’s leaders considering a program that could lead to the soft closures of downtown’s main drags to allow for more curbside restaurant and bar seating as well as expanded pedestrian and bicycle access.

Amid the state’s stay-at-home order, which was lifted last week, Raleigh residents had few options for recreation beyond the city’s sprawling greenway system, which left areas like Lynn Lake, Lake Johnson, and sections of the Neuse Greenway heavily trafficked.  Concerns about crowding on the trails and a lack of social distancing left city officials wondering if the now-empty downtown could help ease the burden while also giving restaurants an opportunity to expand seating beyond their brick-and-mortar locations, which Governor Cooper has restricted to 50 percent capacity for at least the next month.  (Capacity is based on indoor seating.)

In two unanimous votes last week, the council authorized its staff to analyze viable streets for shared uses and soft closures — meaning roads are not permanently blocked off — while also exploring options to increase outdoor dining.

The “shared streets” concept is nothing new.  Oakland, Denver, Seattle, and even Charlotte have already implemented versions.  Oakland used soft closures to transform streets into “bike boulevards” over 20 miles of the city.  Charlotte has identified three corridors in which to restrict traffic and expand multimodal access; it has five more streets under consideration.

In Raleigh, city staffers suggested analyzing the streetscape for areas already used by bicyclists to find locations with low speed limits and access to greenways, parks, and commercial areas.  During a presentation last week, Baldwin wondered if there could be a connection between Chavis and Dix Parks.  Council member Corey Branch asked if areas near schools with vacant parking lots could be considered as well.

Expanding outdoor dining is more complicated and could require changing the city’s existing ordinances or requesting permitting and insurance extensions from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.  If the city moves forward, it could mean fully closing streets to allow restaurants to sprawl out their dining areas onto the sidewalk and into the street.  Other options include targeting restaurants that already have outdoor dining, focusing on parking lots, or creating pathways around sidewalks to protect pedestrians’ right-of-way while also expanding available dining space.

No matter which route the city chooses, it will have to be handicapped-accessible, council member Nicole Stewart pointed out.  And because no one knows how long the pandemic will last, Stewart urged her colleagues to get a pilot program off the ground quickly.

“It’s going to be crucial for us to act quickly and be flexible while working with our business owners across the city,” Stewart said.

Trophy Brewing owner David Meeker agreed.  An avid longtime runner and bicyclist, he says sidewalks have been congested for the last few weeks, making social distancing impossible.

Meeker sees the pandemic as an opportunity to try something new and “take back the streets from cars.”

“In some ways, we need to go out and do it,” he says.  “We might be running out of time; we don’t know how long this is going to last.  It’s a game-changer for some businesses: outdoor seating is the best sign you can have, while businesses are reopening, to say to people, ‘Hey, we’re open.  Come by.’”  

Contact Raleigh news editor Leigh Tauss at [email protected].

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My recent TEDxLongDock talk, Making Main Street a Shared Space, in which I goofed a few things: 

I omitted the definition of a shared street:

short version: A pedestrian-priority street.

The slightly longer version: A shared street is a low-speed, typically curbless roadway designed as a single surface shared among pedestrians, bicyclists, and low-speed motor vehicles.

I listed some of the benefits but left out some important ones, including the fact that the street surface can be rethought in many ways, including mini-parks, places to sit and interact, and use of the shared surface for restaurants' tables and markets' goods, like flower and vegetable stands.

To jump ahead, and just sign the manifesto, click here.

My wife Sarah and I had lived 20 years in Northern Virginia when I drew a circle on a map of the New York City area in the summer of 2010, and we began a search for a new place to live.

When we first visited Beacon, I instantly felt like it was home.

Especially Main Street. On Main Street, Beacon seemed familiar, comfortable, and built on an accessible human scale.

Main Street, Beacon, New York

We immediately stopped our search, signed a lease, and now own a home on South Cedar, near the Library.

And when I attended my high school reunion in 2011, I returned to Brookline Mass, an inner suburb of Boston where I grew up, and I realized why Beacon seemed so familiar.

This is Harvard Street in Brookline, a few blocks from my childhood home. 

Harvard Street, Brooklin, Massachusetts

This is probably why I fell so fast for Beacon: it took me back to my childhood.

And aside from the buildings, what is similar in the pictures of Brookline and Beacon is that the majority of the space is devoted to cars, and pedestrians are restricted to the sidewalks and crosswalks.

It’s no longer the ‘60s, and it’s time to let go of any lingering nostalgia I have from the ways things were then, and even for the way things are today.

It’s time for us to think about a new Main Street, one that is more like the Main Street of the 19th century. One where people come first, and cars come second. 

Jane Jacobs wrote in The Death And Life Of Great American Cities that

The simple needs of automobiles are more easily understood and satisfied than the complex needs of cities, and a growing number of planners and designers have come to believe that if they can only solve the problems of traffic, they will thereby have solved the major problems of cities. Cities have much more intricate economic and social concerns than automobile traffic. How can you know what to try with traffic until you know how the city itself works, and what else it needs to do with its streets? 

You can’t.

The organization of Beacon’s streets today is based on the urban renewal that went on here in the ‘70s. Exactly the same efforts that Jacobs fought against in New York City, and which left us a mixed legacy. But it’s a legacy we can start to change.

And one of the first priorities should be to do this: we need to make Main Street a ‘Shared Street’.

Brighton, UK

'What is a shared street?', you might ask. Short version: A pedestrian-priority street.

The slightly longer version: A shared street is a low-speed, typically curbless roadway designed as a single surface shared among pedestrians, bicyclists, and low-speed motor vehicles.

Exhibition Road, London, UK

What exactly are the benefits of a shared street?

Freer pedestrian movement, while retaining bicycle, local vehicle, and delivery access.

Active use of space, like restaurant tables, street art, parklike landscaping and furniture, all mixed in with parking.

Reduced vehicle speed, which means a quieter, safer, more social and inviting street experience.

Brighton, UK

There are likely to be some immediate, knee jerk 'that will never happen' responses to the idea of a shared Main Street.

But some considerations to keep in mind:

Main Street fits the traffic engineering parameters: it is a good candidate for being a shared street, and the project could be implemented in stages. 

A shared Main Street would be a great attraction for Beacon as an art and culture hub, and we could increase the value of one of our greatest assets.

We’ll have to raise and allocate funds, and that might take time and dedicated effort, both politically and culturally, but is achievable.

But it is fairly obvious that a shared Main Street would attract more people who want to live, work, buy, and explore in Beacon.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

As you can see shared streets are found the world over.

New York City’s planning board recommends shared streets, as one of the many sorts supported there, and they have done innovative things along these lines, like the Times Square redevelopment.

Beacon currently has no shared streets, and no group is advocating for them, until now.

So perhaps we have an answer for Jane Jacobs:

Put people first, and take back Main Street from the cars.

Today, I ask you for your support, dedication, and whatever else it takes to help make this vision into a reality. No one person can do this, alone.

Perhaps it's fitting to start this during the Beacon centennial, when we are looking back on one hundred years of Beacon history.