Breakfast links: Good job, reporters and juries

by David Alpert • November 3, 2009 8:19 am

Photo from MyBikeLane.

Putting you in danger: This TV news story about bicycles starts out talking about behavior "putting you in danger," and the reporter goes out on the street to witness lawbreaking firsthand. But what's amazing about this Philadelphia segment is that it's all about cars blocking bike lanes, and the real safety hazards that result. They interview drivers parked in bike lanes, most of whom don't seem concerned about the consequences. (CBS 3 Philadelphia via the Streetsblog Network, Stephen Miller)

Headline a flop, article good: Lisa Rein reverses course from her last few "dreamy sprawl" articles to write a pretty good piece on Maryland's Smart Growth law and its lack of success. As Friends of White Flint note, the headline writer goes a bit sensationalist with "Study calls Md. smart growth a flop," as it's not so much Smart Growth that's a flop but the weak law. Richard Layman explains the problem with Maryland's law in more detail, and notes that Montgomery has done the best job of creating a "growth boundary," while Prince George's has lagged. (Post, FLOG, RPUS)

Don't let the growth policy flop: The Montgomery County Planning Board's efforts to steer growth toward transit-rich areas is getting mixed reviews from the Council. Phil Andrews sees designing around high-speed traffic as a "quality of life" issue, while Roger Berliner is more positive despite some constituent pushback. (Post)

Deliberately hurt two cyclists, go to jail: An LA jury has convicted the doctor who slammed on his brakes right in front of two cyclists to "teach them a lesson" about riding on the narrow canyon road, seriously injuring both. (LA Times, LAist, Jeff)

Tax shelter hazard rears its head again: Remember those tax shelters, called SILOs, that local transit agencies used (or were pressured into) to sell their equipment to banks and lease it back? Remember how last year, a Belgian bank wanted to call in WMATA's loan, forcing it to pay millions, just because AIG collapsed and the bank saw a chance for a windfall profit? This issue hasn't gone away, many transit agencies are still facing huge potential payments, and Congress is looking at legislation to stop the banks from calling in the loans. (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)

Everybody cross now: London has created its first all-way pedestrian crossing, which U.S. engineers call the "Barnes Dance," at a particularly crowded intersection where 32,000 people cross in an hour during the rush period. (Times of London, Charlie)

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17 comments

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David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Cool bit on the all-ways crosswalk -- fyi, Pittsburgh has a lot of all ways crosswalks, especially in the Oakland neighborhood. They're not marked as "all-ways", just that all the lights turn red and everyone gets a walk signal. Sometimes you have to wait longer, but it's great to be able to take the shortest path across, especially at the larger intersections.

by burgher on Nov 3, 2009 8:46 am • link • report

Every time I see someone parked in the bike lane when I'm riding by I really fight the temptation to kick off their rearview mirror. I don't do it but I really really want to.

by Boots on Nov 3, 2009 9:12 am • link • report

Oh and the Courtier suggests that we try the all way pedestrian intersection at M and Wisconsin.

http://theblogofthecourtier.blogspot.com/2009/11/sensible-solution.html

by Boots on Nov 3, 2009 9:14 am • link • report

according to several people i know who grew up in the DC area in the fifties, all-ways crossings were once common in these parts.

by AJ on Nov 3, 2009 9:16 am • link • report

Stopping in the bike lane, I find it only slightly less annoying than cars waiting for the light in the middle of the crosswalk. There's supposed to be a penalty now but it doesn't seem to be enforced.

by Steve on Nov 3, 2009 10:01 am • link • report

DDOT has already recommended that we install a Barnes Dance at M and Wisconsin. Hopefully it will be installed within the next year or so. They also recommended allowing a left turn on to Wisconsin from eastbound M st. This will hopefully take traffic off of 31st st., where people who want to head north from M have to turn.

by TM on Nov 3, 2009 10:07 am • link • report

The Washington Post article on the lack of success of the smart growth law is Washington area centric. Over here in on the Lower Eastern Shore smart growth has had little success primarily because of the no growth mentality that is dominant over here. There also is the issue of the support infrastructure, schools and water sewer capacity.

by Sand Box John on Nov 3, 2009 10:39 am • link • report

This is one thing in the various set of state laws:

There also is the issue of the support infrastructure, schools and water sewer capacity.

That has had some impact, that doesn't change when the control of the various legislative or executive branches may change.

Similarly, having strong "adequate public facilities" laws forces linkage between growth policies and infrastructure. DC doesn't have this. Some people raise this as an issue, i.e., the failure of water mains for fires, the elementary school capacity in Ward 3, to limit proposals for intensification.

But the basic point of the Smart Growth initiative other than reducing exurban sprawl, wasn't really directed towards the Eastern Shore. By definition it isn't in the catchment area for fixed rail transit.

As John Porcari said more than once, all of Maryland's projected population increases for the next few decades could be accommodated by increasing the intensification of land use in the catchment area of transit stations...

by Richard Layman on Nov 3, 2009 3:46 pm • link • report

Boston has many streets with pedestrian exclusive signals that allow diagonal crossing. Theres no special marking, but people figure it out when they notice all the walk signs are on. Some are automatic and operate every cycle. Some require a button press.

There are pros and cons to the system and it depends how its implemented. If pedestrians ONLY get walk during the all-ways its a problem, because nobody likes waiting to cross when the cars have green and theres no obstacle to safe passage.

by J on Nov 3, 2009 4:28 pm • link • report

Although true, J, in Boston any road with cars in the vicinity is an obstacle to safe passage.

The Boston area also has something I don't think I've seen here too often, which is pedestrian crossings that are button activated only, where the lights are otherwise blinking green or blinking yellow. When a ped presses, it can stop the traffic, but otherwise traffic is free to proceed. Seems to minimize wait times all around.

by ah on Nov 3, 2009 4:32 pm • link • report

They're called scramble crossings.

by trainsintokyo on Nov 3, 2009 8:02 pm • link • report

ah, I've seen on-demand pedestrian signals for trail crossings in Florida, and it seems a good fit for a situation like that -- non-urban areas where cars probably aren't expecting pedestrians. I wish they had them on some of the CCT crossings.

by Gavin Baker on Nov 3, 2009 9:37 pm • link • report

True, Gavin, there's not much point where there are likely to be pedestrians on pretty much every light cycle or where there are short blocks.

by ah on Nov 3, 2009 10:26 pm • link • report

Richard Layman:

The three smart growth projects that I am familiar with over here on the Eastern Shore never had a transit component in them. They were/are designed in a manner that would allegedly reduce the need to use an automobile, pedestrian friendly access to commercial, retail and other amenities.

by Sand Box John on Nov 3, 2009 11:32 pm • link • report

ah,

We had something like that in Chevy Chase DC, but somehow the many supposedly intelligent residents of the community found it too confusing, so DDOT changed it to a regular light.

by Andrew on Nov 4, 2009 6:28 am • link • report

AJ - There were still several Barnes Dance intersections on F St NW downtown up until sometime in the late 1970s / early 1980s.

by Kelly on Nov 4, 2009 5:46 pm • link • report

This region has a special relationship with the Barnes Dance, which is named for Henry Barnes, a traffic engineer and administrator who worked in Baltimore, Denver, and New York.

Barnes had an inventive mind and persuasive personality and is credited with a number of applied traffic engineering inventions, including actuated traffic signals, which are signals that change when the presence of an automobile is registered (usually by a crossing of a mechanical or electronic treadle) or when a pedestrian pushes a button.

The Barnes Dance is a pedestrian-oriented traffic signal cycling system that stops all traffic in an intersection at one point in the cycle. This allows pedestrians to get through the intersection at the same time by crossing the street in any direction, including diagonally. The best dances usually took place in the middle of the cycle where the diaagonals all crossed in the center of the intersection.

According to Baltimoreans, the first Barnes Dance intersection was installed in the early 1940s. Denver claims that it was the first city to adopt the Barnes Dance, but they didn't appear there until the late 1940s. Washington had a number of Barnes Dance intersections in around its F Street shopping district in the 1950s and 1960s.

Barnes is also credited with shooting down one of Robert Moses's grandiose plans, an elevated cross-town mid-Manhattan expressway, in 1962, when he was New York traffic commissioner.

by Richard Arkin on Nov 5, 2009 1:04 am • link • report