The Challenge of Pedestrian-Friendly Planning
Most city planning in the past half-century has been car-centric, with a focus on designing roads that have greater capacity and move cars faster. But as environmental concerns and concepts like "walkable town centers" grow in popularity, cities and suburbs are working to make their transportation planning more pedestrian-friendly. We look at some of the challenges our region faces in balancing the needs of pedestrians and cars.
Guests
Policy Director, Coalition For Smarter Growth
Founder, Editor-in-Chief, "Greater Greater Washington"
Senior Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution
Acting Director of the Department of Transportation for Fairfax County
Owner, “Wake up Little Suzie;" co-chair of the Cleveland Park Business Association
Comments
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I can't understand the car-centric attitude that pedestrians (and other non-cars) necessarily take their lives in their hands when using roadways, even at crosswalks where pedestrians have the right of way. Cars are not acts of nature, they're thousands of pounds of metal operated by thinking and responsible human beings. So why are "accidents" often described as simply unfortunate incidents for which we place no blame? It should be incumbent upon a person operating potentially lethal machinery to ensure the safety of that those who are more vulnerable and who have just as much right to the road. Many countries have laws specifically protecting vulnerable road users, we should have the same.
I hear bicyclists talking about the bottleneck they find commuting from Montgomery County to DC when they try to cross the beltway. To avoid these danger points they bike miles out of their way - yet I have never heard this discussed on programs like this. Is anyone working to improve this situation?
I carried on a 14 month debate with VDOT. After a Pedestrian Call by Huntington Metro on N. Kings HWY it is a 2:40 wait for a signal AFTER all the cars get to go 1st from the other streets. Basically VDOT waited for me to just go away. I found 60%+ were jay-walking rather than wait on the signal. it was haralious that another VDOT engineer on "bcc" was appaled but could do nothing.
I regularly use the bike path between the 14th st. bridge and Memorial bridge. The traffic never (virtually) stops for the pedestrian crossings on GW parkway. It's ridiculous, dangerous, and inconvenient. You could cite hundreds of cars for failing to stop on ANY day of the week!
Regarding Tom's (Fairfax DOT) description of pedestrian/bicyclist bridges over Rt. 7 from the direction of Vienna:
1. Are bridges in addition to those at the two METRO stations on Rt. 7 being considered?
2. If so, what is the time frame for constuction of those bridges?
3. For the bridges that are METRO station bridges, will the bridge be open even when metro is closed?
4. For cross walks over Rt. 7 before the bridges are installed, what would the typical walker/bike rider encounter when ready to cross from Vienna to Tysons (frequency of cross opportunities, time allowed to cross).
Thanks.
Robert McCahill
Town of Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC)
Northeast Vienna Citizens Association (NEVCA)