traffic calming public proposal

8/7/2019 Traffic Calming Public Proposal

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Old East Village

Proposal for Passive Traffic Calming Measures

Prepared by the Traffic Calming Committee of the Old East Village Community Association February 2011

For discussion purposes

The General Problem

Background on the

Neighbourhood

The Association has had a great number of complaints over the years from

residents concerned about traffic patterns and characteristics within our

neighbourhood. While a significant number of these complaints have arisen

from the fact that Queens Avenue, as it runs through our neighbourhood, is

designated as an arterial road and moves a large number of cars at above

average speeds, there are a number of other traffic problems as well.

Complaints are generally organized around two fundamental characteristics of

traffic in our neighbourhood, as in other neighbourhoods across the city.

First, there is a feeling that car traffic moves too quickly along our streets,

posing substantial risks to our children, pedestrians and cyclists in general,

residents entering and exiting their driveways, and affecting quality of life in the

neighbourhood. The road system is the largest single component of public

space in the city. While noone would suggest that roadways are the most

appropriate places for recreational activity, drivers need to be reminded thatthey must share the roads in residential neighbourhoods.

Second, there is a concern with traffic volumes throughout the neighbourhood,

mostly at certain times of the day, of course, and a feeling that there is a

significant volume of commuter traffic making use of our neighbourhood streets

to avoid traffic on local arterial roads.

Our suggestions for traffic calming in Old East Village attempt to address each of

these concerns in ways that make sense for US and do not require the City to

postpone resolution by citing the need for traffic studies or requiring us to join a

queue for traffic calming study and action. Our suggestions also require very

little investment by the city for implementation.

The Old East Village is a downtown neighbourhood that is entirely residential

outside of the commercial corridor along Dundas Street and the light industrial

corridor along Florence Street, with a few peripheral areas thrown in for good

measure bordering the rail lands on the northern and southern edges of the

neighbourhood.

Streets in the neighbourhood are arranged on the grid system. There are two

elementary schools located here one on Lorne Avenue and the other on King

Street.

There are a number of arterial roads transiting the neighbourhood which we

expect have the capacity to handle all of the commuter traffic passing though

the area.


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Old East Village




Previous Traffic Studies

Completed by the City of

London

The demographics of the neighbourhood are evolving quite rapidly and we are

witness to increasing numbers of young families taking up residence in the

neighbourhood. There are many more young children present.

Somewhere between onethird and onehalf of the 2,000 homes in the

neighbourhood are multiplexed, mostly often upanddown duplexes. Often,arrangements are in place in these multiplexes allowing one of the tenants

exclusive use of the rear yard which means that the other tenant(s) have only

front yards for outdoor amenity spaces. This has the potential to put more

people in closer proximity to the roadways.

The residential streets are relatively narrow by city standards, with onstreet

parking, narrow boulevards and shallow front yard setbacks.

On several occasions, the City of London has agreed to do traffic studies to deal

with complaints about excessive traffic speeds and volumes on our

neighbourhood streets. Most frequently, these have measured speeds and

volumes along Queens Avenue, but there have been others as well along Lorne

Avenue and Dorinda Street, to name but two.

In each of these cases (other than the rather special case of Queens Avenue in

advance of its recent reconfiguration), it was demonstrated that average traffic

speeds were not so significantly different from the posted speed limit that

immediate remedial actions were required. By itself, we would suggest that

these findings are indicative of the real problem with cars in residentialneighbourhoods.

We note, though, that the statistics compiled by Roads & Transportation staff

for the Old North Neighbourhood Traffic Calming Plan presented to the

Environment and Transportation Committee of Council on September 28, 2009.

In this Plan, it was noted that one in five vehicles travelling on local streets were

travelling at average speeds of between 5060 km/hr, and that 6% of all vehicles

were travelling at speeds in excess of 60 km/hr. These numbers suggest that

the problem of excessive traffic speed on local residential streets is a problem

not limited to any particular neighbourhood, even if the average speed is usedas a measure.

While we have no data on the percentage of overall traffic volumes on our local

streets comprising cutthrough traffic commuters transiting the

neighbourhood on their way to someplace else we are quite certain that it is a

significant portion of overall traffic volume. During morning and afternoon rush


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Old East Village




The Purpose of Traffic

Calming Measures

Specific Proposals

To deal with some of the

problems experienced along

Queens Avenue in the

morning and afternoon rush

hours.

hours, we are reasonably certain that this cutthrough traffic exceeds the

volume of local traffic.

Traffic calming measures are undertaken to reduce average traffic speed and

volume in particular locations. On local streets, it reinforces an understanding

that drivers ought to drive responsibly and with care for others with whom theyare sharing the public rightofway so as to enhance the safety of pedestrians,

cyclists, residents entering and exiting their driveways.

Hans Monderman, a noted expert in the field of traffic calming, had it right: in

this day and age, we have had the traffic world forced on to our social world.

Local streets have a form and a function that is very different from that of

arterial streets.

Having participated in the Queens Avenue reconfiguration between Quebec

Street and Adelaide Street, we are aware that many of the traditional measures

used in active traffic calming, such as increasing the number of stop signs and

traffic lights or employing speed bumps, have been shown to negatively affect

public safety and do little to decrease average speeds and volumes.

We are also aware that there is a long line of neighbourhoods looking for traffic

calming measures from the city and a very small budget to accommodate them.

It is our hope that the passive traffic calming measures proposed below, dealing

with clearlydefined traffic issues as experienced here in our own

neighbourhood, can be implemented with minimal investment from the city.

We now know that some of the problems experienced along Queens Avenue

during rush hours are the result of the awful traffic light setup, and the

engineered congestion at Dundas and Quebec Sts. Rather than wait for right

hand turns onto Quebec St. (and then onto Queens Ave) when feeder traffic

northbound on Egerton St. further congests the area many commuters remain

in the inside lane on Dundas St., continue past Quebec St. and turn onto Ontario

St. (and perhaps English St. as well, though the evidence is not so clear here), toaccess Queens Avenue westbound. Given the high traffic volumes on Queens

Ave during rush hours, these commuters will often make unsafe left hand turns

onto Queens Ave. in attempts to beat the traffic. The results are traffic

accidents at the corner of Queens and Ontario Sts., unsafe pedestrian


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Old East Village




To deal with excessive traffic

volume and traffic speeds on

Burbrook, Dorinda and

Charlotte Sts., and Princess

Ave. east of Quebec St.

during rush hours.

To deal with excessive

speeds on Florence St..

mostly during rush hours.

crosswalks as drivers roll through the stop sign trying to enter Queens Ave, and

unsafe speeds for the same reason.

Proposed Solution: No left turns allowed onto Queens Avenue from

Ontario St. during rush hours.

For the same reasons as above the congestion experienced on Dundas St.

during the afternoon/evening rush hour specifically a common strategy

employed by commuters travelling westbound on Dundas St and intending to

travel north on Quebec St. is to avoid the intersection altogether by cutting off

onto Burbrook, Dorinda or Charlotte Sts., and then west along Princess Ave. to

Quebec St. Given the volume of traffic at rush hour, together with driver

impatience, vehicle speeds especially, but also traffic volumes are excessive.

Proposed Solution: to convert Princess Ave. from Quebec St. to

Charlotte St to 1way, allowing only eastbound traffic.

Most of Florence St. is nonresidential, except for the section between Egerton

St. and Kelloggs Lane, and the road is designated as an arterial road by the City

of London. We are unsure that there is an excessive volume of traffic on

Florence St. but we have observed that the wide open and straight fourlane

stretch between Egerton St. and Kelloggs Lane encourages excessive traffic

speed.

Proposed Solution: to recognize the residential nature of this portion

of Florence St., and to allow the residents the same amenity use of their

street for parking as the rest of us enjoy, it is proposed that onstreet

parking be allowed on both sides, except during morning and afternoon

rush hours. Having cars parked on the street will not only afford

residents the opportunity for visitor parking during the day but, by

having parked cars separating the sidewalk from the travel lanes of the

road, it will make pedestrian travel much more safe.


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Old East Village





speeds along Lorne Ave.


speeds along Central Ave.

Miscellaneous.

Given that Lorne Ave is the only eastwest street in the neighbourhood north of

Queens Ave uninterrupted by orphan blocks, it attracts many commuters

transiting the neighbourhood or attempting to get to Quebec St. when Adelaide

St. is backed up at the railway crossing. The traffic speeds are far in excess of

what might reasonably be considered as safe speeds, and the dangers are

compounded by the fact that Lorne Ave. P.S. is located here and there are many

children walking to and from school.

Proposed Solution: As a pilot project, measure the effect of employing

staggered, onstreet parking on the long block of Lorne Ave, between

English and Ontario Sts, creating a natural roadway chicane. By

interfering with drivers perceptions of the block as a long,

uninterrupted roadway (even if only one lane), the literature on passive

traffic calming clearly suggests that we should expect significant traffic

speed reductions.

While we have not found traffic volumes along Central Ave. to be particularly

excessive, it is our perception that traffic speeds can be. Once again, the road is

used as a cutthrough to access the Quebec St. overpass when traffic is backed

up at the railway, and there is a long unbroken stretch between Adelaide St. and

the first bend that encourages driver to speed up.

Proposed Solution: the installation of STOP signs on Central Ave. at

Elizabeth and/or English Sts.

During the reconfiguration of Queens Ave. a few years ago, the No Heavy

Trucks signs were removed during construction and not replaced. They should

be reinstalled.

We would ask, once again, that consideration be given to removing the arterial

road designation on the portion of Queens Avenue between Quebec Street and

Adelaide Street.

We have had reports of several near misses between cars and pedestrians at

the corner of Lorne Avenue and Charlotte Street. Given the rebuild of the Boyle

Memorial Community Centre and the increasing number of children who will be

making use of the facility, we would ask that a threeway STOP be made at this

intersection.


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Old East Village




The Posted Speed Limit The residents of Old East Village wish to live in a pedestrian and childfriendly

neighbourhood.

We believe that it is entirely appropriate that a street by street approach to

solving traffic issues be implemented in our neighbourhood; that the real

experts in local traffic issues are local people themselves; and, that ourapproach here has the potential to address the citys goal ofpursuing effective

models of urban sustainability.

We also believe that a posted speed limit at 50 km/hr is simply too fast for our

local streets. It is well known that the faster we drive, the less we see. It is well

known that at about 30 km/hr. we begin to lose eye contact with one another.

Interestingly, 30 km/hr. Is also about the speed at which carpedestrian impacts

are more likely to become fatal for the pedestrian, and carpedestrian mortality

rates tend to climb exponentially as car speeds increase (a pedestrian is twice as

likely to die from impact with a car travelling at 40 km/hr. as compared with acar travelling at 30 km/hr.; four times as likely at 50 km/hr. compared to 30

km/hr., and so on.

Seeking a voluntary reduction in vehicle speed by residents is a goal we have

been promoting for the better part of two years now. The following message,

drawn from an American campaign, has been placed prominently on all

Association documents, from our website to our letterhead to our

neighbourhood newsletters:

The residents of Old East Village are proposing that the neighbourhood be

designated as a Community Safety Zone by the city, and that a maximum speed

limit be posted throughout the neighbourhood on all nonarterial streets of 30

km/hr. We further propose that Queens Avenue between Quebec Street and

Adelaide Street, as well as Florence Street between Egerton Street and Kelloggs

Lane have a posted speed limit of 40 km/hr.

We know that changing the speed limit, by itself, is unlikely to have a real effect

in slowing traffic but it does send a clear message that Old East Village is a

pedestrian, child and bicyclefriendly neighbourhood.

The resolution of these types of transportation issues is integral to maintaining

our neighbourhoods sustainability and liveability.

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