Edwin Gardner Peninsula Task Force Mobility Sub-committee June 22, 2012 The Peninsula of Charleston is a unique urban environment. Its size, human scale, architecture and dense network of streets lend itself to many different forms of transportation. The Peninsula is relatively small in size and is broken down into even smaller neighborhoo ds that are easy to traverse, its historic urban fabric is d esigned to accommodate safe and enjoyable travel on foot, and it has a connected street network with short blocks that provide many route options. Indeed, this is a unique setting that requires a forward-thinking vision for mobility. Our streets on the Peninsula accommodate abou t as much automobile traffic as they can. There is little capacity that remains. In fact, for the most part automobile traffic volumes are static. It is expected that traffic congestion will r emain relatively static or will increase slightly in the f uture. There is very little that can be done to improve the experience of traversing downtown Charleston in an automobile. However, there is a tremendous opportunity and available capacity to improve transportation conditions for pedestrians, bicy clists and transit r iders. Our resources in Charles ton must go toward dramatic improvements to our transit system and to mo vement on foot and bike. This must be our primary investment in Charleston. Our goal should be that local residents and visitors to Charleston will choose to ride the bus, walk or ride their bike for most trips. For local residents and visitors to make this decision it must be the preferred method of transportation. It must be more affordable, enjoyable and safe to take the bus, walk or ride your bike than to drive your car. Therefore, this sub-committee advocates for a new Mobility Vision for the Peninsula of Charleston that reflects a significant shift in transportation policy towards a more integrated approach to mobility. Our recommendation is that th e City of Charleston put its resources into creating a “complete streets”environment where transportation planners and engineers routinely design and operate the entire right o f way to enable safe access for all u sers, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. Our goal would be to first implement these policies on the Peninsula, and gradually expand them to the entire city. Recommendations Below is a list of recommendations consistent with the vision outlined above. It represents tasks we identified as priorities that can be accomp lished soon –beginning now and over the next couple of years. We expect this list wil l be managed and expanded as projects are completed and new opportunities are identified. Mobility Vision for the Peninsula. We recommend that the city undertake aggressive steps to devise a consistent peninsula-wide mobility vision (and subsequent plan); its implementation will require significant coordination between various City departments. The
