How to reduce speeding on Rogers Avenue

To prepare for next week's public meeting on traffic calming, Will Sherman from Transportation Alternatives came out and walked around the neighborhood with me to suss out the streets that need some sussing.

For example, a lot of locals have expressed concerns about Rogers Avenue being a speedway. The problem only got worse when the road was re-paved a couple of months ago; now that it's smooth, there's nothing to slow drivers down.

What's the solution? One thing we noticed was that the new street markings don't make much sense. From a glance, it looks like there are 2 and a half driving lanes, the one on the left being oddly wide. Unnecessarily wide roads encourage - duh - encourage speeding and reckless driving. One easy fix, Will suggested, would be to redo the markings. The DOT could delineate the parking lanes, for instance, and give them a bit more space. Another, less conservative move would be to section off a median. This was done on Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights and the move has been hugely popular with nearby residents. Though congestion might initially be greater at rush hour, it'll die down after drivers adjust to the changes. (See interview with traffic engineer Sam Schwartz for how congestion created by closing roads or lanes is temporary.)

And those ugly white lines, useful in the short-term, can give way to green-space medians in the long.

Anyway, this is just one topic we'll be covering at our "complete streets" forum next Thursday. Anyone interested in making PLG quieter and safer and is highly encouraged to come.

Comments

[Bob M]

One obvious difference between Rogers and Vanderbilt is that the latter is two way. I'm not sure if a median is that good an idea on a one way street like Rogers. OTOH, if Rogers could be made TWO WAY, like Bedford, it would slow down traffic a great deal AND the fire trucks would not have to drive against traffic on their way to Midwood Street, their usual west-bound route.

[Charles Star]

A median on a one way street would be strange, but an extra-wide lined-off parking lane - like they have on Bergen Street in Prospect Heights or University Place in Manhattan - would definitely work.

[Sloper]

You should press DOT to convert Rogers (and, perhaps, an adjacent one-way street) to two-way operation as it probably was up until the 50s or 60s. Two-way streets are often much more calm and friendly to community life. One way streets like these were very often set up for no other reason than to speed traffic through neighborhoods.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/04/06/primeggias-one-way-safety-claims-are-based-on-1970s-studies/

[carrie]

The problem with a two-way solution (which I agree may ultimately be best) is that it's harder to do. We're hoping to get something done in the short-term, though we can simultaneously press for the long- as well.