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<br />INGERSON PROJECT REVIEW GROUP RECOMMENDA nONS <br /> <br />On subcollectors, a 26 foot-wide pavement provides either two parking lanes and a <br />moving or traffic lane or one parking lane and two moving lanes. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />A Federal Highway Administration study found that narrow street widths tend to reduce the <br />speed at which drivers travel. The Institute of Transportation Engineers as well as The Urban <br />Land Institute have also noted this study. IS <br /> <br />The Center for Watershed Protection also believes that from a safety aspect, residential street <br />width should be reduced: <br /> <br />[W]idc residential streets are designed to promote relatively rapid traffic flow, at an <br />average speed limit of30 mph on level or rolling terrain. The wider streets and better <br />sight distances, however, encourage many drivers to exceed even this relatively high <br />speed. High speeds, however, are not desirable in residential neighborhoods. One way to <br />force drivers to slow down is to reduce street width.19 <br /> <br />In its traffic calming guidelines, the Public Technology, Inc. offers the following insights: <br /> <br />One myth is that straighter, wider streets are safer. In fact, they encourage higher speeds. <br /> <br />Narrower streets, in contrast, calm traffic. Vehicle speeds decline. Drivers behave less <br />aggressively and are more likely to obey traffic signs and signals. Pedestrians are more . <br />comfortable. <br /> <br />Traffic calming is used most often in residential areas to try to reduce speeding and 'cut- <br />through traffic' that uses the neighborhood as a short-cut or a by-pass from clogged major <br />roads. <br /> <br />Traffic-calming design changes are self-enforcing, prompting motorists to instinctively <br />slow or requiring them to take other routes. <br /> <br />Americans engineer their roads to accommodate a fast speed, and then spend countless <br />millions of dollars trying to enforce a lower speed limit. <br /> <br />[Motorists] speed because the road allows them to speed.2o <br /> <br />In addition to safety and traffic concerns, it is readily recognized that significant construction <br />costs savings can be achieved by building narrower streets21 <br /> <br />18 Better Site Desizn: A Handbook for Chanzinr:DeveloDment Rules in Your Community, Center <br />for Watershed Protection (August, 1998). <br />19 Site Planninz for Urban Stream Protection, The Center for Watershed Protection and US EP A <br />December, 1995). <br />20 Slow Down You're "oim: Too Fast! The Community Guide to Traffic Calminz. Public . <br />Teclmology, Inc. (1998) <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />August I7, 2000 <br />