This brilliant illustration shows how much public space we've surrendered to cars — Vox

But this brilliant illustration, made by Swedish artist Karl Jilg and commissioned by the Swedish Road Administration, shows just how extreme the situation truly is — even in an urban business district that's designed with pedestrians in mind... More at This brilliant illustration shows how much public space we've surrendered to cars - Vox

Pedestrian, cyclist, disabled injuries and deaths on Nanaimo streets

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Nanaimo's Terminal / Nicol highway corridor "re-imagined" — Here's the one thing I need to know

Above are the stated goals of the Terminal Nicol (highway corridor, left) Re-imagined Committee. This is a City of Nanaimo advisory committee (the City’s official name for the steering committee calls it a “streetscape” project) overseen by the Downtown BIA and comprised of City Councillors, the Snuneymuxw First Nation, the Chamber of Commerce, Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation, the South End Community Association, 3 members-at-large with participation of both the City of Nanaimo and the BC Ministry of Transportation traffic engineers.

 These goals are laudable, even beyond reproach. Who could possibly disagree with them? Here's the one thing I need to know: what exactly is meant by the fourth principle? If it means what I fear it means the first three are unachievable.

If we reduced and calmed vehicle traffic on corridor—reclaim it as a productive city street—could the BC Min Transport simply veto our plan? https://t.co/sKjer9vlCP

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) October 13, 2016

For instance:
this EPA 2012 National Smart Growth Award street design:
Blvd Transformation Project Lancaster CAhttps://t.co/MbijyGz8qB

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) October 15, 2016

City streets create value, build community. Urban highways do exactly the opposite. @cityofnanaimo @TNreimagined @VIUmcp

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) October 13, 2016

Toronto leaders tweet heavily about easing congestion, keeping TO moving. Little about dense mass of soft fleshy people on those streets. https://t.co/Kgs0XT68ej

— Shawn Micallef (@shawnmicallef) October 12, 2016

Never forget, the best transportation plan is a great land-use plan. To understand solutions for urban mobility, you must understand cities. pic.twitter.com/r3EzYWJjSH

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) October 13, 2016

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How many mobility modes fit comfortably in a 70' wide city street?

Look what 2 - 10' travel lanes gets you. — 24' of public space for citizens of all ages and mobility abilities. 18.5' of protected bike lanes, and on-street parking. This is a city street where people want to gather, to live, to stroll and to shop. Wallace Street to the west also lends itself to this kind of street design. This is also a safe street because it is shared more equally with all the citizens who use it and pay for it. Most of this can be done for very little cost, with paint and planters. There is a clearly established relationship between travel lane width and vehicle speeds. On wider lanes cars travel faster regardless of posted maximums.

Click image for enlargement.

—@streetmix is a great on-line open-source tool. Design your own street! For instance eliminate the parking lane and add a bus lane...

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) October 7, 2016

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From Congress for the New Urbanism — The morbid and mortal toll of sprawl

A federal report revealed that US traffic deaths have risen 9 percent over the last year and have totaled 19,100 in the first six months of 2016. More than 2.2 million people have been seriously injured in that time. The economic cost is estimated annually at $410 billion, or 2.3 percent of gross domestic product. The human cost is harder to calculate. They are the most frequent reason for fatality of children 5 and up and young adults. Much of the blame has been placed, predictably, on distracted and drunk driving and rising vehicle miles traveled. The “elephant in the living room,” the factor that nobody wants to talk about, is sprawl and the infrastructure of sprawl. The roads built to support sprawl, designed to modern safety standards, are contributors to the majority of US traffic deaths and injuries.

From @NewUrbanism — Roads built to support sprawl designed to modern standards are contributors to the majority... https://t.co/u9f9M0QWTc

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) August 29, 2016

Read more: The morbid and mortal toll of sprawl | CNU

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From Streetsblog Network — A New Blueprint for Streets That Put Transit Front and Center

The National Association of City Transportation Officials has released a new design guide to help cities prioritize transit on their streets. “The kinds of problems that the guide seeks to solve are exactly the kinds of design problems and questions that cities are trying to solve,” said Roe. “How do you get transit to get where it’s going quicker, without degrading the pedestrian environment? Some of that has to do with the details of design.” For example, the guide lays out how to design boarding areas where buses can pick up passengers without pulling over to the curb and then waiting to reenter traffic — which can slow service considerably. Read more: A New Blueprint for Streets That Put Transit Front and Center.

The new @NACTO guide tells you how to build a street this awesome -- for cyclists & transit https://t.co/nJbDH93dgP pic.twitter.com/mSgSkPJsZb

— Streetsblog Network (@StreetsblogNet) April 15, 2016

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From Slow Streets — Elements that Make Pedestrian Streets Work

We currently dedicate an excessive amount of our street public space for the movement and storage of automobiles. We can bring dignity to our streets where people live, work and play by reclaiming it for people. It has been shown that cities are significantly quieter when there are lower traffic volumes, or even when the vehicle traveling speeds slow down to a human speed (40-30kph). There are also fewer automobile related injuries and fatalities. It can also make us happier since we can spend more time outside and meet more of our neighbours.

So how can we reclaim some of this space? Pedestrian streets offer one way to do this, but it has been demonstrated that pedestrian streets in North America have failed in the past (see Buffalo’s Main Street, Ottawa’s Sparks Street, and other examples). But many cities feature widely-visited, vibrant pedestrian streets in different city scales, climates and cultures throughout Europe including Northbrook St. in Newbury, UK (pop. 31,331 in 2011), Calle San Jacinto in Seville, Spain (pop. 702,355 in 2012), Exhibition Road in London, UK (pop. 8.3 million in 2013). They also exist in various sizes either as a short section of one street or a network of car-free streets such as in Delft, Netherlands or the Stroget in Copenhagen. This article explores several of these successful pedestrian streets and breaks down several of the elements that make them work. Read more: Critical Elements to Make Pedestrian Streets Work | SLOW STREETS

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Speed Kills: Streets should provide access, not move people thru quickly. @slowstreets

Speed Kills: Streets should provide access, not move people thru quickly. Our latest report: http://t.co/DJmKRlb9Qz pic.twitter.com/a3AD5e38tU

— Slow Streets (@slowstreets) September 8, 2015

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“…the managing of traffic should never have been given to engineers. They aren’t trained to understand it, in part because they aren’t trained to understand people or cities.” @BrentToderian

The problem with treating #traffic like a hard science - like a liquid or a gas, instead of like people. Comments? pic.twitter.com/qWo89sjfWo

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) September 5, 2015

"...when universities give science degrees in traffic engineering...They are perpetrating a fraud upon students and the public" #JaneJacobs
— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) March 19, 2013

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From @BrentToderian — 4 classic #roaddiets in one 2-minute video via @JeffSpeckAICP

"4 classic #roaddiets in one 2-minute video" via @JeffSpeckAICP. https://t.co/R5xwmvEq7N What do you think, Tweeps? pic.twitter.com/xP0hqLpnDC

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) August 20, 2015

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From @JeffSpeckAICP — Street too wide? what you need to know, in 30 seconds.

Street too wide?: what you need to know, in 30 seconds. https://t.co/AJ7pn7FWhp @paulgoldberger @bcitiestowns @MikeLydon @DPZandCo

— Jeff Speck (@JeffSpeckAICP) August 20, 2015

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¡más calles así! Via @jen_keesmaat

#México #City #Pedestrian #Street @cityofsmiles. #streetsforpeople ¡más calles así! pic.twitter.com/v80NE96FRp

— Ari Fernando Valerdi (@FernandoValerdi) August 2, 2015

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In a car dependent city alternative modes can't be achieved without reducing car infrastructure #streetdiet

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) July 25, 2015

Cities that won't accept this principle will always be car first regardless of high-minded jargon and plans #Nanaimo https://t.co/udjKd59MZL

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) July 25, 2015

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The most creative ‪#‎pedestrian_crossings‬ in the world | @BuzzlyWeb

The most creative #pedestrian_crossings in the world | @BuzzlyWeb

Posted by Nanaimo Commons on Friday, July 17, 2015

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From Price Tags — Cheap and stealthy way to reduce road capacity in North Van

This is a great Road Diet technique that allows traffic engineers the ability to test the new intersection configuration and tweak the design prior to any major construction commitment. Its also a cheap and stealthy way to reduce road capacity without the anger and suspicion of motorists. Read more: The Daily Scot: Road Diet in North Van | Price Tags

We're not going to build our way out of congestion. Cities nationwide are standing up to the faulty logic of freeways http://t.co/DDgBBf5SFX

— Janette Sadik-Khan (@JSadikKhan) June 9, 2015

Via @cnunextgen Dr Evil on bike lanes...

Via @cnunextgen Dr Evil on bike lanes...

Posted by The Sidewalk Ballet on Sunday, May 24, 2015

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Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition Letter to Mayor and Council

Dear Mayor McKay and City Councillors,

Last September when you took part in the Veloworks Conference in Vancouver, we spoke at length about transportation and the need for a change in Nanaimo with the Nanaimo Transportation Master Plan that was adopted a few months earlier in hand. Since then it has been very, very quiet on the vision and plans for transportation in Nanaimo except on the transportation of water over, under or through the dams. Also very important.

Around the time of the municipal elections, the BC government announced its ideas on transportation with the B.C. Master Transportation plan and we were so lucky to be allowed to comment on the plan and make suggestions. On that front we, the Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition and the BC Cycling Coalition, have some good news to report!

Welcome to Twitter Greater #Nanaimo #Cycling Coalition. @InfoCycling Give them a follow! https://t.co/SkqLNolhU7

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) May 9, 2015

From Project for Public Spaces — Reimagining Our Streets as Places: From Transit Routes to Community Roots

In a city the street must be supreme. It is the first institution of the city. The street is a room by agreement, a community room, the walls of which belong to the donors, dedicated to the city for common use. Its ceiling is the sky. Today, streets are disinterested movements not at all belonging to the houses that front them. So you have no streets. You have roads, but you have no streets.– Louis Kahn, The Street. Read more: Project for Public Spaces | Reimagining Our Streets as Places: From Transit Routes to Community Roots

Victoria to host its first #carfreeday June 21 @CarFreeYYJ

Victoria BC will host its first #carfreeday on #FathersDay, inspired by Vancouver. http://t.co/FVTqGVXGls pic.twitter.com/QAOI62zpNs @cbcnewsbc
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) April 24, 2015

Commercial Drive turns into massive, unsanctioned party http://t.co/7mv2FappOg pic.twitter.com/tu4tXQpqpp

— CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) May 2, 2015

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Tragic irony—our wide streets allow us to quickly respond to collisions caused by our wide streets @StrongTowns

A tragic irony: Our wide streets allow us to quickly respond to the collisions caused by our wide streets.

Posted by Strong Towns on Thursday, April 23, 2015

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