Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

"Road Diets" mean CRASH REDUCTIONS -- But NO FUN for asphalt-happy municipalities anxious to widen every possible road

From the study: "A road diet involves narrowing or eliminating travel lanes on a roadway to make more room for pedestrians and bicyclists. (They) are often conversions of four-lane, undivided roads into three lanes—two through lanes plus a center turn lane."

The study was conducted in California, Washington and Iowa:

"The Iowa data indicate a 47 percent reduction in total crashes while the HSIS (California and Washington) data indicate a 19 percent decrease—a substantial difference."

It's clear from the results that road diets do reduce crashes - the only issue appears to be just how great a reduction.

 In other news: On the July 13th Franklin Common Council Agenda -- you guessed it -- a road widening party.

You see, every little north-south or east-west suburban road has a six-lane arterial inside of it waiting to burst forth ...

Read the rest at: Road Diet Crash Reduction Variations Studied By DOT | Planetizen

Good Advice from The New Republic

Posted from my iPad (clumsily), a quote from The New Republic's blog that certain Franklin aldermen should keep in mind before they scuttle pedestrian access on a road project tomorrow night:

"What is needed to catch up with the pent up demand for walkable urban places, especially in the suburbs, is complete transportation policy reform. Since transportation drives development, we need to build the second half of the American transportation system--rail and bus transit and bikes and walking-- while repairing our existing roadway system. Only this will allow for the emergence of the walkable urban places that the market, economy, and environment demands."

Christopher Leinberger, The New Republic

“Leave Your Car in the Garage” as sell copy for real estate

The trend toward walkability as a real estate selling point is noted at How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic 

Trawling through some real estate brokerage sites, typically in fairly dense small towns and pre-war suburbs, a refrain keeps catching my eye: “Leave your car in the garage.” The listing will then note the proximity to trains, schools, etc. I’m not sure who first came up with this rallying cry — and based on what I’ve seen in some of these towns (pedestrians being mostly people moving to and from their cars) I wonder if it might be more real-estate bluster than anything else — i.e., the potential of walking is there, as is the potential for the great room to be great and the massive chef’s kitchen to produce fare worthy of Grant Achatz, but in the end this potential gives way to some real or imagined vehicular reality (I need to get groceries, it’s just easier). But I can’t say I’ve ever seen a real estate ad that promised: “Take your car out of the garage, often!”

Read the rest at: How We Drive, the Blog of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic » Blog Archive » “Leave Your Car in the Garage”

Making trails part of USEFUL INFRASTRUCTURE rather than appendages and afterthoughts

ABOVE: What passes for a road shoulder in Franklin on the road leading to its middle school and Little League Complex. Good luck, kids!

Sometimes it's the little changes that make the difference. Let's hope this sensible Comprehensive Master Plan amendment, initiated by Plan Commission member Kevin Haley via the Trails Committee on which he also serves, is the beginning of the end of random, pointless trails in Franklin.

Item III.F on the July 8th Plan Commission Agenda:

F. City of Franklin (Adoption of Milwaukee County Trails Network Plan)
Property: City-wide
Zoning: City-wide

Regarding: 1. (Comprehensive Master Plan Amendment) AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF FRANKLIN 2025 COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN TO INCORPORATE THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY TRAILS NETWORK PLAN AS A GUIDELINE REFERENCE WITHIN THE COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN 


"Baby boomers are coming of empty-nest retirement age, and at the same time their children are buying their first homes, and neither group wants large lots in remote places where little is going on."

Another reason a viable trail and sidewalk system is INFRASTRUCTURE, and not merely "parks and recreation."

Today's home buyers aren't just looking for good schools and low crime rates when they evaluate a neighborhood, many brokers say. They're paying much more attention to what they can walk to.

"Everyone wants to know now how close they are to stores," says Linda Duggan, an owner of The Duggan Group real-estate agency. She recently had clients who, given a choice between a house in Danville, Calif., and another that was bigger, newer, $300,000 cheaper—and 20 minutes farther from town—chose the first one. Earlier this year Scott Newman, of Newman Realty in Chicago, started highlighting how close his listings are to amenities. The number of amenities in walking distance can vary sharply from block to block, he adds.

"For a lot of Americans, the whole problem of traffic congestion and having to drive everywhere to do almost anything has made other choices more attractive," says Kaid Benfield, director of the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council's Smart Growth Program. Urban planners say it's also a matter of demographics: Baby boomers are coming of empty-nest retirement age, and at the same time their children are buying their first homes, and neither group wants large lots in remote places where little is going on. Fear about future oil prices is also increasing the attractiveness of walkable neighborhoods. 

Read the rest at: A Walker's Guide to Home Buying - WSJ.com

The Rise of Walking and Biking

It's summer, and you may be seeing more people out on the street walking and biking. But it's not just because the weather is nice. There are more people walking and biking year round, and the Department of Transportation is responding by dramatically increasing the amount of money spent on projects for pedestrians and cyclists. This is a look at the rise of foot-powered travel in America.

Read the rest at: Transparency: The Rise of Walking and Biking - Transparency - GOOD

Franklin water tower panorama

Franklin water tower panorama, originally uploaded by John Michlig.

Taken during a Father's Day bike ride around town. Click to embiggen.

51st Street Reconstruction in Franklin, Wisconsin

51st Street Reconstruction - 03, originally uploaded by John Michlig.

Reconstruction of 51st Street in front of Franklin High School begins in earnest. Click on the title in the caption above to see a full set of photos on Flickr.

One more step to sane streets: 76th Street reconstruction includes a sidewalk

ABOVE: The untenable parking situation that occurs at the Franklin Little League Complex every game day as a result of lack of safe pedestrian and bike alternatives.

Last week the Franklin Common Council voted to ensure that a sidewalk will be part of the configuration of 76th Street when it is rebuilt from W. Terrace Drive to W. Puetz Road. (The four configuration choices are listed after the jump.)

The sole "no" vote was by Alderman Steve Olson, who, while interested in seeing a sidewalk added to the stretch of road (which includes the city's Little League complex and would provide a walking/biking route to the Rawson-76th Street commercial area), evidently saw nothing in any of four alternatives presented by the county that he would support. He was also, apparently, more interested in creating in his constituents the notion that he voted against spending city money (see below).

Lest he try to make hay of the notion that he "voted against city spending," you will recall that Olson is one of the major proponents for Franklin's $500,000 expenditure on the Drexel Interchange in Oak Creek. I await his economic mitigation plan for the damage that particular move will cause; it's an episode that will be looked at in hindsight as one of the steps to the path of Franklin's Edge City status if steps aren't taken.

Also, Olson did not mention in his letter to constituents addressing the vote on 76th Street the fact that Jack Takerian, interim director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation and Public Works, explained to the council that new federal policy and related grant funding all but ensure that part or all of Franklin's $860,000 portion (Olson rounded up to $900,000 for the "benefit" of his constituents) will be eliminated. The street is within 2 miles of the middle school, for instance, so it is eligible for Safe Routes to School funding. Much, much smaller communities than Franklin -- who have committed to the grant application process -- have spent a few thousand dollars only to see a half million come back in funding for sidewalks and walking amenities.

During the discussion, Alderman Steve Taylor made a good point: There are numerous subdivisions along 76th that are effectively cut off from one another by the dangerous street. A sidewalk would be an enormous amenity, and also allow access to the businesses on Rawson.

Mayor Tom Taylor had this to say before the vote:

While I originally vetoed this proposal and only wanted to go with alternative A; if alternative B was selected tonight, I would not move to veto it.

...

I think that Mr. Michlig, Mr. Fowler [Franklin Trail Committee Chair], Alderman Sohns [former Trail Committee Member], Alderman Kristen Wilhelm, and many others in the community have totally convinced me that we need to be pedestrian friendly; we need to have a connected city.

Still think things can't change if you agitate a bit?

Add this to the 51st Street reconstruction in front of the high school, which includes pedestrian facilities at last (Olson voted against that, too), and it becomes just a bit easier to foresee a community build to serve people as well as vehicles.

Big Box reuse in Milwaukee: Old Menard's converted to indoor bike park

Big Box reuse in Milwaukee:

Trek Bicycle Corp. didn’t just give Ray Petro a little boost to ensure he would be able to open a Ray’s Indoor MTB Park for riders in Milwaukee. The Waterloo-based company bought Ray’s business.

That was the news in a release sent out promoting the expected opening of a Ray’s in a shuttered Menard’s store at 8365 N. 76th St. in November.

Read the rest at: Trek buys Ray's Indoor MTB Park - ensures expansion in Milwaukee - JSOnline