Burlington Sidewalks are "Shared Paths"

 
Burlington Sidewalks are “Shared Paths”—Aim for Ped Only
                                Sidewalks!

    —The differences: North Ave Plan, Champlain Parkway and
     Parkway RIGHTway

Confusion exists on what is a sidewalk, a bikeway and a shared-use path here in Burlington.

Actually with only one exception all Burlington sidewalks are shared-use paths as bikes are allowed to travel there along with pedestrians.  As a senior most of my bike riding has been on sidewalks as there are practically no protected bike lanes (cycle track) yet in the City.  Streets with painted bike lanes are not safe in general, and prohibitively unsafe for less skilled and older/younger cyclist who all are consigned to the sidewalk system.

Note we can exclude here any discussion of the Burlington Bikepath and similar pathways.  The Bikepath is a recreation path—it is not a transportation facility, a facility marked by being lit and maintained year round.

The one exception in the City to bicyclist use of sidewalks technically are the adjacent streets of the Marketplace, South Winooski Ave from Pearl to Main Streets, Main St from South Winooski Ave to Saint Paul St, Saint Paul St from Main St to Bank St, Pearl St from Saint Paul St to South Winooski Ave. Add to this the Marketplace itself, though cyclists do use the Marketplace in the early a.m. when service vehicles and trucks are allowed from Pearl St to Main St.




      North Avenue Plan (2014) Creates the Mold

While not intended, the North Avenue Plan (North St to Plattsburgh Ave) created the mold of how to define the role of sidewalks and bike accommodations on our City streets. With a goal of “highest safety for all modes” the Plan calls for cycle track end-end-to-end along with a separate sidewalk while employing safest-for-all-modes roundabouts at key intersections.  Cycle track would be in the form of a 5 foot wide lane on each side of the Avenue with either a curb or other physical separation from the vehicle lanes.  

What was not discussed by the Advisory Committee in the North Avenue plan process or the plan document was the implication that cyclists would with few exceptions would be expected to use the cycle track and the sidewalk—instead of being shared-use—becomes a dedicated pedestrian sidewalk.  The term used in addition to “complete” street in accordance to the Vermont complete streets statute during the North Ave plan was “equality street.”  Equality street described each mode—pedestrian, bicycle and motor vehicle—being provided its own dedicated, safe, mobility space.  

So when the cycle track and roundabouts complete the renewal, nay transformation, of North Avenue the sidewalk there is no longer “shared-use” but dedicated pedestrian space with cycling mostly prohibited.

    Champlain Parkway/Champlain RIGHTway and Shared-use

The grassroots Pine Street Coalition arose in 2015 while the Burlington Walk Bike Council reviewed reviewed the complete lack of basic walk and bicycle accommodation in the Champlain Parkway design.  Pine Street adopted the reasoning of the Walk Bike Council and in 2016 the Walk Bike Council endorsed the Pine Street “Redesign Guidelines.”  

The Pine Street design, now its “Champlain RIGHTway” (RIGHTway) design features a dedicated two-way bikeway and sidewalk from Queen City Park Rd through to Kilburn Street/Curtis Lumber, about two miles.  Pine Street and the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance (VRJA) position on the current design of the Parkway is leave Pine Street from Kilburn Street to Main Street alone, and instead bypass King Maple via the railyard to Battery Street Extension, now the $20 million federally funded Rail Enterprise Project (REP).  Pine Street and VJRA RIGHTway extends the sidewalk and dedicated bikeway along the REP to connect to the Bikepath at Maple St.

In addition to the dedicated bikeway, RIGHTway recommends additionally cycle track along the Parkway route.

What has not generally recognized is the RIGHTway dedicated two-way bikeway means no pedestrians!  And the RIGHTway sidewalk adjacent the bikeway does not allow cyclists!  This design approach copies the mold first set in the 2014 North Avenue Plan.

The RIGHTway approach follows the highest level of safety approach in the North Avenue Plan, a “complete” and “equality” for all modes street.  This mirrors the new US Department of Transportation Roadway Safety System Strategy, our national Vision 0 approach to no serious and fatal injuries.  The national strategy requires addressing racial and low income equity and climate change as part and parcel of safety infrastructure investments. The strategy includes a “Safe System Approach” and “Safe System Intersections” when investing in roads and streets.  The point here is that the current Parkway “shared-use path” pales in comparison to a dedicated sidewalk and dedicated two-way bikeway in RIGHTway.  

         Pedestrian and Bicycle Classification

There is no readily available pedestrian and bicycle facility classification in general use today.

A sidewalk classification might be: Class 1—Pedestrian Only and Class 2—Pedestrian Shared Use.  For cycling: Class 1—Bicyclist Only (bikeway or cycle track) and Class 2—Bicyclist Shared with pedestrians.

Intersections are critical for safety, the roundabout being the standard as it cuts serious and fatal injuries by about 90%.  The only other intersection which provides equivalent safety is the all-way stop.  Signals are to be considered only where a roundabout is unfeasible.


Tony Redington
Walk Safety Advocate
TonyRVT99@gmail.com






 

RASH OF WALKER FATALS/INJURIES IN VERMONT--WHAT TO DO

WHAT TO DO—THE RASH OF WALKER INJURIES AND FATALITIES IN VERMONT URBAN AREAS

The Vermont AARP office this year continues to work with Brattleboro and others on the recent rash of walker fatalities and serious injuries which leads to the following thoughts....

Burlington, Rutland and Brattleboro all seek answers to a sudden apparent increase of serious walker injuries and fatalities in their community. In one week this year in Burlington a walker was killed and another seriously injured at busy signalized intersections. Rutland deaths occurred south Main Street and Brattleboro deaths and injuries occurred in various contexts.

There are no common clearly common elements. The Brattleboro walker crashes involved mostly drivers 50 or over with most of those involved off sidewalks. Both Burlington crashes occurred with the walker on a marked crosswalk. A fatality this week involved a young driver who careened at high speed in a parking lot, hitting two cars, then a teen-aged worker killing her in front of the store she was employed as she left at the end of her shift. Note the Federal Highway Administration figure for a fatality based on “value of life” research is (2009 $) $6.1 million and for an injury, $126,000. These figures include lost wages, family economic impacts, etc. A AAA study last fall using this data along with crash statistics and metropolitan congestion costs found, overall, the costs from injuries and fatalities, i.e., safety, were more than double the costs of congestion in larger metro areas and greater than congestion in all metro areas.

First and foremost, a key problem in the U. S. and Vermont comes in the form of a lack of comprehensive, programmed in all phases (education, engineering and enforcement) and readily accessible in document all can see: a highway safety program. The French integrated and comprehensive program reviewed annually for performance came about as a necessity to address human carnage on the streets and highways.

With that understanding at a minimum engineering, i.e., street infrastructure, can be examined in Vermont for providing the safest—though still not satisfactory overall safety—street environment for walkers.

Infrastructure

For walkers only two basic safety infrastructure measures exist for streets and intersections-sidewalks along street segments and roundabouts at the intersections. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) posts on its website that sidewalks cut walker injuries and fatalities by 88% and several studies indicate that on average single lane roundabouts (and mini ones too) cut walker injuries and fatalities by about a similar amount. Not other infrastructure treatments attain the performance of sidewalks along street segments or roundabouts at intersections in terms of walker safety. It is no surprise, then, that France leads the world in the number of roundabouts (over 30,000) and that with about 12,000 “roundabout years” under our belts in the U.S. and Canada not a single walker fatality has occurred—and in France only about one walker fatal occurs per 15,000 roundabouts (or “roundabout years”). As the number of roundabouts increased in 1993 in France from 10,000 to 24,000 in 2003, the number of walker fatalities remained constant, about two, where it remains today. The presence of more roundabouts alone appeared to have significant impact on improving the safety of existing roundabouts, i.e., the more roundabout you install the lower the walker fatality rate at roundabout intersections.

Interestingly, Brattleboro was the first town in the U.S. and Canada where an entire corridor was evaluated for roundabout conversion and it probably shares with Keene, NH the title of the first downtown area with all its key busy intersections evaluated for roundabouts. The 1994 Brattleboro study evaluated all intersections from the now Keene Turn Roundabout (built in 1999) to the north on Putney Road to the shopping center area south of the town on US 5. A troika of roundabouts was sketched in the 1994 study where the one-way circular traffic continues through and around the municipal complex at the north end of the commercial downtown. A roundabout almost went forward at the complex intersection adjacent and over the Wellstone Brook where the greatest congestion occurs, exacerbated as traffic backs up and through during rail crossing activation less than a 100 yards to the east.

A fatal near the intersection of Strongs Avenue and South Main Street which occurred late last year is about a block from a busy intersection with a McDonalds on the southeast corner—an intersection where a roundabout was suggested by some about a decade ago, a roundabout which might have traffic calmed the area of Strongs and South Main which itself continues to be a good candidate for a roundabout. Overall, about 95% of busy Vermont intersections can be converted to roundabouts—and moving into a comprehensive, prioritized conversion program certainly must be the keystone to any comprehensive approach to dealing with the problem of walker safety.

Getting back to Brattleboro, the central area can be examined seriously for roundabout (“normal” and “minis”) to improve safety for walkers and car occupants, reduce congestion, traffic calm, reduce air pollution. One fatality occurred along Canal Street. The use of a simple median to cross near the Transit Center in line with the walker bridge crossing might improve safety and access at the mid point of the “level” part of the street. A “median diverter” which forces a movement of vehicles from a straight path at the median would add traffic calming to the median treatment.

On Western Avenue in Brattleboro, busy VT 9, roundabouts at the I 91 interchange would improve safety and access for walkers. Other significant intersections along sidewalked road segments also could be evaluated for roundabouts.

In view of the lack of State and Federal commitment to comprehensive highway safety—similar to the lack of action one might point to in another area, climate change—then a “do it yourself” “town comprehensive street safety plan” with emphasis on walking and bicycle modes could be undertaken. These local plans would continue to face lack of state and federal lagging in the areas of law, enforcement and education, but a local plan could heavily influence highway investments in a particular community and with cooperative efforts with other region towns at regional planning commissions impact regional highway expenditure—including funding local safety plans!