The real "war" on drivers is in Manhattan

The Mid-Atlantic chapter of the American Automobile Association has been up in arms over the reprovision or rebalancing of space (right of way) on DC streets, specifically to support biking. Because DC politicians have to answer in part to Congress, and because the Congressional delegations from Maryland and Virginia have no problem in exercising their interests, the AAA chapter has more "suasion" capability than they would in other places.

The AAA chapter released a press release op-ed about what they call the war on drivers in DC in May. It's reprinted in this entry from the Washcycle blog.

Today's New York Times has a story on the transformation of Broadway, how it is being changed from a major thoroughfare mostly for motor vehicles, as it is a diagonal avenue that allows for slightly faster passage between areas of the city compared to driving on the traditional street pattern, to what advocates of sustainable transportation would call a "complete street" but in this case, I would call it a rebalanced street, where passage and comfort for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users is prioritized over automobility. (Note that because Manhattan is relatively narrow and north-south in orientation, north-south avenues act in as if they were the kinds of diagonal boulevards necessary in cities like Paris or Washington, DC to get across town more quickly.)

In Manhattan, far more people get around by walking and transit (+ bicycling) than by automobile so of course it makes a great deal of sense to provide pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users more street--their fair(er) share so to speak.

In center cities generally it is more efficient for people to get around by walking, bicycling, and on transit, but for the most part, transportation policy and planning has prioritized automobility. People like Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner for the City of New York, backed wholeheartedly by the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, are rebalancing mobility priorities accordingly.

The article has a great graphic with schematics and photographs showing the changes. I happen to be in New York City this weekend, but don't have the ability to upload photos, not that I've had the opportunity to scope out all of these changes (when you travel with other people, full-blown urban design exploration becomes a negotiation and you can't see everything).

No So Broadway

I will say that I am impressed with the explosion in the number of bike lanes and cycle tracks/buffered bicycle lanes. I even saw a bike box, actually two, one painted green, one not painted specially, on W. 10th Street in Greenwich Village. And a great many people were cycling (and running) in the buffered bicycle lane which I would consider a cycle track on Kent Street in Brooklyn.

Lon Anderson would be apoplectic if he had to work in NYC.

He'd also be getting his ass kicked. (Except on the congestion charge, but that was because the city needed approval from the State Legislature, which they couldn't obtain on the unreasonably short time frame they had to act under the Bush-era US DOT program that aimed to fund tests of congestion charging methods.)

Unlike in Washington, where the mode split for commute trips for residents is 51% people using transit, biking, and walking, and even though DC has some decent transportation officials including previous director Dan Tangherlini and current director Gabe Klein (and of course many many many staffers throughout the organization), they haven't been as forceful* in terms of rebalancing mobility towards those modes.

Rebalancing away from the automobile is essential to DC's competitive advantage in terms of its place within the metropolitan region and its economy and the quality of life for residents, and the attractiveness of the city as a place to work, play, and visit--and with the exception of the streetscape improvement aspect of complete streets principles, starting with Georgetown and Barracks Row (8th Street SE), and now being spread through the city through general DDOT planning as well as the "Great Streets" program (which has serious flaws too, comparable to those discussed in the note below), DC just hasn't been that gutsy, at least compared to NYC, but compared to many other jurisdictions, I suppose it is significantly better. (Then again, it's all relative.)

* Maybe you could argue with me in terms of streetcars, but actually even from the inception of the process in 2002/2003 significant flaws in the planning perspective and foundations of the program have been introduced by DDOT directors, and these problems not only persist today but have been strengthened.