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It seems that the parts that arent up on the curb are temporary until the road gets rebuilt so its up on the curb like the middle part

Think this was meant to go on a different video but appreciate the perspective!

This happens in CT too, usually because the span wire signals have reached the end of their service life and the new standard for signal replacements is usually mast arm installations

The white “paint” is called thermoplastic and it is embedded with antislip gritty material. Mainly for the crosswalks and symbols, the shoulder lines are just epoxy resin

Sure, anyone watching this video can come up with a list of things they would do differently. But these projects are designed based on years of exploration, utility coordination, public meetings, internal meetings, and deciding what creates the most impact based on the limited budget provided. Also, the bioswale towards the end could not have gone anywhere. The bumpout is within a parking lane so creating a median instead of a bumpout would eliminate the parking lane, which was not something approved for this block.

@@everydayengineering For sure! I didn't mean to imply that the improvements that did happen weren't good enough. But if we do take lessons away from this project to apply to others, it is also good to set the sights as high as possible and let things get value engineered down from there. re: the bump-out - I definitely think it could be a median instead. All you would do is swap the positions of the bump-out and the adjacent travel lane along with some striping to smooth out the turn and make it a little more gradual for the cars. There is enough room on either end to have the travel lane curve out towards the curb and back within the space between and including the two driveways - parking is already not allowed there so no spots would be lost. Also, it helps to reframe the curbside as individual parking spots (as they are marked in this example) rather than as a continuous parking lane. There is no reason for parking to be uninterrupted, and the spots where there is no parking (such as in daylighted areas around crosswalks, or between two driveways that are so close as to not leave room for a car to park) can be used for street trees or bioswales. Also, a median design along with a raised crossing would calm the traffic down even more. The cars were driving by you quite fast, far over 25 mph by my eye. Thank you for an awesome video documenting your city!

It was a one month pilot to gauge feedback and traffic operations i believe, so only a temporary permit. I would think that if the public and the local elected alder pushed for its permanence, it might happen. Sadly many pedestrian plazas elsewhere in the city tend to get removed for the winter, even when they prove to be very popular (such as on orange st)

Theoretically yes but we also know that drivers dont always follow traffic laws. So this is an extra measure of protection with the added traffic calming

I believe there are decorative bollards that exist, but we’ve also seen bollards in other neighborhoods get painted by the community

I've seen giant concrete flower pots used.

It does look awkward but it’s a fully protected movement (no conflicting traffic)

Wayyyy too small for a roundabout

Oh you mean from the construction vehicles that were actively doing work on this area?

@@everydayengineering that’s from parked cars

@@CrispeeCrisps15 yeah i guess you know this street better than i do

This work was done as part of a sidewalk repair contract, so additional items for raised crosswalk paving, new drainage, and crosswalk striping were not in the scope.

ass tree

Ah yes, because this is an industrialized area where we will consistently see large semi-truck traffic going through and using the area.... (:

Surely parked cars up to the intersection where a better situation for trucks. This intersection was never great for semis, but using the opposite lane you could turn before and you can still turn.

I can assure you that large trucks have zero reason to use these residential streets. The largest vehicle we design for in this area is a school bus

left turns are possible in a semi. and with the absence of bollards i am confident i can use a little bit of the kerb to make a right. just my two cents as a trucker

/s I hope

Let’s hope. But for 1 intersections retrofitted, how many bad ones are created every week or month ?

Less DOTs and more cities/towns. Most DOTs have people that want these kinds of improvements. It is the cities/towns - especially in CT - that do not, or simply don't care.

* I should say that it is their representatives on local boards, commissions, and in the legislature that do not care. Plenty of places have active urban advocates that are simply sidelined.

State of Connecticut DOT has a Complete Street policy for all state-funded road projects. They’re honestly a sleeper pick for “most pedestrian friendly DOT” in the US

I believe they are either 10’ or 15’, and the last corner i want to say is 25’ (used to be around 60’)

Someone else had that question too, it was originally going to be raised but once the contractor started working there they found many underground utilities that weren’t on the plans which prevented the necessary drainage installation for a raised crossing

Absolutely! 10 foot lanes with a shoulder is great, but 10 foot lanes with a curb are way better. Less experienced cyclists will be hesitant to take the lane and will stick to the shoulder even if it is a foot wide. More experienced cyclists know to take the lane, but I don't fault newbies (or kids) for not being comfortable doing that even though it is safer.

How is this half assed? They literally repaved the entire road

@@Sam-w5v The PLAN is half-assed, not the execution of it. If you wanted to be serious about pedestrian safety, you could use the huge curb-to-curb distance to install islands forcing cars to "slalom" a bit every now and then, breaking up these long unterinterrupted runways, especially downhill. Instead of painting a small "shoulder" on both sides to just optically narrow the lane, you could install a bi-directional bike path on one side and make it protected, preferrably by a hard curb. The wider part where there is on-street parking would lend itself perfectly to also have an extended curb on the other side of it, making the crossing there also as easy as on the side that's shown in the video. The raised portions of the sidewalk could be in the same paveing as the sidewalk to visually enhance the message to drivers that they are crossing a pedestrian path - not the pedesrtians crossing the road. You could remove about 3/4 of the unneccessary signage along the road and just say "residential street, use caution" at both ends, so drivers have to actively judge for themselves what a danger is and where it's going to pop up making them less likely to speed (e.g. a big yellow "SPEED BUMP HERE" sign tells drivers they can safely speed up to that sign), you could incorporate green space in the afforementioned traffic islands and plant trees in them, further enforcing the perception of "this is a street you shouldn't go past 25 mph on, probably slower" to drivers - all without lowering throughput or travel time _at all_ If I did a proper in-depth study of the road in question and showed it to dutch urban planners I sure they could come up with yet more and cleverer ideas, but just off the top of my head, there are *several* things that could be done more and better without impeding cars.

@QemeH why would you show it to dutch urban planners? This is the U.S, dutch people are from the Netherlands. Besides, where would they get the money for those extra renovations?

@@Sam-w5v "Dutch people are from the netherlands" - did you figure this one out on your own? Seriously, US americans can be so condescending in their ignorance... I would show them to dutch urban planners because they are simply the best in designing for _overall_ safety (as in: lowest deaths of all road users combined) in their streets. They have all of the above mentioned techniques as a standard in their repertoir and don't build any streets without them. They are _decades_ ahead of the US in terms of pedesrtian, cyclist, rollerblader, scooter driver and wheelchair user. In short: I would ask them, because they are the best. And as to the question where they would get the money: The entire street was redone anyway. They did very extensive curb modifications (which, to be clear, are all good!) and even installed new drainage at some points. Painting it new with different lines would cost nothing, a few more islands and some plastic bollards are negligable in the immense amount that is a total street resurfacing. And if you go about it in a smart way, you can even have the utility companies pay for a portion of it by having the underground infrastructure work (like maintenance and installing new cables) done at the same time. But even if you don't manage that and it's still a considerable addition to the budget: Every roadside incident that does not happen effectively EARNS the state money - less policing, less fire and rescue, less healthcare, less lawsuits and so on. In europe this figure is in the hundreds of thousands per week on moderately busy roads - but that includes the full social healthcare costs which you guys don't provide by the state, so the benefit will be lower (for the state, it will still give those benefits to the residents, but we're talking about budget, so...)

Would love for you to explain how it’s not ideal. Thanks!

@@everydayengineering I think the street layout (which was the focus of this video) is pretty ideal but it woud be much better if there was puplic transit as well as for example shops nearby so you don't need to drive. I mean at the moment the great pedestrian infrastucture isn't even needed that much bc why would you walk if there is no destination.

There is a bus route here which many residents use, and at the first raised intersection location there is a very popular convenience store. Pedestrian infrastructure is always needed because you can’t force people to own cars just to move around their community.

it’s not a bike lane

@ what are the white lines for on either side of the intersection?

As i explained in the video, it’s to visually delineate the 10’ lanes as narrower lanes have a traffic calming effect

​@@everydayengineering why they didn't simply expand the sidewalks? Missed opportunity either ways.

Because it’s not as simple as you suggest. Moving curbs requires reconstructing the drainage system as catch basins are all located on the curbs, and that’s assuming there are no additional buried utility lines at the new curb locations. Then, the cost to remove existing curb, install new curb, install new drainage, and redo all the sidewalks would cause the project budget to skyrocket, and in that case, the price would be too high and the project would not get approved at all. It’s easy to be an idealist when viewing a project from the computer, but there are so many local factors that must be taken into account for a project that a youtube viewer cannot see.

not in this location, but the two surrounding intersections have raised elements

In the middle of the lane. This is a slow, quiet residential street now, so there's no need to segregate traffic.

@ in most cities, if a street has enough traffic to warrant a center line, it’s no longer a typical neighborhood side street. As an assertive ‪bicyclist‬, I’m okay taking the lane but often get #VehicularTerrorism behavior from drivers when I do. What about those not so confident? That’s who I advocate for.

Maybe innovative for America 😂

Yes... except for the fact this was nothing new. No matter how much if they say "we're not Europe" (where much of the traffic calming measures was commonly cited to be the originated from), change is happening.

I really don't understand why the heck this is a signalized intersection... it didn't seem like it was a very busy place. 😂