Committee Hearing, November 12, 1997

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, November 12, 1997 1:45 p.m. - - - RES. 970628 - A Resolution calling on the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee to hold public hearings to examine traffic calming techniques. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN HAPPY FERNANDEZ, Chairlady COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO, Vice-Chair COUNCILMAN W. THACHER LONGSTRETH COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 I N D E X RESOLUTION 970628 PAGE Fred Kent, President, Project for Public Spaces-------------------------------------- Ed Walter, Traffic Engineer, Howard County, 5 Maryland------------------------------------ 28 Mike King, Director, Traffic Calming, Department 6 of Transportation, New York City------------ 36 Jeffrey L'Amoureax, Manager, Traffic and 7 Transportation Engineering, Carroll Engineering--------------------------------- 51 Michael Hanson, Traffic Engineer, Dover, New Jersey---------------------------------- 60 Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor, Transportation----- 71 Charles Trainer-------------------------------- 81 Dutch Eichorn, Assistant District Traffic Engineer, PennDOT--------------------------- 89 Deborah Schaaf, City Planner, Philadelphia City Planning Commission------------------------- 115 Rich Shickling, Representative, Wissahickon Neighbors----------------------------------- 119 Darlene Messina, Representative, Residents United for Greater Manayunk----------------- 126 Vaughn Cook, Representative, Powelton Village Civic Association--------------------------- 133 Harry Moore, Director, City Operations/Plant Operations, Community College of Philadelphia-------------------------------- 140 Thomas Mishler, Executive Director, Awbury Arboretum----------------------------------- 145 Peter Hecht, Representative, Philly Walks------ 153 Sue McNamara, Executive Director, Bicycle Coalition----------------------------------- 159 Annabelle Lowe, Representative, Wissahickon Bridge Neighbors---------------------------- 165 - - - 3 RESOLUTION 970628 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Good afternoon. I would like to convene the hearing of the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee on the topic of traffic calming as noted in Resolution 6 970628. I would like to note the presence not only of important people to testify, but also the members of the Committee. To my far right is Councilman DiCicco, who is Vice-Chair of the Committee; Councilman Nutter, Councilman Thacher Longstreth, and Councilman David Cohen, who is taking a break to get a bite. Nicole Seitz, could you read the title of the resolution.

Resolution No. 970628, calling on the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee to hold public hearings to examine traffic-calming techniques that could be implemented to reduce speeding in residential neighborhoods, improve pedestrian safety, and enhance overall quality of life in the City of Philadelphia. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: One year ago tomorrow, actually, to be precise, this Committee 4 RESOLUTION 970628 held hearings on pedestrian safety. And one of the topics that was just briefly touched on in those hearings was this issue of traffic calming. So we thought it was important today, in light of the kinds of progress that had been made to increase pedestrian safety in our city, now to take a more comprehensive look at this issue of traffic calming, which, as we will hear today, is a topic that is being discussed and acted upon in cities and counties all over this country. Following up from our hearings last year on pedestrian safety, I think it is important to note that as a result of a very intensive public information and outreach campaign, coupled with enforcement, high-profile enforcement, by our police department of the traffic laws, it is great to be able to report that this year pedestrian deaths are down 50 percent over what they were last year. In this city, on the average, over the last five years, the average number of pedestrians killed each year has been 50, and the average number of pedestrians injured each year has been 2,400. So I think Operation Crosswalk, with 5 RESOLUTION 970628 this combination of high-profile police enforcement, coupled with high-profile education of the public, has led to a dramatic and very welcomed decrease in deaths. As of the end of September, there were pedestrians that had been killed in our 8 city. 9 So in addition to making this a safer 10 city in terms of reducing pedestrian deaths and 11 injuries, I think when we start to talk about 12 traffic calming, it is not only an issue of safety, 13 but it is an issue of quality of life in 14 neighborhoods, and an issue of making our city and 15 our neighborhoods more pedestrian friendly. 16 So that will be the focus of our 17 hearings today. We have invited people from other 18 cities and states who have been taking some action 19 steps that I think we can learn from. 20 And we will also hear from city 21 officials and also, very importantly, people from 22 neighborhoods who have contacted my office or other 23 city departments or their own Councilpeople around 24 issues of too many motorists speeding through neighborhoods and both endangering the life of the 6 RESOLUTION 970628 citizens in that neighborhood, but also making their neighborhoods not feel as pedestrian-friendly as they would like them. So traffic calming is a way to tame or slow down traffic and improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. So I would like to call our first panel of experts. Fred Kent, from the Project for Public Space; Ed Walter, a Traffic Engineer in Howard County, Maryland. And what I would like, we will have a panel where all five of the first outside experts can present their testimony. We would also like to hear from Mike King of the New York City Department of Transportation, Jeffrey L'Amoureax from Carroll Engineering here in this area, and Carl Ioso and Michael Hanson from Dover, New Jersey. So here at a public hearing, as some of you may be aware, it is needed for the public record that before each person testify, they give us their name and their title, which would, again, be the official part of the public record. I assume it is Fred Kent, you were 7 RESOLUTION 970628 starting off and had some slides to illustrate some of your points. Our public amplification system is not as high-tech as it might be, but we got it fixed.

Great. Thank you. So my name is Fred Kent. I am President of Project for Public Spaces. It is an international nonprofit organization that works all over the world on public spaces. We have spent a lot of time on traffic issues in communities all over the world. In the Chec Republic, we worked extensively on traffic issues. Because when people moved out of the towns when there was communism, people are now moving back in. And there are a lot of traffic issues there, as there are everywhere we go. So we are an organization that deals with creating places, building communities, using common sense. We run an urban parks program. We run a national Partnership for Transportation and Livable Communities, a public market program. We 8 RESOLUTION 970628 have done a lot of publications. This national partnership, we have done a product called the Role of Transit in Creating Livable Communities; the Role of Street Design in Supporting Traffic Management, and how it supports transit; the Role of Passenger Amenities and Vehicle Characteristics in Building Transit Ridership; and then a book on traffic calming and its role in creating livable communities. We will send that to you and give you a copy of that. So we are confronted always with the issue of a building like this and a street like this. Together, the architect and the traffic engineer have created an almost pedestrian-free environment. We have too many of these in our cities. You have quite a number of these buildings, or buildings almost as bad as this, here in Philadelphia. People go to places like this. Even people in these buildings will go on a vacation to Paris or to some place interesting. Another example is where an architect has a disease called column-itis. And take these 9 RESOLUTION 970628 five men, and put them around this column right here, and then ask, would they be arrested? Would they be considered loiterers? Would they be considered undesireables? So we are designing our cities and our streets not for the use of the communities that make them up. Here is the way to get in and out of a garage. And there is no parking on street. And so you end up with an almost totally lifeless place. And we spend so much time moving traffic through an area. This is Central Park in New York. And this is one of the worst parts of New York. Right next to it is Columbus Circle. And we don't think about creating a great place the traffic also can use. Here, traffic abuses this as a place. And then the roads that we built are so over-designed and anti-pedestrian, that virtually the signal here is, don't walk. And the crosswalks are limited. If you want to go from here to here, you are more apt to get in your car than you are to walk. 10 RESOLUTION 970628 And we don't encourage a city like Philadelphia, which has such an erratic building pattern, which is really beautiful, but we don't think about how to reinforce those streets as places to walk and to shop and to move along. And so we end up with situations like this. These are eight friends of ours in Sidney, Australia, trying to get across the street after they went and had lunch. They were going to a store across the street to shop. The Lord Mayor of Sidney has this over his desk. He has no control over the Streets Department. And they will not put in a crosswalk to provide safety for those women. So at the center of any tradition, it is easy to be blind to alternatives. And there are amazing alternatives. And the alternatives are not for safety reasons, but they are community development, economic development, creating places in communities all over a city. So Winston Churchhill said, "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. " We shape our streets, and afterwards our streets shape us. And we find that most communities are in jail and most traffic engineers are in jail. And getting out of jail is amazingly exciting to do.

So if we go and think about place as our main objective, and we think about qualities that make up a place -- comfort and image, uses and activities, access and linkage, and sociability -- and these are qualities that we look to. And, you know, we create environments where someone like this can take over a parking space and feel comfortable, or you start seeing an affection, you know you are getting success. Now, what is a place? Very simple. This is New Haven, Connecticut, right across from Yale University. And this is a before and after. But this is so simple. All we did hear is, we just -- the traffic engineers had made all the streets in downtown one way, they had widened all the lanes, and they basically ruined New Haven. So we narrowed the lanes, we created a place that wasn't very big, just a small little 12 RESOLUTION 970628 place there, and then look what began to happen. The same stores are there; they dressed themselves up. And they put out a bench, a waste basket, and some seating, and now someone sells newspapers there. So this has become a place, and we use traffic calming measures to do that. And then Kathy redid this little parking structure there, did valet parking. And people are totally comfortable coming to New Haven, which is perceived as a dangerous place, to park. So that had an impact on that. Then near the co-op, we worked with a local engineering to do this, and this is now becoming a place, also. These simple little measures help turn around. And New Haven is now beginning to focus on places, rather than just on traffic movement. Another place we worked on is in California, San Bernardino, in a very dangerous city, worst crime rate in all of California. And this is the center of town right here. And we decided they need some 13 RESOLUTION 970628 mountains. So we brought some mountains in, and they did come back. But there is a square, decided to put in a little square there. But the first thing we did is, we changed the whole street by restriping it, and we just put in angle parking. And this changed the whole dynamic of commercial activity on that street, on that block. And there were 50 percent more people on the street than there were before, and the businesses started to revive by changing that dynamic. And then we put a square there, 36 organizations. This is the kind of community place. It is not a park; it is a community place. And the 36 organizations there said what they would like to do, and then this was put up there. And there is also a bus stop there. So the transit and parking and a place together have created the center of town, or the center of that community. And so they have all these events going on. And we had another meeting. And while this meeting was going on on what to do, we 14 RESOLUTION 970628 always do things, what can you do in three weeks to three months. And you keep doing things and you keep testing and experimenting. Well, while we were doing this, there was a practice for a Shakespearean play right next to this. This is in our tent. And for the third African-American business that had been opened, there was a fashion show practice. And then because the square was put in there, they did a Route 66 exposition there, with all these old cars in the angle parking that we put in. And that's become a major event there. And then another one -- this is backwards; these are all backwards -- is just to get -- transit has got to be considered as part of any traffic calming, because transit is critical. They have to go places. So creating places in communities requires a good transit location or place. So this is across from City Hall in Corpus Christi, Texas. People did tiles. And the ownership here. And now we are putting a market and some other things into that space. So traffic calming. The erosion of 15 RESOLUTION 970628 cities by automobiles perceives as a kind of nibbling. Small nibbles at first, but eventually hefty bites.

A street is widened here, another is straightened there, a wide avenue is converted to one-way flow, and more land goes into parking. No one step in this process is in itself crucial, but cumulatively the effect is enormous. That was written in 1953. And what has happened to date, from then to now, has just been devastating to cities all around the world. So we can deal with that fairly quickly. This rock is a temporary traffic calming device, and it really works. But the issues that we're really talking about is, how do we create communities where you want to live in, commercial districts, neighborhoods. And when you have heavy, fast-moving traffic, people feel confined to their homes. They don't have neighbors across the street as much. And the less traffic and the less noise, there is more presence on the street, there 16 RESOLUTION 970628 is a greater sense of safety; not just from vehicle traffic, but from safety and security issues in a broad range. And when you live on a fast-moving street, you may think of your home territory as just your apartment. But in a neighborhood, your home territory may be the whole block, where the traffic isn't fast. So these are big issues. They have strong economic implications. And we were doing some work in California where we were asking people concerns about crime and concerns about safety. So crime during the day and crime during the evening was here, but traffic was way off the charts. Congestion and noise were big issues in that neighborhood, way more important than crime. And we feel that's the case in many of the communities we work in. So here are just some simple pictures of how you design a road for desired speed. Here is an arterial coming into a community -- she wants me to say something else -- 17 RESOLUTION 970628 so we want them to slow down, and so you do. You narrow the lanes, put in sidewalks and bicycle lanes, a median and parking, and you change the whole dynamic of a street when you come into a neighborhood. Now, there are a lot of ways to do that. But if your mindset is to say, okay, we have a neighborhood, how are we going to treat that neighborhood, and how is that going to influence our road; rather than, the road is important to us, we just drive cars through it. There is a totally different approach. And you can think about all kinds of roads. I mean, your downtown streets. To us it is not a friendly city, the way your roads are designed. And here is, this is in Dusseldorf. And they have two-lane roads, and these are 19 feet from curb to curb. You go slow there. Those are big vehicles. You have those same kinds of vehicles here. 19 feet; two, 9-and-a-half-foot lanes. And parking. You see that the guidelines in this country are 8 feet. If you do 6 feet, you change the dynamic. And you do tight 18 RESOLUTION 970628 angle parking. And look at the space for pedestrians. Then it becomes so busy, that you take out parking spaces and put outdoor cafes in there. So you are talking about the whole revitalization of an area can have a big impact on commercial neighborhoods, as well as residential. And then when you start getting to the ultimate is, in Denmark, where -- they only do two-way roads; they don't do any one-way roads. And the standards for a main street are feet from here to there, and they have 6 foot 14 parking lanes. And you can see, you walk or bicycle 15 at the same speed you drive your car. 16 So neighborhoods -- this is a major 17 community. This is probably 60, 70 thousand. And this is the heart of that city, and they have this kind of standard for that. And then when you go to some of the great markets in Granville Island, they don't even have sidewalks. Cars and the people go together. And that creates an environment beyond your imagination, a success, an economic success. In New York, we have done a lot of 19 RESOLUTION 970628 traffic calming in different -- all over the world. And one of the examples is in New York, where we did this restriping.

So this is a short-term experiment. It is very easy to do. But one of the things, before I tell you about it, is look at the number of cars. There are six vehicles along there. Okay? There are four lanes. Those six vehicles are going to all gun to get to here. So in that picture over there, we restriped and we put bollards where these two outside cars here are. So there is no possibility that you can get six lanes going into four, so you reduce aggressive driving. I think aggressive driving is largely created by the way intersections are designed by traffic engineers for increased capacity. That increases safety hazards. So when you can do temporary things like angle parking on streets, this is a state -- this is a federal road in Tallahassee that we did with the state Department of Transportation. Almost over their dead bodies, but the Governor wanted it. And in Boston we walked around with 20 RESOLUTION 970628 the traffic engineers. And this is the site of the Boston Massacre symbol. And we almost had another one, because the traffic engineers felt so uncomfortable standing there, with all the traffic going by, that they have agreed to do the one on the right there to enhance that. This is the old State House. You can do amazing things in historic areas, that have been negatively affected by traffic engineers, to bring back great places. So in summary, what we're doing is, architects may like these kinds of buildings. This is almost surreal. The trees are perfect, everything is perfectly symmetrical. But we don't go to those places; we go to those places. And how do we create those places? We don't go to these places; we go to places where we can feel comfortable. And some of the great streets are ones we should aspire to. And traffic ought to be able to support the creation of those great streets, those great places in the cities. And a lot of it has to do with retail, and how the retail comes out onto the 21 RESOLUTION 970628 street. But if the traffic is too fast, the retail goes internal and it hides itself. So it is not just streets and traffic; it is the community and the retail and the public spaces that together create the great community, that great place. And loosening up on some of the standards for store-front design is critical to making a good street. And things like art also go. So where there is no vision, the people perish. And we are always saying, what can you do in the short term in terms of maintenance, security, activities and entertainment, markets, retail incubators, small design improvements, art, traffic, transportation, and parking. Together, in a kind of a community improvement team, with traffic and parks and economic development going into neighborhoods all around Philadelphia could do wonders to transform the communities that make up Philadelphia. Now, we always use observation. " What makes a great place -- we are 22 RESOLUTION 970628 working in Toledo, Ohio, and they made placemats out of this on the right. " So he has done everything that you wouldn't do here, and loves doing it. And we have a place game which assesses what people think about a place. People in the community play the game. And if the people lead in a community, the leaders will follow. " And that's what we are always told. But a community with its vision says something different, and that vision prevails. I think that's it. So thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, we just heard a very long speech in a very short amount of time. Great slides. So thank you, Fred Kent. I am wondering if there are any immediate questions from members of the Committee, 23 RESOLUTION 970628 or we could hear from the range of outside experts and then go back. Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Kent, I noticed in one of the photos up here, you show where a part of the street was taken over by an outdoor cafe or something, kind of like a platform-type thing.

It reminded me of South Street. I don't know if you are familiar with South Street in Philadelphia. What impact or how do you account for or how do you deal with the issue of emergency vehicles on a street when you take out a travel lane? Which it looked like there were maybe two travel lanes and a parking lane from what that photograph looked like. Now you are taking out part of the travel lane. Obviously you have to take that into account, I assume? How do we deal with that issue? CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Why don't you use the mike at the table. 24 RESOLUTION 970628

Oh, sure. But in those situations, it was a parking lane, not a travel lane. So that's not -- but emergency vehicles are a key factor. And there is a lot of work been done on that, especially for fire engines. And our view is that the streets should be -- we should have a program of skinny streets, and, therefore, smaller fire engines. And in New York we have, you know, smaller fire engines in some of our neighborhoods where they have skinny streets. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We have mostly skinny streets in Philadelphia; that's why I asked.

You do. And you are fortunate for that. And so the vehicles should be smaller, not bigger. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: When you create these more pedestrian-friendly streets by slowing traffic down -- and it looks to me as though some of the traffic is being eliminated, or parking is being eliminated -- how do you deal with the parking issue? 25 RESOLUTION 970628

We usually add more parking in communities that we go into. Because there are often areas right near interconnections where you can increase on-street parking. We also like higher turnover of parking, which creates friction, which means that vehicles slow down. That's another traffic-calming measurement. But the higher turnover supports the retailers on a commercial street. So what our objective is, is to create activity that supports that place. Then what happens is, through traffic, it begins to diminish. And then over time, because it becomes a better place, people are more apt to walk there and come there to shop because it is a destination. But we are eliminating destinations by the way we design our roads. So there is no 20 place to go anymore, so then people are driving all over looking for a place to go, and there is no 22 "there" there anymore. So if we turn it around and create the there's, then it is a different approach. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I like what I RESOLUTION 970628 saw. Parking is a big issue in Philadelphia. In some of our neighborhoods we don't have any place to create parking.

Right. Well, we were working in Summit, New Jersey, and we got 80 new places in a fairly small town, to enhance just that, from existing opportunities. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Did I understand from your comments, too, this really needs to happen neighborhood by neighborhood? It is not like there is some big citywide plan, because you want the buy-in and the involvement and the input from the neighborhood?

Yes. You see, I think there needs to be these community improvement teams that make up different departments, as well as the community, going around and assessing how traffic impacts that neighborhood. And then short-term measures, restriping, changing the parking, reducing the speed by necking down on different places. So there is a whole bunch of strategies that can be used in 27 RESOLUTION 970628 cooperation with a neighborhood to create that place. Transit is another part. But we one-dimensionalize things. We just have the traffic engineer, sitting in an office, looking at how they can improve traffic. When we take traffic engineers out onto the street, they become normal human beings. And they actually look together with a community about how they can improve it and enhance it. That's what gets people to do things differently. If you sit in your office and look at your books, you don't do anything that's effective for a community. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Any other questions or comments? Thank you, Mr. Kent. If you want to hang around in case there are any other issues. But I know you came from New York, so why don't you stay as long as you feel able.

Well, I may challenge a few people, if that's all right? CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Okay. Our next witness is -- I love that quote, too, "We think of our town as heaven. Don't drive like hell 28 RESOLUTION 970628 through it." That's a nice little saying. Our next witness is Ed Walter, Traffic Engineer of Howard County, Maryland. Do you have slides, too? Again, since so much of this is just to help us see how it is going to look, or how things could look and feel differently, I am pleased that you brought slides.

Mr. Kent did a masterful job talking about commercial areas and cities. And they are very, very important. And what kind of work he has done is also important. My focus, I am Traffic Engineer for Howard County, and I do get out on the street occasionally. Our county is a suburban, rapidly growing suburban, area between Baltimore and Washington. And we have had an awful lot of new streets, new residential streets, built in the county. And I would contend that most of them were improperly built. They are built with design standards that far exceed the needs of the 29 RESOLUTION 970628 residential street. Mr. Kent alluded to one, skinny streets. Our streets are generally 34 or 40 feet wide on a residential street, much too wide. Another factor is making them curvilinear, so that your views are restricted. You don't see down a long path ahead of you. Because you drive a street the way you feel it is to drive. And if it feels comfortable, and you see a long distance, you tend to speed. When it is closed up, when there are trees arching over the street, then you tend to drive more slowly. So I am talking about suburban residential traffic calming. I have a paper here you might be interested in. Let me go back a second. Residential traffic calming, the term calming comes from Europe. And they are very serious in what they do in Europe in terms of traffic calming. They will slow traffic in the central city down so that people can walk amongst the cars. Maybe the vehicles are moving at 5, 10 miles an hour 30 RESOLUTION 970628 on certain streets. And then they carry the same idea over to residential streets, and have vehicles moving perhaps at 20, miles an hour on a 6 residential street. 7 There are a number of ways to go in 8 and retrofit streets. And that's a huge problem, of 9 how do you slow traffic down on a street that was 10 designed for 35 miles an hour, and you want the 11 traffic moving 25 miles an hour. 12 One of the simplest, most 13 cost-effective ways is to change the vertical 14 alignment, using speed humps or raised 15 intersections. 16 A speed hump is -- this is a 17 Watt-style hump. It is 12 feet long in the 18 direction of traffic, and rises inches high. So 19 it is 6 feet to rise inches, and then drops back 20 down in the next 6 feet. 21 The ones we have constructed of this 22 type in Howard County have a characteristic of 23 vehicles go over them at about 15 miles per hour. 24 Between humps, the vehicles will 25 speed up. And so then you need to repeat the hump 31 RESOLUTION 970628 so that they don't get too fast. We experimented with spacing and decided that with this type of hump, you needed a spacing of about five to six hundred feet to keep speeds in between the humps at a reasonable speed, about 29 miles an hour. This is one of the first series of humps that was placed on Baltimore Avenue. You can see a long, straight street, 36 feet wide. And then this was the next application, a much smaller street, a skinny street, if you will, but a cut-through street. Speed was 42 miles an hour on this street before the humps were placed, and then we placed four of them. Immediately after the humps were put in, speeds at the humps went 15 miles an hour, and in between 28 miles an hour. But we also ended up diverting about percent of the traffic away from this street. A 21 lot of the traffic was using it as a cut-through 22 between two parallel arterials. 23 Another view of the same street, 24 Dogwood Drive. And after putting in several streets with the Watt style hump, we changed to the Seminole 32 RESOLUTION 970628 County, or flat-top hump. Which is physically just about the same, except it has a flat section 10 feet high on it. And it has a higher operating characteristic. Instead of traveling miles an 7 hour, vehicles can go over it at about 20 miles an 8 hour. 9 And then with repeating them, we 10 found that we can go up to about seven, eight 11 hundred feet between the humps.

And people tend to 12 drive them at a more regular speed because they 13 don't feel they have to slow down quite so much. 14 This is an approach to the first we 15 placed. You can see it, an almost cross-section vehicle on it. It is amazing that that little bit of asphalt would change your speed so much. This is a typical signage we use. Another hump. Here is a flat-top hump used as a pedestrian crossing. This is a more expensive solution in a nearby community. Same idea, flat top, as a crosswalk, but it is concrete instead of asphalt. Here is an all-raised intersection in Norway. Here is the same sort of thing. This is 33 RESOLUTION 970628 called a cushion, so that buses can go over the cushion, they can drive between the cushion. Automobiles, their treads are more narrow, and they have to at least have one wheel on the cushion. There are other ways of calming traffic. I could go into them, but I understood that your main emphasis was on vertical solutions. They are very inexpensive. I should note that they cost -- CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Yes, tell us the cost.

A hump can be constructed with signage for about $1500 per hump. We have done traffic circles and roundabouts that are much more expensive. They get up to about 12,000 or 15,000 dollars or more. We do a lot of chokers. Not so much as a traffic-calming measure, but as a pedestrian safety measure. You saw a couple of chokers in Mr. Kent's slide, where it narrowed the road at an intersection so that pedestrians could cross more easily. I think if you go forward with traffic calming -- and I strongly recommend it in 34 RESOLUTION 970628 residential areas -- you certainly need to do it with speed studies preceding it. You must work with the communities to develop a plan, and then you should -- and I think it is best to work with a committee of the community, and then have the community vote on the plan. We require 60 percent approval. And we have consistently gotten 75 to 82 percent approval. And we do it with secret ballot. And then we have one other criteria in developing our plan. We don't want people to have to travel over these devices more than two or three minutes at a time before they get out of the calm area. And so we think our plan is successful, and it has worked with a number of devices. And probably the most economical is the speed hump. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you. Just one question I have had. Have you done many of these around schools or areas where there is a lot of elderly people, or do you pick more like big 35 RESOLUTION 970628 straightaways, where you try to slow someone down?

Well, at school crossing we have started a program of putting flashers at every school using strobe lights. But also we have been taking the primary crossing and narrowing it down with a choker. And it does slow traffic about 4 miles an hour. But the most important thing is to reduce the length of the pedestrian crossing of -- probably the most dramatic one we have done is changing a 65-foot pedestrian crossing to a 33-feet. It is much safer that way. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: The only issue here, in this city, we have like 260 schools, public schools, plus a lot of Catholic schools. So, I mean, I know one real safety concern in neighborhoods is around schools, where there are a lot of children crossing. I didn't know if you were using speed humps around or near schools.

Yes, we have used speed humps around elementary schools, as well. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. 36 RESOLUTION 970628 Any other questions from the Committee? Thank you very much, Mr. Walter, for coming up and sharing with us your experience. The next person to testify is Mike King from the New York City Department of Transportation. This hearing may go down in record as the hearing with the most slides. But maybe we will all come away understanding it better.

Today I just picked up some slides that -- CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: You should give your name.

Sorry. I have been sick. My name is Michael King. I am Director of Traffic Calming for New York City Department of Transportation. And thanks for having me down. I picked up about 20 slides of what we have been doing in the city, in New York City, so just to give you an idea. We have been calming traffic for 37 RESOLUTION 970628 about four years now. And it is part of our pedestrianisation and traffic-calming program, and bicycles, they are are all sort of -- they are the same thing, and a lot of times use these different techniques, a bike technique for traffic calming or pedestrianisation. They all kind of work together. And we are not really sure what's going on with this slide machine. A lot of what we do, traffic calming is -- I don't feel like we are calming traffic, in that we are making things better. I think we are just really returning the city back to what it used to be. This is a neighborhood in Brooklyn with a 1950s, 1960s style housing block. And as a consequence, they make the street, instead of 30 feet wide, it is now 50 feet wide. And you just don't feed a 50-foot-wide street anywhere, really, in a residential neighborhood. So we built a neck-down. If you can see it, it is there, next to the trash cans. So a lot of it is just returning the city back to what it once was, or, you know, once used to be. 38 RESOLUTION 970628 And then you can also build neck-downs. This is just a common -- that street used to go this way; now they both go that way, so you sort of do that kind of stuff. Of course, on the right-hand side what we have is a street that's two ways and it becomes one way. And so you need, what we call, a block buster, but it is just in paint. And so many traffic engineers will propose this. And we go along with it because oftentimes it is not a question of what you want to do; it is what you can do under the existing circumstances. And so the first step is often to just say, well, we want it to be -- it is 50 feet wide. We want it to be 30 feet wide. Let's go ahead and stripe it right now, put up some planters or do something like that, and then put it on the capital program so two years later we can build it in concrete or build it in something else. In fact, the first slide, we had it striped, and, finally, it came up under an existing pedestrian sidewalk ramp program that was finally done. 39 RESOLUTION 970628 And another thing is to just document how things are used. Here the guys are playing checkers out in the street, or chess, in front of the fire hydrant. Because you can't ever park at a fire hydrant. And we communicate with the Fire Department, and they are on board to, whenever we redo a street, we can build a neck-down at the fire hydrant because you can't park there. They love it, because then no one can ever park in front of their fire hydrants. It is a neck-down. You see it on the right-hand side. Another thing is to just capture those little -- where three or four streets just come together, and this used to be nothing, now it is a little triangle, and you put benches there. Little, itty-bitty things where you are not really -- you are not changing anything. It is not grandiose. All you are saying is, cars don't need this space, so let's do something else with it. Plant a tree. This is one of Fred's, one of his drawings, photos that he had of the neck-downs, where they painted it and they put up the bollards. 40 RESOLUTION 970628 This is another technique that we have used. Traffic engineers, they don't use these types of things, where we actually map where pedestrians walk. And here what happened is that pedestrians walked up and down this street, as you can see, but the crosswalks didn't follow that. You can see the crosswalks, they are sketched there. So that's another reason for why we did this. And it is nothing remarkable, I don't think. I don't think it is ingenious. I think it is just, well, this is where people walk. Let's make it so they can walk.

And here is a case of the median with the woman with the walker and trying to get across. ASHTO, which is the engineer's Bible, which is the green book, says the median should be 4 feet wide, and that's how wide this median is. Now, I would argue that if you are pushing a baby stroller or if you are walking your bike, you need 6 feet worth of space between your back and the baby's head. So you need more than 4 feet. So it is little things like that. And here is a woman here that, you know, she needs more 41 RESOLUTION 970628 space. Here is another situation where we had a median. You can see the median next to the bus on the right. It is about 3, 4 feet wide. And this space was unused, not for cars. And we took these Jersey barriers, which are these things on the left, put a bunch of them together, cemented around it, and put a planted plants in the middle of it. So the cars didn't need the space. In fact, the street is really closed, and so we built a planter. Here is where traffic calming and bicycle programs come together, is that we use bike lanes as traffic-calming devices. On the right, and then also on the left, same street. During the summer it becomes a play street one or a couple of days a year, something like that, or next to schools. You just turn it into a play street. Coordinating all these little blocks of streets are turned into play streets for schools that don't have playgrounds in New York City. So we just try to capture all this stuff together. 42 RESOLUTION 970628 Ed showed a lot of pictures about speed humps. We just installed 120 this summer, and we have had pretty good success. These are a couple. I just wanted to make sure of what a speed hump is, and not a bump. A bump is what you see on the left. And a hump is bigger than the car. And there is a big difference. And how humps work, just in case anyone wants to know, they don't send the car -- they don't launch the car. Okay? This doesn't happen. What happens is that the car goes over, and then -- this is a two-way street -- and then on the back end the cars slam down to the ground if it is going more than miles an hour or 18 25, or whatever it is designed for. 19 So you don't have any accidents. 20 There are no wrecks with a speed hump. It just doesn't happen. My research nationwide has shown about eight cases of any sort of liability with a speed hump. It is just not a problem. And most of those were either under construction or settled out 43 RESOLUTION 970628 of court, or something like that. So this is how they work. And you can put a speed hump -- Ed showed pretty much the round top and the flat top, the top two on the right, speed hump and speed table. For simplicity sake I call it a round top speed hump or a flat top speed hump. Forget everything else; that's how we refer to them. Then also the crosswalk, where you can also narrow the road, you could put them in the middle of intersections. They can just be just in the middle of the intersection, or they can become part of the raised crosswalk and the raised intersection. And there is other -- lots of different ways. This is a couple we built in better neighborhoods. That's sort of what they look like. We built them out of concrete and out of asphalt. Our asphalt ones cost around $4,000, all said and done. I think -- CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: There is a price differential between New York and --

Yes. What did he say? 44 RESOLUTION 970628 1500 bucks? So, whatever. The concrete ones cost about $6,000. But then the concrete ones you can pay for with more capital funds. Because the concrete in New York City, if you do concrete, it is guaranteed for ten years, so it is a better investment. Now, the asphalt ones, we are treating them -- I guess when they resurface this road, they can rip it up. And we haven't come up with that question. That does enter. That is a question. And you can also, the concrete one here on the left, you can start playing around with the details of how you build it and make it a little bit more interesting. Also on the right, we used one. This is just a raised crosswalk. And here is an interesting situation, where this street didn't qualify for a signal or a controlled crosswalk, according to the national standards. There just weren't enough people. Now, I think there are a lot of people there, but evidently there weren't enough. 45 RESOLUTION 970628 So we just conveniently placed the speed hump about where the people cross the street. And so you start to get around stuff. This is a picture of a roundabout that's backwards. We're starting this program. We will probably start installing some next year. Let's see what else. Promenades. The one on the left is Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. The one on the right is Monday through Friday, 11:00 to 2:00. If you don't want -- it is not an all-or-nothing deal. If you have a promenade, it doesn't have to be completely closed, and that's it, forget fire trucks, forget anything. You can have it closed. This is only during the summer, this is Little Italy, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the rest of the time it is okay. The same thing here on the right. You can have deliveries before 11 o'clock, you can have deliveries after 2:00. The fire trucks can always come down. Lots of streets change their behavior day and night. And so a lot of the resistance is, 46 RESOLUTION 970628 "Oh, my God, I won't be able to drive. " You work with it. The one on the right, you can't really tell, it is -- where the little kid is, is actually red asphalt. It is just asphalt pigmented red, a little trick we -- just to take a pedestrian street that becomes a promenade during the day and make it different. On the left you have the -- they are just brick pavers. The problem is, why I took this picture is, where the guy is walking is the asphalt patch, because then when the utility companies come and dig up your thing. So you have to sort of be on top of these things. Here is another little interesting trick. On the left is a T-intersection, and it is a one-way going away, the stub end, which is next to where the car is about to turn. Now, the signals -- let's see if I can do this. When this traffic is moving, or when it is stopped, when it is moving, because of the way it is ordered, this signal says "Walk," even though you have turning cars. " Little, itty-bitty things like that, I think, go a lot to improving the pedestrian environment. On the right is stop bars, where the cars are actually stopped. According to the national guidelines, you should have a stop bar 4 feet back. Well, a lot of times cars sort of creep up over it. So put the thing 10 feet back. If you want them to stop back there, make them go stop back somewhere else. Here is another thing. On the right, this is Washington around the White House. If you are going to protect the President from bombs, you have to put up these Jersey barriers. But if you are going to -- it gets in the way of the sidewalk. And on the left is New York City, where it says, "Sidewalk Closed. " And a lot of times you go around and 48 RESOLUTION 970628 you will see construction sites where they close the sidewalk, that's it, go to the other side of the street. This is a ten-lane street. No one in their right mind is ever going to go to the other side of the street. Lots of little things.

You just have to be on top of these types of situations. Another thing is, on the right, the pedestrian ramp, the near side, is diagonal. And so if you are blind or walking with a cane, or something like that, and you go down the ramp, all of the sudden you are in the middle of the intersection. On the far side the ramps are in line with the two crosswalks. Little things like that. New York City, we thought we could get away with having just one crosswalk per corner because we could save some money. That has been proven wrong. That's wrong. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: You mean one ramp?

One ramp, yes. There are two crosswalks, you have two ramps. 49 RESOLUTION 970628 Throw up pedestrian guides everywhere, maps. The other, the last thing, is crash data or accident data. It still reads backwards or forwards. Get ahold of this stuff and put crashes, pedestrian accidents, on the -- put it on the paper. Most traffic engineers don't -- a pedestrian accident is, I think it says somewhere in the book that a tree is or a pedestrian is a -- it just gets in the way. A pedestrian or a tree would get in the way of a car if it ran out of control. So if you are driving on the road, the idea is that, if you lose control of your car, like on a freeway, you should be able to come to a stop without hitting everything. In other words, we have to get rid of the trees, we have to get rid of the people, we have to get rid of the dogs, we have to get rid of everything so that you can slow down on your own. Our argument is, here are pedestrians killed in New York. New York has 250 pedestrians killed a year. Which is twice as many as in London, 50 RESOLUTION 970628 and the population is the same. You turn the things around. So that's what we have been doing. Thanks. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much, Mr. King, and particularly for coming, even though you had mentioned at the beginning you weren't feeling that well. So thank you very much. And I noticed your title is Traffic Calming Division. Can I just ask how many people are in your Traffic Calming Division?

How many people are in it? CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: In it. Or do you have a Traffic Calming Division?

Yes. There are about 18 people who work in pedestrian, bikes, and traffic 19 calming, all totaled. 20, 25. 20 It is almost just the research and development. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Can you use the mike.

It is almost just the research and development part of DOT. We are 51 RESOLUTION 970628 constantly looking for new ways to do things. Of course, as I said in the beginning, a lot of our new things are really just returning things to the way they once were, but it is new. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. Our next witness is Jeffrey L'Amoureax.

That's right. Good afternoon. I am Jeff L'Amoureax. I am Manager of Traffic and Transportation Engineering at Carroll Engineering in Warrington, Pennsylvania, the gateway to Bucks County. I would like to express my thanks to Councilwoman Fernandez and her staff, and everyone else, for asking me, your kind invitation to speak today. One thing, before I get into the short presentation I have on a roundabout installation here in the Philadelphia area. One of the interesting changes we're 52 RESOLUTION 970628 seeing as municipal engineers is that some local municipalities are now starting to change their street design standards to include required radii; in other words, minimum and maximum design standards and maximum lengths of straightaway. So that the traffic calming is an inherent element in new subdivisions that are being considered. That deviates greatly from what ASHTO and the highway design standards have always had, have always established, for traffic and highway design. So I thought I would mention that. I am not at liberty to say which municipality it is that we think we are thinking about doing this, because it is a political hotbed right now. But that is one of the directions it is happening. I am thankful, because my presentation today is on installation of a roundabout in Philadelphia, actually it is in Abington Township. I'd like to talk a little bit about what a roundabout is and where they appear. And when I talk about putting in a roundabout, or a rotary, everybody says, "Oh, you are going to make everything just like Jersey. " And the answer is, yes, they are, in some locations. Primarily because there is a vast difference between what a traffic circle is -- for example, we all remember the Ellisburg Circle, which is now gone by the wayside -- and some of the problems that we had over there, the speed and the conflict of vehicles. And nobody really knew what was going on. When you drove it, you just kind of knew how to drive it. Roundabouts are consistent, in that they have two specific rules about them. Number one, the center island -- and before I go any further, this particular one I'm showing here I took on vacation in Interlacken, Switzerland. The large flesh-colored object on the right is my thumb. And what you see here is an example of a roundabout in the middle of town near the train station. The rotaries there -- I'm using rotary and roundabout interchangeably -- are characteristic, in that they have a small central island and they have what we call a splitter island 54 RESOLUTION 970628 on each approach. In the distance here you can see one, and here on this adjacent intersecting street you can see, one. And yield control is enforced vigorously on all the approaches. In other words, when you are coming into the roundabout, you must yield to traffic on the roundabout. That is fundamental to the success of any kind of -- any sort of installation along these lines. When we were selected to work with -- I have to make sure I don't show you the after before I show you the before. When we were selected to work with Carter Van Dyke Associates in Abington Township, up in front of the Keswick Theater, which you see off to the distance here, we were presented with a very interesting intersection, the intersection of Keswick Avenue and Wharton Road, which are two township-owned roadways in Keswick, the Keswick section of Abington. " 55 RESOLUTION 970628 It has a painted, triangular island in the middle, with two-way traffic allowed on every side of the island. It is a huge expanse of pavement for a pedestrian to try to cross. " I said, "The township will hate it. " Before we could even suggest, talk about a preliminary design, it turns out that they loved it, and it went with the Tudor architecture in the Keswick area. " "Yes. Yes, we want one of these. " So, with great anticipation, the local press, in fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer, seized on the rotary concept.

And it was met with great local anticipation, met very well, better than I had expected. And it was, we felt, fortunate that we had a lot of local businesspeople who were 56 RESOLUTION 970628 concerned about pedestrian safety, were somewhat educated about the subject. And we had a florist right on the corner who was chomping at the bit to go and fill the rotary full of flowers once it was built. And this is a simple example of a traffic island. And I would like to quote here from it. " Without further ado, the final result is an island about the same size as the one in Switzerland. And that's been constructed and now has been open for about three months -- actually, three weeks. We have installed bollards in the center with some pedestrian lighting. They have added a clock in the center. We sent electrical conduit out to the center. And we have installed a clock which was put in just in time for WXTF, for Fox 29, Good Day Philadelphia, live from the Keswick Rotary, which happened on Tuesday. I don't know if anybody saw it. I 57 RESOLUTION 970628 wish I had seen it. But a couple of experiences from this installation are appropriate. Number one, we had to keep parking on the street. And in order to do that, we had to bring in this approach roadway on much of the same alignment that it was before when the circle went in. Well, what does that mean? Normally in roundabout design, you like to bring in the intersecting roadway pointed right at the center of the thing, and then break it right at the end, make a quick twist right at the end to slow people down. That enforces the right-of-way rule, so that they yield on entering. Well, we couldn't figure out a way to do that and preserve the parking. So we had to bring in this approach more smoothly oriented with the outside of the circle. As a result, we had a lot of difficulty getting people to yield. They still felt as though they had the right-of-way, which was the way it was before the circle was installed. On all the other approaches it was not a problem, we had that nice break. And although 58 RESOLUTION 970628 we did have an interesting thing that happened. And, that is, the concept of right-of-way, to most motorists around here, is very, very foreign. Surprise, surprise. A Yield sign, what's that? Oh, that must mean that I should just be careful and just kind of go. We wound up putting Stop signs out there in order to get people to yield, with the idea that hopefully, over time, we'll be able to take the Stop signs down and put the Yield signs up, the way that we want it to be. And we kind of made a decision on the fly to do that. So that's our story. This is about the same size as the one in Switzerland. And if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Would you just tell us, what was the cost?

This, I believe, was bid out at around $25,000. But there was a lot of crosswalk work and brick inlay that went along with it. It could be a little bit more than that. I wasn't privy to the bid opening. 59 RESOLUTION 970628 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Yes, Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. The last statement you made, where you said you had to remove the Yield signs and put Stop signs in, at least temporarily, to get the message out. How were you able to do that, and to get around state regs? Because when we talk to our Streets Department about installing Stop signs where maybe there are no Stop signs, and we feel from a public standpoint that they are necessary, although upon an inspection of the intersection and a survey we are told more often than I would like to be told, "Well, we can't put a Stop sign in because X amount of people don't cross, there have not been enough reported accidents or incidents there." How did you do that? I would like to know. Or did you just do it?

We just did it. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's the way I like to do things. Thank you.

It was viewed as a 60 RESOLUTION 970628 unique animal, and that's the direction we took. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: My friends from the Streets Department, let's just do it. Just do it. Let's just do it. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. It is my pleasure. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Our next witnesses are Carl Ioso and Michael Hanson, from Dover, New Jersey.

I am Mike Hanson. I am the Traffic Engineer in Dover, New Jersey. And, unfortunately, I don't have any nice slides to show you today because we are right in the middle of our first project. And I guess I could have shown you some before pictures. But without the after pictures, it wouldn't really be worth much. Our project did not involve a commercial or downtown area; it was a residential neighborhood. And let me just tell you a little story about it. 61 RESOLUTION 970628 It was a classic case of a -- let me give you a background about Dover, first. Dover is a small community, about 15,000 residents. We have a central business district and we have surrounding residential areas. The town was developed, just about fully developed, for about the last 80, 100 years. And the street layout patterns are quite old and quite wide. And the residential neighborhoods have fairly wide streets, which was the way streets were designed in the past. The whole idea was to move people from Point A to Point B in their cars. There was no 16 appreciation for the fact that public right-of-way is a shared space, it is a space that the people have to live in and that pedestrians have to use, and not only cars. S. highway that goes through town. And it seems that the arterial 62 RESOLUTION 970628 streets, with their traffic signals and the like, were slowing cars down. So they decided that they were going to use the neighborhood streets as a cut-through and as a bypass. And, as a result, you had an increase in traffic. What was unique about the two streets that we're working on now is that, not only were they wide -- they were 40 feet wide from curb to curb -- but they're beautiful residential streets that had sidewalks that were set back another 10 or feet behind the curb and huge, beautiful, mature 13 shade trees set back, and they were straight as an 14 arrow. 15 And the problem that we had was not so much your occasional 60-, 70-mile-an-hour speeder that you are not going to do anything about -- those are people that are just going to break the law -- but what about the people that felt quite comfortable driving down that street at 40 miles an hour. And the bottom line was, if you rode on that street, because of the width and the open space around you, you felt quite comfortable doing 40 miles an hour. " So what we did was, we took advantage of a state grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation that was made available for non-traditional traffic projects, in which they were promoting traffic calming. Traffic calming is something new to New Jersey. We applied for a grant, and we received a $135,000 grant from the State of New Jersey to design some traffic-calming improvements along these two streets. The design that we wound up with, after examining all of the various alternatives that could be used for traffic calming, resulted in a combination of speed humps and what are called chicanes. One of the problems, as I mentioned before, was that these two streets were very straight, and cars were very comfortable driving down them at high speed. So what we wanted to do was, we wanted to make the alignment a little bit more 64 RESOLUTION 970628 crooked so that a driver did not have a clear line of sight for hundreds and hundreds of feet. From the literature and information from various communities around the country that we were able to gather, we were told that, one of the biggest problems is that you have to make that driver feel constrained. They have to feel like they should be driving slower. If you give them a wide, open space, they are going to feel more comfortable going fast. So our project involved incorporating chicanes, in which we took the straight road and we pulled the curb out, narrowed it down to approximately feet in certain areas.

16 So that when a driver rode down the 17 road -- and we're landscaping those chicanes, by the 18 way -- so that when you drive down the road, it 19 doesn't look like a straight road, and it would 20 appear that there is an obstruction or a turn in the 21 road ahead to slow you down. 22 And on the intermediate blocks we are 23 placing speed humps, 12-foot-long speed humps, that 24 you saw some pictures of before. 25 Something I would like to share with 65 RESOLUTION 970628 you on information that we were able to gather about traffic calming, and some misconceptions that a lot of people have, are misconceptions about speed limit signs. Okay? One of the classic complaints we heard in the neighborhood was, "Get the cops up here. Let them sit on the road and hand out tickets all that day, that will teach the people. " Well, speed limit signs are meant to inform drivers of the speed limit imposed. They are usually established based on what's called the 85th percentile speed on a road. The 85th percentile speed represents the speed at which 85 percent of the drivers drive at or under. In other words, if you were not to put a speed limit sign up on the road and do a traffic study, whatever 85 percent of those drivers do is what you should most likely post the road for. But studies have shown that speed limit signs have very little impact on drivers' 66 RESOLUTION 970628 speed. Okay? You could post -- if you posted the Pennsylvania Turnpike at miles an hour, they're 5 not going to do 25 miles an hour. So you can't just 6 deal with this from a signage standpoint. Various 7 studies have come to this conclusion. 8 There are a number of other 9 conclusions that studies have shown that traffic 10 consistently ignores posted speed limits and travel 11 at speeds drivers consider reasonable, convenient, 12 and safe under the existing conditions that they 13 have. 14 If it is snowing out, they will go 15 slower. If it is a bright, sunny day, they may go 16 10 or 15 miles an hour faster. Drivers do not 17 operate by the speedometer, but by the conditions 18 that they mean. 19 Also, that the general public pays 20 very little attention to what speed limits are 21 posted. And also that the general public has a 22 false conception of speed. 23 And, most importantly, is that speed 24 limit signs have little effect on traffic volumes or 25 distribution. Even with enforcement, little effect 67 RESOLUTION 970628 is seen in traffic with changes in speed and speed limit signs. So, in a sense, what traffic calming is all about is to change the environment so that the driving public feel more comfortable going at the speed you want them to go at. And in our case, which is a residential neighborhood, we wanted to bring it down to a speed that was reasonable to share the space with the residents, with the children playing in that area. The public right-of-way is not just for vehicles; it is for people to use. Our project is probably going to be complete in about another week and a half. And I would love to be able to share some before and after pictures with you at some time in the future. But, unfortunately, we can't do that today. We spent, by the way -- I heard some numbers thrown around here. Our speed humps average between $1200 an $1500 each, with signage and with painting. You do have to mark them with traffic markings -- not only with just signage, but with 68 RESOLUTION 970628 traffic markings -- to let the public know that they are there. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. You did remind me, the way you presented this, as we have been talking about, increasing pedestrian safety over the years. I know that the Engineering, or at least all the Streets Department people, have been educating me, the three E's of traffic, education, enforcement, and engineering. So you have made the clear point that the kinds of traffic-calming measures that are being talked about are really dealing with reengineering the environment.

Because it is too costly, often, to enforce. And education might do a little bit, but it does not work unless you have some of the other two elements there.

That's correct. And now that you mention education, I will share with you that probably the most important aspect of a traffic-calming project is public involvement. I wouldn't dream, after certain 69 RESOLUTION 970628 experiences on this project, of putting a speed hump, a chicane, or any type of traffic-calming improvement in a neighborhood without involving that neighborhood in a public meeting and receiving some sort of consensus as to whether or not they agree. We had a couple of incidences during the design phase, and almost right up to the construction phase, where you would get almost -- we got almost 90 to 100 percent support for the concept. Okay? And then when you went to the individual and said, "But the speed hump is going in front of your house," all of the sudden it was, "Well, it is a great idea, but can't you put it somewhere else." And I do know that the City of San Antonio, Texas, requires, for the installation of speed humps, consent of those properties in front of the speed hump on both sides before they will put one there, in addition to, I believe, a 60 or 70 percent agreement from the neighborhood that it should be done. One other point I would like to make to you that we learned during the design of these 70 RESOLUTION 970628 is, when you are building chicanes or diverters, or something like that, on an existing street, it could involve additional costs with controlling drainage. Normal streets have a crown in it. And when you pull that curb out, all of the sudden you are blocking water. We designed ours with openings to accommodate drains, but it is something you have to accommodate. In addition, as far as maintenance is concerned, the speed hump has to have a profile that's capable of accommodating snow plows. And, also, a chicane has to be delineated so that the snow plow going down the street during a foot of snow doesn't take out your curbline. And your speed humps have to be separated from the curbline to allow for appropriate drainage flow. These are the things that we came across during the design. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much for your comments about community involvement. It is a good segue into our next panel of speakers, who are some of the city officials that need to be part of a partnership, and then we will have people 71 RESOLUTION 970628 from various neighborhoods who have issues or ideas about how to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Again, I want to thank all of the experts from other communities who have helped give us some additional ideas on what we could do here in Philadelphia. So our next panel of witnesses, Commissioner Moy, or his designee, which looks like Mr. Trainer. Dutch Eichorn, Traffic Engineer from PennDOT, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Denise Goran, Deputy Mayor of Transportation. And Deborah Schaaf, City Planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Mr. Trainer, do you expect Mr. Moy, or are you going to be testifying in his stead?

Commissioner Moy and I actually have joint testimony, and I will be delivering it on both of our behalves. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Okay. Why don't you begin. Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor of Transportation.

Good morning. And I am Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor of Transportation. 72 RESOLUTION 970628 Briefly, before my formal comments, what was most exciting about this morning's presentation, I found, is that how many of the concerns expressed by experts we heard this morning are not realities here in the City of Philadelphia. We are not burdened with unduly wide streets throughout our city. We have skinny streets. And we actually have been working on these issues, as you mentioned, Councilwoman, in terms of engineering, as well as the education and enforcement, for quite some time. What is new is the use of some terms. And it was very helpful this morning, this afternoon, to hear some terms. And I am going to speak a little bit more about some others. Traffic calming is a term applied to strategic physical changes, primarily, to residential streets to control vehicle type, speed, and volume. The basic principle is to decrease predominance of the automobile and make all users on a residential street equal partners with other users. 73 RESOLUTION 970628 All streets can be all things to some people, but not all things to all people equally. And the real challenge on our streets is to find out where the pedestrian, the motorist, the bicyclist, the delivery person, together can deal with the limited geographic area that they have. The concept of traffic calming is generally credited as originated in Europe in the early 1970s. However, Philadelphia has been utilizing forms of traffic calming in the broadest sense for many, many years before this term has come into recent vogue. You heard earlier, for instance, the concern with the actual geometry of curb radii. And for the past half century our streets, generally, have been purposely designed incorporating very tight curbs, radii of 10, 12, or 15 feet, which serve the dual purpose of shortening the crossing distance for pedestrians and forcing turning vehicles to brake and slow down before turning. Wider, sweeping radii encourages faster turning speeds. The very design of our streets discourages that. Bulb-outs. You will hear numerous 74 RESOLUTION 970628 words, bulb-outs, neck-downs, widening. All of these words involve techniques where, basically, the sidewalk is enlarged at intersections to shorten pedestrian crossing distance. In the 1950s, we used this design on Kennedy Boulevard, from 16th to 20th Street. And most recently you see a beautiful example of it on historic East Market Street, where, at the intersections, the curbs come out, the parking is sheltered, we have delineated the pedestrian area, we have used street furniture to make the face of that street a very friendly place, a place that people like. Right now there are proposed designs for West Washington Avenue and in the vicinity of 24th and Diamond Streets, where we are planning to do the same thing. As well as for the redesign of Chestnut Street, where we are looking to keep the crossing districts by having bulb-outs at the intersections, even as we reintroduce different modes of transportation on Chestnut Street. All-way Stops. Is there any more effective method of calming traffic than a Stop sign 75 RESOLUTION 970628 every 500 feet? As Commissioner Moy testified last year on pedestrian safety, November meeting, we have been very effective citywide in installing Stop signs, all-way Stops, at 2500 intersections since 1969. That's reduced fatalities and injuries during that period of time of those installations. The fewer fatalities, fewer injuries, are indicative of additional areawide benefits derived from this traffic control, well beyond what's been documented. And that is that people stop at Stop signs; they might gun it to go through a traffic light. We think we have really increased and helped calm traffic simply by that program in the city. Between 1978 and 1993, traffic signal control was replaced by all-way Stops at 600 locations.

And again this Stop, we think, has helped complete the grid pattern of all-way Stop signs on many of our nonarterial streets. In recent years and in recent months, bicycle lanes have become part of our street design. And traffic line striping plans done in 76 RESOLUTION 970628 conjunction with our street and surfacing plans have purposefully included, generally, 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes on streets where they fit without significantly altering the lane configuration for general traffic, but by narrowing the travel lanes, as we heard testified to earlier, which really helps calm traffic, as well as accommodate a very important mode of transportation, the bicycle. This technique has resulted in lowering the speeds of general traffic and making other drivers more aware of who else is on the street. The Parkway is a beautiful example right now of what just begins to be the city's citywide bicycle network plan throughout the city. Flashing school speed limit signs. It was a question you raised earlier, and one that was mentioned. In 1996, this City Council passed an Ordinance authorizing the systematic installation of these devices. It will take us a long time, in fact 20 years, if we were to sign all 400 schools. These devices require periodic enforcement. We are slowly doing it where it is 77 RESOLUTION 970628 appropriate, and moving on to calm traffic. But, again, our concern is all of the E's, which is enforcement, education, as well as the engineering. Because once people get used to just seeing that blinking light, the behavior needs to be enforced, retained, or they will just continue to go faster when they realize there is no reason to slow down. As you can see, the city's policy both within the Streets Department, the Transportation Office, has been to look at where traffic calming is appropriate and to incorporate it into the design of our projects. We have been implementing such a policy, and haven't called it that, since the 1990s began. Traffic calming isn't a panacea for all traffic problems. And for every applicant, there are some dissenters. But there are great benefits, in the right situation. As with any highway feature, it is proper that a proper solution be designed on a case-by-case basis. 78 RESOLUTION 970628 One of the comments earlier talked about the ASHTO, or national standards, for traffic design. And one of the historic problems we had is that those standards did not have an urban perspective to it. The reality was, it thought about wide streets; it didn't think about the child with the baby carriage crossing the street and being stuck in the median. For that reason this city has been very active in getting involved in the urban design standards of ASHTO. And, in fact, we have a representative now on what has historically been a state-highway-design-led process from the city Streets Department representing the big cities of urban America. We are making, I think, great strides in trying to effect the kind of urban thinking on design that has to go into our national design standards. Speed bumps, speed humps, speed tables have negative and positive impacts. They work well in some places, depending on the location. You have to make sure they accommodate 79 RESOLUTION 970628 bicyclists and emergency vehicles and mass transit. You have got in your hand a summary of the overall routes travel speeds for arterial streets which the Traffic Engineering Division compiled over the past year for the morning and the evening peak hours and midday. Charley will answer your questions on how to read that grid, because I personally had some problems with it. You will have a grid almost immediately. We have, in fact, gotten a before data listed as to what the average speeds are on our major streets. And the reason we have selected that data over the past year is so that we can contrast it with similar after data, which we hope to collect following the implementation of a new citywide traffic signal progression.

As you will see, hopefully, because Nicole will now show you this, the average speed for northbound Center City streets in the evening is 11 miles per hour and the high, again, during the peak runs, is miles per hour in the Northwest during 25 the midday. 80 RESOLUTION 970628 That in and of itself doesn't show a major speeding problem in Philadelphia. But in light of these numbers, we have determined that it is a prudent course of action for Traffic Engineering Division to gather a sample of several hundred spot speeds throughout the city during the first half of 1998. These speeds will help us objectively quantify the nature and the magnitude of the speeding problem, which is more widely perceived than current data reflects. And for about $7,500 we will purchase a device that will help us collect on a 24-hour basis what speeds are in these kinds of hot spots throughout the city. Using this data that we collect from selected locations on a spectrum of types of city streets -- residential, narrow, small, ones with major intersections, ones which end in cul-de-sacs -- we should be in a position to have a report completed of our findings by mid 1998. In all candor, this hearing helped us focus on the need to make sure that we had the data to answer questions. 81 RESOLUTION 970628 When we realized we didn't, we have been spending a long period of time in the past year getting that data together. And we will continue to do so in 1998. We will know where our problems are and how to systematically start attacking them. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Mr. Trainer, did you want to explain this? I must be thick, or thin.

If I may, Councilwoman, look at it. I don't believe we have another copy here. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Maybe we will have a separate session. I think without a copy in front of me, I can't make sense. Why don't we talk separately, maybe Councilman DiCicco and I. And a lot of numbers, I'm not sure it will be helpful, considering our time. Can I just ask one question about this $7,500 measuring device? Has that been purchased, or what's the status of this?

It has not been purchased, Councilwoman. We have tested out one device toward 82 RESOLUTION 970628 the end of the spring or early summer. Basically it is a computerized device, a little larger than, I'd say, about an and a half by 11, half-inch thick, 5 which we can place down on the roadway. And it will 6 provide us with the data as to the speed of the 7 vehicles passing over it. 8 So it is a matter of putting out a purchase order for that particular -- actually, two or three of those devices, so that we just don't have one out there. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Let's say there are some community groups here who have been having some issues. Is it correct to assume that you will work with those groups to look at some of the intersections and areas and neighborhoods that they are concerned about?

We are always ready to work and look with the community as to what's going on out on the streets. I think with this device, what we are looking at it for, is to really do a generalized study, although we could use it for specific locations, to try to address a problem immediately. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Again, we will 83 RESOLUTION 970628 wait and hear from the neighborhoods. But I think this is often a neighborhood issue, and different neighborhoods have different issues and different problems. I know last night I thought I would just check out this 34th and Hamilton situation. I tried to see how fast I could go. At night there wasn't much traffic. And it is possible -- well, I won't say how fast.

How fast, Councilwoman, could you go? CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: I wouldn't say on the record. But it is interesting to figure out how fast. But, again, we want to see how slowly or how safely people would be thought to drive. Councilman DiCicco, did you have a question? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Yes. About this piece of equipment, is this that pad type thing that Guy had borrowed from somebody?

Yes, it is. The pad, actually, is a covering device that goes over top of it. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Because I had an 84 RESOLUTION 970628 issue in the Queen Village section of my district several months ago, and I think he was going to install it on Christian Street. There was a question, you are familiar with, I believe, Charlie, when some of the residents thought that we might want to make Christian Street between Front and 4th one way.

Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I was just wondering, why haven't we purchased one? It is several months now. Is there any reason why?

Funding situations and things of that nature. I think we are getting that ironed out as far as to purchase one. And it is whether we want one or two, and things of that nature. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Again, we can keep updating. Because you say here you will have all this information by six months, essentially, six, seven months. So, again, as long as it is working with some of the neighborhood problem areas. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Nothing personal; I just have a problem. I am trying to 85 RESOLUTION 970628 understand how we couldn't get $7,500 to purchase --

I don't think it is the lack of money; it is the procedure. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: The process. Again, it is six months. Maybe what we need is for you all to get back to us, as the Chair of the Streets and Services and as this Vice-Chair, maybe we can put a fire under somebody to get $7,500 out of a $2.5 billion budget to buy this equipment. And, again, this is not directed at you personally. But that's why people get frustrated in this city, why we can't come up with answers other than -- these hearings are good, I understand, and we do gather information. But for $7,500, six months have passed. And now we are looking at maybe another six months before we can come back with something that we probably already know. I mean, people know at Aramingo and Lehigh Avenue that children who go to St. Ann's School and go to Cione Playground are in a very serious, dangerous situation. People know that. The little pad machine that costs 86 RESOLUTION 970628 $7,500 will probably tell us what we already know. And that, I guess, is the frustrating thing for me. And there was an article in one of the papers today about my colleague, Jim Kenney, whose face gets red because we can't get things done. Well, I use my hands because I am Italian. I don't get as red, but my voice gets higher in volume. I just don't get it. And I'm supposed to have answers when I go into the community. I look like a crazy person, a fool, when I go back into a neighborhood and I say, "I don't have an answer." Where for $7,500, we haven't made a purchase of the machine who may give us, get us some of those answers. It is frustrating to deal with this. Another six months. Accidents will happen at Aramingo and Lehigh and other intersections throughout the city. We have to wait until we buy this little machine, this little pad, to see if what we all see, hundreds of people every day of the week, 87 RESOLUTION 970628 365 days a year see it, feel it, touch it, watch it happen. We have to get this little machine. I just don't get it. Why don't we do what they did in Abington, or whatever it was, and do something. Just do it.

Councilman, specifically at Aramingo and Lehigh, we have done something. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We striped it. But that is not making a difference.

We striped it, we put in No Turn On Red signs. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That is not making a difference. And with all due respect -- I know you tried it, we talked about this -- but something else needs to be done. Maybe it is a bump. Maybe it is a hump. Maybe it is whatever you want to call it. We need to do something. I don't think we need to wait another six months to get a machine out there -- and I'm not suggesting that's the only place it will be placed -- to get this little apparatus to tell us what we know. 88 RESOLUTION 970628 New York is doing something. All these other cities are doing things. What are we doing? What are we doing? We used to be a city of firsts. Now we are a city of the tenth or twelfth, after somebody else has done it first. We have to start doing something different. And you and I have had this conversation. It is state regs, and it is this reg. We the people make the regs. Let's do something different than we have been doing, and the hell with the lawsuits. That's why we pay our Law Department. I think that's why we pay our Law Department. Let's do something. Do it drastic. Put up a sign. People want to see a Stop sign. Stop signs work. Well, there aren't enough accidents and not enough things have happened at this location. Put it up, even though the state regs say it is not necessary, or you don't meet the criteria. Put it up. There is a human side to this. People have to feel safe. People want to know that 89 RESOLUTION 970628 their children are safe going to school, going to a playground. They don't care about what some legislators did years ago to say, well, you know, 6 15 accidents a year doesn't qualify you for a Stop 7 sign. 20 do. 20 will qualify you. That's not what 8 we're about. 9 We have to deal with this. We have 10 people in our communities that we want to respond 11 to, we want to give them service. 12 Let's just do it. We'll deal with 13 the lawsuits later. We have got enough people in 14 the Law Department; that's what their job is. 15 I'm sorry. I have been venting. 16

No problem, 17 Councilman. 18 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Speaking of 19 state regs, why don't we hear from Dutch Eichorn 20 from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

And also speaking of chances to vent, again, my name is Dutch Eichorn. I am an Assistant District Traffic Engineer with our District 6 office. I am head of the Safety and Congestion Management sections of our 90 RESOLUTION 970628 unit. I just want to take a couple of minutes, opportunities, to explain where the state stands in the area of traffic calming. Or, unfortunately, where we don't stand. As far as an official position, the department hasn't taken any because we have not used traffic-calming devices. Traffic-calming devices as far as the speed humps, roundabouts, we're very interested in looking into. We do feel that it is an opportunity, where traffic control devices like the multi-way stops or traffic signals aren't appropriate, that this could achieve what we're really after, which is a reduction in speed. It is not a traffic control device. Denise had mentioned about multi-way Stops. But she indicated that, I think, in the area of more traffic-control measures. The traffic-calming devices are really physical changes to the roadway to enhance safety. It is not something that provides the regulatory control that -- regulatory signs or pavement markings or traffic signals do. 91 RESOLUTION 970628 For that reason, the department has no regulations or rules against their use on nonstate highways. We are, as I said, interested in finding out what types of standards and practices should be out there and used by all our municipalities. How do you design a hump, what's the proper slopes, that type of thing, where is it appropriate to use. As Mr. Walter indicated, there is certain spacing to provide and keep that traffic going slower. I think it was 500 feet, and 700 feet, he had alluded to. Because of the problem -- and, again, this goes back to what we had always said about multi-way Stops -- people stop at the multi-way Stop, but then they accelerate through the rest of the block trying to make up for the time that they lose. That has been our standard experience with it. So when you look at it as a speed-control device for a stretch of roadway, it really is a failure. As much a failure as a traffic signal. 92 RESOLUTION 970628 So these type of traffic-calming devices may be the answer because they are intermediate, because they don't bring you to a halt or force you to accelerate. They allow you to stay, mainly, at a more uniform speed, which most motorists want to do. As was noted by another person, or I think the last person on the previous panel, drivers don't -- to artifically lower speeds aren't effective. And one of the reasons is, people don't drive looking at their odometer. They drive the roadway, they drive it in accordance with what other drivers are doing. They are doing a speed that they feel they are comfortable with. So the closest we can match that, and not force the interruptions, which then force the acceleration, deceleration, and changes in speed, I think we would get much better service and a lot more compliance with what we're trying to achieve. Right now we have sent out questionnaires to all 50 states asking for what their standards and specifications are on traffic calming. So far we have only heard from Florida. 93 RESOLUTION 970628 But, again, we are pursuing it. And we feel that as much, even if not used on most of our state highways -- and, of course, most of our state highways don't fall in the category of local streets -- we certainly want to be able to provide those standards to the municipalities. We are also interested in evaluating these types of devices. We want to learn more about just how they perform, how much they achieve, how better they can be utilized, and when they should and when they shouldn't be used. And I expect that when you start looking at it on a neighborhood basis, when you start looking at a neighborhood area as far as traffic devices, there probably will be a state highway in the middle of that area.

So it could very well, on a case-by-case basis, become part of an areawide traffic-calming project. But we want to have that experience first, before we jump into it. Also, on funding, it does qualify, and we feel it will qualify, for a CMAC funding. Therefore, the city could pursue, through DVRPC, to have it added to our traffic improvement program, 94 RESOLUTION 970628 the federal program, and federal money could be used. Again, right now liquid fuels money, which is the state's contribution to the city as far as maintenance on local roadways, cannot be used for installation. But it will not be taken away if there are humps or any types of other devices that are used on the city streets. That would not affect the amount of liquid fuels money that's gotten. But under current law, we cannot use liquid fuels money. As the state gets more and more experienced with calming devices, that very well may change. But right now that's current practice. I'm not sure whether it is law. I know it is current practice, having checked with our municipal services people. If there are any questions. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Could you repeat that one line where you said, I want to make sure I heard you correctly, that currently you do not have any regulations against traffic-control measures that are done on nonstate highways.

On traffic-calming 95 RESOLUTION 970628 measures that do not affect traffic control devices. Now, traffic-control devices we classify as regulatory signs, pavement markings, and signals. And we do promulgate rules that cover all highways within the Commonwealth. And that's based, again, on federal standards. But traffic-calming measures, traffic-calming techniques, we do not consider traffic-control devices. Now, if signing, such as turn restrictions and the like, are used as part of a traffic-calming measure to divert traffic, the use of the signs themselves would come under the traffic control device rule and regulation practice. But as far as speed humps, which, again, we would probably have to come up with policies on how to sign for it, but it wouldn't be a regulatory type of thing. In the literature that I have looked at, mostly what we have looked at is, measures that match what the posted speeds in an area and roadway is intended to do. You don't put something in there to 96 RESOLUTION 970628 lower a normal 40-mile-an-hour roadway to 15. But if you have a 25-mile-an-hour roadway, and people are doing 35, then the speed humps might reinforce the fact that it is a 25-mile-an-hour highway, or chicanes or roundabouts, or any number of those control measures. So we don't feel that it is something that should be used to -- I'm not really sure the best way to put it. You wouldn't use it, again, to lower a speed limit, but you would use it to enforce an existing speed limit. The one policy we do have is on speed humps. And that was formulated back in 1986. And what we basically said under that was, first off, not on state highways. Second of all, though, it may be of benefit for enforcing existing speed limits if, one, the speed limit on the road is or less, and then other conditions 21 such as that it didn't impede drainage and things 22 like that. 23 So we did recognize that it could be 24 of benefit, but we have not adopted it yet, at 25 least, for state highways. 97 RESOLUTION 970628 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Maybe I don't want this clear on the record, but I guess I will ask. The one example where we saw where they had done some speed humps, and they had a sign that says, you know, "Look Out For Pedestrians. Speed Humps Above," or, "Speed Humps Coming," would that be your kind of signage, or could we do that? Let's say in Councilman DiCicco's district, he worked with the community and the Streets Department. And they said, "This is a residential street, where there are a lot of kids and old people. We want some speed humps tried out here." If I hear you, you could do speed humps. Could you put a sign saying look out for pedestrians, there are going to be speed humps?

Yes. Specifically on state highways we have -- CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: No. I mean on nonstate highways.

Well, even on nonstate highways, we have a ton of sign messages that can be used as warnings that don't constitute regulatory 98 RESOLUTION 970628 devices. There is no enforcement element to it. Advisory speeds, you know, you have a bump with an advisory speed of miles an hour, 5 that is not regulatory. That can be used. All we 6 ask is that it be applied at the appropriate time. 7 And that's why we have so many signs 8 in our catalogues, indicating how it is justified, 9 when it should be used, how far away from the actual 10 device it should be. 11 So, yes, they could be used, 12 depending on what the conditions are, if it fits. 13 That's why I say, I would not worry about advisory 14 speeds or warning signs for humps. 15 What I would worry about more is in the nature of turning restrictions, for which we already have standards. And the basic standard there is common sense. Well, if they're not going to make a turn here, where are they going to go? Is it better or is it worse? And you don't do it if it is worse. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Just to be clear on the record. For, like, most residential neighborhoods, where there are kids and people, and 99 RESOLUTION 970628 people are there mainly to live, what is the speed supposed to be? Is it 25? That sounds awfully high to me. Again, last night when I was sort of testing, I was looking at my speedometer to see how fast you might go. is pretty fast if there are kids 9 around or older people. So is there a set base 10 speed for residential neighborhoods? 11

I don't know if Charlie 12 wants to tackle that first. 13 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: And it is not 14 posted otherwise. 15

Councilwoman, as was 16 mentioned earlier about the 85th percentile and the 17 speed study, within the state, actually, an urban 18 area can be posted 35 miles per hour without doing a 19 speed study, without taking the 85th percentile. 20 Within the City of Philadelphia, we 21 have, basically, especially on arterial highways, 22 the state highway system and the FAM routes, we have 23 dropped that down in some cases to 30 miles per hour 24 based on what I want to say is basically engineering 25 judgment, we are going through a residential 100 RESOLUTION 970628 neighborhood or things of that nature. Most nonstate highways, FAM routes, if they are not posted, they are posted at miles 5 an hour. 6 Short blocks where we have -- blocks 7 where we have a stop sign every 500 feet, the mid 8 streets, we probably do not have postings on there 9 because we are not really thinking that we are 10 getting most of our traffic up around 25 miles an 11 hour. 12 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Just my 13 opinion, might be something you want to look at. 14 25 miles an hour through a 15 residential street is fast. And we might even want 16 to look at, you know, what really is a safe speed 17 for cars to be traveling in most of our residential 18 neighborhoods, with narrow streets, and with, if we 19 are trying to increase the 20 pedestrian/citizen-friendly atmosphere in our 21 neighborhoods, I personally think 25 -- I mean, I 22 was barreling at 25 last night. I felt I was. 23 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: She had the 24 speedometer buried, but she won't say that. 25

Well, again, 101 RESOLUTION 970628 Councilwoman, as it was mentioned, the drivers are not driving based on that speed limit sign; they are driving based on the conditions as they perceive them. So, again, we have got a 24-foot-wide street, with parking on one side. We have, basically, enough room for two cars possibly side by side to drive. So that's a nice wide street for somebody traveling through a neighborhood. And they will feel it, and they will be maybe going a little faster than 25. But on a 20-foot-wide street, where you have the parked car right beside you, they are going to be going slower. They are going to be going in that to mile range. 18 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Councilman 19 DiCicco. 20 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: The liquid fuel 21 money that I thought you referred to earlier, how 22 much does the City of Philadelphia receive, or do 23 you know? 24

I don't have any 25 details on it. 102 RESOLUTION 970628 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Does anyone know?

I don't know. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: How long have we been receiving that money?

That's our major -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That money goes into the Streets Department budget, in addition to what the city puts in? So when we do our budget, we at Council look at our budget, and we look at the number for the Philadelphia Streets Department, is that --

That's in the revenue section of the budget. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. I wanted to make sure of that. Thank you. And the other question I had was, when we speak about the state regs as they relate to devices, how old are the regs relating to devices? And is it done on a county-by-county basis? Is it done on a statewide basis? And if it is on a county basis, as an example, how old are they as they relate to 103 RESOLUTION 970628 Philadelphia? Meaning, when I speak to Charlie and I am calmer, and we talk about, why can't we install a Stop sign at a particular intersection, and Charlie says, "We looked at it, and it doesn't meet the requirements based on state regulations," what regs is he talking about? And how old or how new are those regs?

Well, they are constantly being updated. What we do, the department promulgates the regulations as we are required by the vehicle code to do. We are also required to look at whatever the current practices are in that field. And the most current practices are conducted by the -- contained in the Manual Uniform Traffic Control Devices. That's a federal guideline on standard practices for applications of traffic signals, multi-way stops, all types of directional and warning signs, traffic signals, as I said, school crossings, work zone areas, that type of thing. 104 RESOLUTION 970628 We utilize whatever they come up with, as long as it is appropriate. And we are constantly updating our regulations. As far as traffic signals, we have gone from to 11. We were up at at one time 7 because we had adopted a few ourselves. And then 8 federal warrants were changed; we also adopted 9 those. And we found there was duplication in some 10 of the things we were doing. 11 So it is now back down to 11. 12 CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Is that 11 13 accidents? 14

But it gives us a lot more flexibility. 11 different warrants. In other words, when we look at a traffic signal, we are looking at combinations of traffic, which may be high on the main street, or low on the main street, but then higher on the side street. You look at the pedestrian volumes. You look at the school, whether school crossings are involved, also accidents. And we also look at it whether there is now a high-peak hour, causing considerable 105 RESOLUTION 970628 problems, and then lower traffic during the day. So we have a lot of different criteria we can look at, any one of which would allow a signal. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Of the 7 criteria for an intersection to have a device 8 installed, be it a Stop sign or traffic signal, must 9 you meet all 11 of the criteria? 10

No; any of the 11 criteria. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Any of them?

Yes. When it comes to multi-way stops, we have about four or five criteria. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So let's assume that at 3rd and George, or whatever it was that Charlie and I have been fighting about for about two years, 3rd and Wildey, we don't meet any of the 11. But we know that cars that are traveling north on 3rd Street, which -- and I'm not sure if you are familiar with the neighborhood -- but at one time you were able to go from Spring Garden to Girard Avenue without any devices. We were able to get, the Streets 106 RESOLUTION 970628 Department was helpful in getting, a device put in at 3rd and Fairmount. But now you can go from Fairmount Avenue to Girard Avenue without any devices. And someone who testified earlier talked about, when you see this tunnel or this roadway in front of you without any obstructions, the tendency is to pick up speed, to go fast. And I know the street, because it is in my district. And I have been on it several times, many times. There's actually -- the street actually declines in some areas, so you automatically will pick up speed. But we can't get a stop sign put at 3rd and George or 3rd and Wildey, whatever the street is, 3rd and George we will say for the sake of this conversation, because it doesn't meet any of the 11 criteria. But we all know that cars are going down that street at maybe 50, 60, 70 miles an hour sometimes, no exaggeration. And because it is not heavily populated, Third Street, but there are side streets which are heavily populated, and so they say it is 107 RESOLUTION 970628 kind of like a commercial strip, there are not that many people living on 3rd. But we know off to the west or east of George, it is heavily residential. And kids, young people, take 3rd Street, cross over 3rd to get to the school on 4th Street. And the name of the school escapes me for the moment. How do we get to be able to put a stop sign there? I am looking for a way to tell the people in my neighborhood, my district -- we want a Stop sign, we know it should be there. I need number 12. Because there are 11 now, give me number 12. Give me the twelfth reason I can put one there.

I hope we find -- CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: This District Councilperson wants it.

I hope we find that. Unfortunately, I am probably PennDOT's answer to Charlie Trainer. So... COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I think you may be right. 108 RESOLUTION 970628 But, you know, I don't want to be threatening to sit on a beach chair in the middle of the street. I did that once early on. And not that I have a problem with doing that, but I would rather be in my office doing other things than blocking traffic and creating that situation in the community where we always have to protest to get it done. If that's the way it has to be, that's the way I will do it. But, you know, the human side of this whole thing again, in government, we lost it, and we lose it. And I am looking for number 12 or 13. Could you help me? And I won't put you on the spot to say that intersection, but I think you know where I am coming from. How do we get around that stuff, all the bureaucracy? Because that's why people elected me, to try to cut through the bureaucracy. And I am hitting a wall thicker than I ever thought I would hit in my life since I got elected.

A lot of what we do runs into those road blocks simply because they are 109 RESOLUTION 970628 enforcement. And when you have enforcement, you have people getting caught and people challenging it, and you have to have all the I's dotted and the T's crossed. And part of that has to do with how you apply those devices. And if you don't have the justification, it is liable to be thrown out. It is not enough to pass an ordinance, which is what's normally required in municipalities -- if they want to put up something on their own roads, they pass an ordinance -- but that ordinance can be challenged if it is not justified by study and it meets criteria. What the department and what the city is trying to do in, basically, enforcing what the department has done is, we promulgated what is most currently the thinking on those types of devices. It is not to say that we are not going to get inspired and do a better job tomorrow. And I very much hope we do. I think traffic engineers are, despite what your first panelist said, more sensitive to people because we deal with the human 110 RESOLUTION 970628 factors. I mean, most of what we do involves the driver and what he is responsible for, as well as the roadway and the car. So we are much more attune to what those needs are. But I think when you talk in the area of enforcement, you wind up with a lot of challenges to try to go too far out of the norm. Like I said, I hope the justifications as we go along the line do come available to us. But that's why a lot of us are pinning our hopes on such things as traffic calming, because it is a way of physically altering the roadway so he doesn't see a mile down the road and he doesn't start running that light when he is three blocks away from it. And that's what we're trying to achieve. And that's, I think, really, hopefully that's one of the good things that can come out of this. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I have one other question from Mike Eisner, who was not able to stay. He lives in the Society Hill 111 RESOLUTION 970628 section. This question, I think, was raised at the last hearing we had, and I was totally trashed by a local radio talkshow host. But I will go for it again. Any consideration about eliminating the turns on red? Where are we with the studies on that? Does anybody know? Maybe it is for the state to say. That has come up several times, that people who -- I mean, we all know why Turn On Red was created some 20-some years ago. But people have a tendency, when they get to the intersection and there is a red light, they look in the direction the traffic is coming and not necessarily look to see if anyone is coming from the other side, and it can be dangerous. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Also, I have noticed my temptation is, you want to crawl into the crosswalk with your car so you can see whether you can take the right turn on red. So I have been much more aware of that since that came up last year. Mr. Trainer, what is the situation? 112 RESOLUTION 970628

I know of no movement for the state legislature to prohibit the turn on right. That would be, basically, a change in the state law.

Same here. You have to understand, that law applies throughout the state. And when you have a high urbanized area like the city, with a lot of pedestrians, you have more problems with those type of laws. They are not experiencing it out there. As a matter of fact, we have a lot of them that have been rethought. And a lot that were originally approved when the law went in were taken out later because they realized a lot of smaller municipalities and larger townships, with more rural areas, just realized they overreacted to it. So there is no sentiment out there as far as around the state. We do have the ability of posting a No Turn On Red wherever we run into those types of conflicts. And we do it quite a bit. I not only handle the city, but I handle Delaware County, lower end of Bucks County areas -- well, the whole of Montgomery County, but certainly built-up areas there. And we do have -- 113 RESOLUTION 970628 we are facing that problem. But in the rest of my district, the more suburban areas, I get no requests whatsoever. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: So if someone wants a specific sign, they contact PennDOT, not the Streets Department, or is it both?

It is both. In the City of Philadelphia, the city Traffic Engineering Unit handles all traffic studies on noninterstate highways. The department handles some in the other counties. Because the township, you know, status is a lot different. They don't have the type of expertise. So the city has primary responsibility on everything but 95 and 76 and the Boulevard Extension on Woodhaven. But that's for line painting, signing, and the like. But, again, they are required to follow our standards. So Charlie is doing his job. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: And just a followup on that question. Anyone up there, in your expert opinion, or opinions, would eliminating the Turn On 114 RESOLUTION 970628 Red in an urban environment such as Philadelphia be considered a calming device? Is that something that you would agree with?

Councilman, I believe when the law was changed, Philadelphia tried to get an exemption from it at the time. And we also -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: New York has an exemption, I believe.

I believe they do. We also went, to some extent, overboard when we went out looking at intersections. We wound up going out to find a reason to put a No Turn On Red sign up. Since then, the regulations as to when you put one up changed. But, at the same time, we have got, I would say, most of Center City posted with No Turn on Reds. School crossings are posted with No Turn On Reds. Bus locations are posted with No Turn On Reds. Where we expect pedestrians, a number of pedestrians -- and I don't have a particular figure for what that number would be -- we have no 24 problem with posting a No Turn On Red either hours a day or 6:00 to 6:00, which is what we have 115 RESOLUTION 970628 around schools and some bus stops and things of that nature. But I don't know if having a Turn On Red right now is really causing us that much of a problem in a generalized situation. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you. Our last witness for the city panel is Deborah Schaaf from the City Planning Commission. And, again, for community people who were listed, I'm sorry we are running late. The hearings before us that had started in the morning went on like 45 minutes. So we will try to keep things moving. Deborah Schaaf.

Good afternoon. My name is Deborah Schaaf. I am the Transportation Planner with the City Planning Commission. From time to time the Planning Commission has been approached by citizens fighting against road widening or bridge replacement projects. Among the concerns about these types 116 RESOLUTION 970628 of projects is that widening a roadway or straightening out curves will allow and, in fact, encourage traffic to go faster. Even though the proposed improvement has some logical reasons behind it and may even improve safety in some ways, such as providing better visibility, there is an unintended but predictable consequence of increase in traffic speed. And this increase will increase the chance for serious crashes. A seemingly small increase in traffic speed dramatically increases the likelihood that a crash will be fatal. A pedestrian who is hit by a car traveling 30 miles an hour is anywhere between four to nine times more likely to die than a pedestrian hit by a car traveling miles an hour. 19 Because we recognize that citizens 20 have valid concerns about traffic speed, we have been interested in the concept of traffic calming for some time. In fact, several years ago the Planning Commission added a project called Residential Street Safety Improvements to the 117 RESOLUTION 970628 capital program. The project did not go forward at that time because it was removed by PICA. But it would have provided funding for the Streets Department to experiment with traffic-calming measures. We believe that the city needs more tools to address the problems of speeding traffic. The experience of other cities and counties in successfully adopting traffic calming is encouraging. Philadelphia should follow their lead and develop a traffic-calming strategy that can respond to the wide variety of neighborhood conditions and street layouts that exist in our city. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I just want to go back on that little gizmo that's $7,500. Is that retail or is that what it will cost us once we go through the RFP? In other words, if I was able to get money to buy you one, how much would it cost me?

$7,500. And it is more 118 RESOLUTION 970628 than one. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I am going to work on something. I am not going to make a commitment to it yet, but I will commit to see if I can find some funds.

But, I mean, the 7500 is for, I believe, two, maybe three. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: The hardware, the software, the whole bit.

Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: But the actual piece, I thought Guy said it was about $2,500; is that right?

It may be.

This is to gather the data and plug it in. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Right. 7500. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. And we would like to move on to testimony from various neighborhood representatives. I am not sure who has been able to stay this extra time, but I will call you. Maybe we will take four people at a time. 119 RESOLUTION 970628 Desiree Lewis, is she here? I know Paul Perrello was not able to stay. Harry Moore from Community College. Larry Stearns from the Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association. Darlene Messina of the Friends of Manayunk Canal. Vaughn Cook of Powelton Village Civic Association. Others I have on my list, just to see if we have missed anyone and you want to testify, let my staff know. The other people I will be calling soon are Thomas Mishler of Awbury Arboretum, Antoinette Stone of School House Lane, Peter Hecht of Philly Walks, and Sue McNamara of the Bicycle Coalition. If anyone had wanted to testify and their name is not here, be sure to let Nicole or Linda know. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Please identify yourself for the record, and begin your testimony.

My name is Rich Shickling. I am from Wissahickon Neighbors. We would like to express our thanks to Councilwoman Happy Fernandez and other members of 120 RESOLUTION 970628 the Council for the opportunity to present testimony regarding the need for traffic-calming measures. Our community is besieged by speeders and drivers who are reckless, and neighborhoods that are dangerous for pedestrians. The day-to-day frustration from such quality-of-life issues has caused residents and businesses to leave the city. These quality-of-life issues are commonly called nuisance issues. Among these are reckless driving, parking on sidewalks, and running Stop signs. The current definition of the Streets Department's job is not comprehensive enough. The Streets Department seems to focus primarily on determining the right-of-way of vehicles. And does not install traffic signals to slow traffic, but to ensure the right-of-way of an intersection for vehicles. If drivers know who has the right-of-way, there are likely to be fewer accidents at an intersection. This approach is good, as far as it goes. But what about the speed of vehicles between regulated intersections? 121 RESOLUTION 970628 However, traffic-calming measures address the need to regulate the flow of the speed of traffic. Apparently other cities have experiences in measures that could be adopted in Philadelphia. Traffic-calming measures improve the quality of life in the community by lessening the hazards of streets and neighborhoods that need improving. The issue of traffic calming is tied to the issue of police enforcement of traffic regulations. The Streets Department has emphasized to us that enforcement by police of its posted speed limits and traffic signals is essential for an improvement of traffic conditions in our neighborhoods. The Streets Department recommends that a point is reached when the more signs they install, it is less likely that the public will pay any kind of attention to that. The police do not enforce signs already out there. The public knows that it will not enforce yet more signs without traffic signals. 122 RESOLUTION 970628 Without consequences, there is no 3 effective enforcement. How about having a patrol car do a half an hour of traffic enforcement each week? The current method that the police department used to prioritize its responses does not adequately provide for traffic enforcement. We encourage the adoption of zero tolerance of nuisance crimes as a primary mission in the police department. The current approach to policing does not really address the nuisance crimes that adversely affect the quality-of-life issues for our community. It is clear we cannot expect a different response to nuisance crimes in our police department until there is a different approach to policing throughout the department. In conclusion, we ask the city to widen the definitions of the Streets Department's job to include traffic-calming measures in hand with this. We ask the police department to concern itself with nuisance crimes, including 123 RESOLUTION 970628 traffic and parking enforcement. Our civic association is already in close touch with the Streets Department. And with their cooperation, and with Councilman Nutter, we are implementing in our neighborhood some of the proposals made in the 1997 city-funded Manayunk area traffic parking study. And we are ready to provide whatever community support these new traffic calming and enforcement measures may require. Again, thank you for this opportunity. I have two footnotes. We recently had a discussion. Our civic and Manayunk came to Council with members of Manayunk Development Corporation, which is a community development organization around Main Street. It seems that they are very interested in some kind of traffic calming and some kind of crosswalks to try to make the Main Street area much more pedestrian friendly.

We realize that we have a 100-year-old street design, and there is a whole stretch of Main Street between Shurs Lane and the 124 RESOLUTION 970628 Cotton Street traffic light where there are no 3 signals to stop automobiles, there is no way that people can walk across the street. And thank you very much. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Can I just ask, did you hear any things today -- were you here with the slides of what some other cities are doing? Did anything make sense? Because I share your concerns, and I have certainly been working with police to enforce traffic laws. But one of the reasons we are bringing this up today, there are some of these engineering things I think can be done, since we aren't going to have 24-hour police enforcement. Did anything seem make any sense to you?

Our number of police are down from 7500 to 6500 at this point. Your slide show presentation showed some people with wider international-style crosswalks, with better entrance to the crosswalks, with the handicapped ramps so people who are blind, or poorly sighted, could find their way across the 125 RESOLUTION 970628 street. A lot of places in downtown Philadelphia, I wish them well. People that are from out of town and don't know our city -- I work in Center City. I have to deal with traffic in Center City all the time. When I go home to Manayunk, I have to deal with speeding cars and people that park every which way. It would really be great if we could have a little bit better crosswalks and pedestrian-friendly attitude towards the people that are there, that live there and pay taxes. I live in an area -- and Charlie is going to hate me for saying this -- but we have an area where we are just like -- we have an area like 3rd and George. It is called Manayunk Avenue. And we need the traffic-calming measure there. And let's hope that with our working with the Streets Department, we can get something to happen there. We have a place where vehicles in a residential area regularly speed up to 50 miles an hour. And it is a bus route on the 22 bus line. 126 RESOLUTION 970628 So let's hope that if some of these things are adopted, yes, we can slow the traffic down. But we don't want to impede traffic. We want traffic to go through our neighborhood and keep on going. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Darlene Messina.

Good afternoon, Councilwoman Fernandez and Councilman DiCicco. Just a point of clarification. I am here representing Residents United for Greater Manayunk. Friends of the Manayunk Canal is a group that was founded by this other group. And it was more appropriate that we represent this group today, Residents United For Greater Manayunk. I also have written testimony for you. First I want to say, this is a really good sign, that we are here today talking about traffic calming. I think that's very positive. And we should all think about that, because I think it is going to become more important that we address 127 RESOLUTION 970628 this. And I am really hoping that there is an office designated specifically to traffic calming. And I am hoping that there would be a citizens advisory committee also in that office. A little bit about Residents United. We are a volunteer Civic group which is committed to the identification of solutions that will improve the lives of residents that live in Manayunk. We are the group responsible for the Manayunk opinion survey. Two communities coexist in Manayunk: Those that have chosen to call it home and those who visit and patronize the businesses. Both are important to the health of our community and the City of Philadelphia. When one thinks of Manayunk, one probably thinks of three things: Traffic, parking, and upscale restaurants and shopping. Although there was a traffic and parking study commissioned by our Councilman, solutions still remain a mystery. Widening roads and building more parking lots is one urban planner, and is not a 128 RESOLUTION 970628 solution at all. In fact, where roads are widened, more cars come. In Manayunk, there is nowhere for cars to go. Let me say that, in Manayunk, traffic is fairly new to Manayunk within the last ten years. And maybe the City of Philadelphia sort of smiles upon this and sees this as a success. But for those of us who live in Manayunk and live with the traffic on a day-to-day basis, it has severely affected our quality of life. Traffic calming is critical to establishing safe places where people will want to live and shop. The concepts of traffic calming are not new to urban planning and design. The ideas are simple and logical; you put the pedestrian before the automobile, and certainly not before the moving automobile. Make it safe and enjoyable for people. Nobody enjoys being stuck in traffic or darting between moving cars, because there is no 22 safe place to cross. Manayunk can be a prototype for an urban village that caters to pedestrians. This can be easily done by encouraging and reinforcing 129 RESOLUTION 970628 transportation systems other than the automobile. The infrastructure in Manayunk to expand on these modes already exists. We can enhance things -- for one, as Richard had mentioned, pedestrian crosswalks -- to make Manayunk certainly a safer place. We have a very old and elderly population that actually enjoys strolling down Main Street, but it is very hard for them to cross the streets. Making SEPTA more usable by posting schedules and installing weather shelters; piloting a program with the R6 line by changing the zoning. Maybe we can do a pilot study for six months to see if the ridership increases. Because right now, for people it is cheaper for them to drive into Center City, for back and forth, to enjoy the Main Street Business District. Encourage the use of bicycles by striping the road with a bike path. I don't know if anybody realizes it, but the bike paths in Center City, I have seen an increase in people riding on bicycles now that there is a bike path. I bike quite often, and there are a lot more people riding 130 RESOLUTION 970628 on the streets today on bicycles. I also feel like it is a change of attitude. It is about education and it is about implementing programs to encourage alternatives to the automobile. And this doesn't take time, but I think it is beginning.

And I think if the political will is there, then that change has to begin right there. I think also, thinking about making streets and roads compatible with the living world, and that's us that use the streets and travel. And also signage, I think, is very important, just reminding people that wherever we travel, pedestrians are first. An example of a city that is proactive in implementing traffic calming is Seattle. If you happen to call this number, 206-684-7583, right now, it will give you a list of different concepts that they are actually implementing right now in making a very sort of pedestrian-safe city to live in. I guess at this point I would like to say thank you, and I hope we continue to have this 131 RESOLUTION 970628 discussion. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you. I heard your suggestion that we have an office of traffic calming. Maybe that's something we need to explore with the Streets Department. And I also heard your suggestion about a citizens advisory group, which may also be a possibility. But I think what would be really important to actually get things done in your neighborhood is for you all to continue to work on your specific issues with the Streets Department folks and with your district Councilperson, and then continue to highlight issues, and certainly turn to other avenues. And certainly that was a major point of the people from out of town, this really needs to be designed neighborhood by neighborhood. But perhaps Councilman DiCicco and I could continue to look at the broader issues in the Streets Department and sort of citywide.

I think for us that have been trying to work with city agencies, it is 132 RESOLUTION 970628 always a learning process to understand how the city agencies function and what kinds of policies and legislation and regulatory issues that we have to all learn about very immediately when we are working out these issues. But we feel like there are a lot of road blocks. And so sometimes I think having an open public discussion like this is important. Because I think we have called Charlie Trainer a number of times. We have talked to our Councilman. Again, we think there should be a pedestrian crosswalk because we live there and we want to cross the street, and we see the traffic. And then they say, we can't do this because there are not enough cars going by per minute. Well, I don't know. That doesn't quite make sense to me. But, thank you. We will. We are going to continue working on this. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Keep us posted. And just keep focusing on your neighborhood and what you feel you need. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Maybe we should 133 RESOLUTION 970628 look to change the name of the Streets Department to the Streets and Pedestrian Services Department. Because when we hear Streets, I think the general impression is we are only talking the cars, speaking to cars. I am serious when I say that, by the way. Streets and Pedestrian. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. Our next witness, Mr. Cook.

Thank you, Councilwoman Fernandez and Councilman DiCicco. It has been an interesting afternoon and a long one. But all of the things I have seen and heard have been really interesting, the slides and the different people. I am really glad to see the different people here from other cities. But the thing I heard most today, I think that excites me, is that community involvement. And the community I live in has 34th Street in it, and it is, for lack of a better word, a racetrack where people -- I am sure I can imagine what speed you got up to last night, because I have done it myself. And I am a driver in the city, and I 134 RESOLUTION 970628 have to be calm. I know that. Let go to my own devices, I will speed, I will make threats, and so forth. So I feel it would be of benefit to me in particular, and the public in general, to have a lot of these things implemented. I approached the highway department about 34th Street in particular, and I received a letter from them that it doesn't meet the criteria that we had talked about. " You know, we have a community to the north of us, Mantua, and 34th Street runs through there, from the Zoo down to University of Pennsylvania Hospital, and the state has given us their traffic on that street. They allow -- in my words, they allow people to speed on that street and give us no 135 RESOLUTION 970628 relief, no relief whatsoever. The kids on the street, on that street, just live in fear. The people crossing the streets live in fear. And the people on bicycles don't have a chance crossing that street. They give us that traffic and then they give us that traffic into our neighborhoods, into our community, at high speeds. Because the cars that come off that street are used to speeding, come into our neighborhood at high speeds. And I have been to other cities. I was just recently in Seattle, and they have really done a lot there. But I might mention the people in Seattle wait at the curb until the light changes. They don't cross on the red light. And I was also in Vancouver British Columbia. And in the neighborhoods there they have the roundabouts that were shown today. And they have beautiful flowers planted in them and trees. And they really work well. I talk to people who live in the neighborhoods, I have friends that live there, and it really works well. I would like to -- our community 136 RESOLUTION 970628 association also now has a task force on traffic calming, which will turn into a community at some time, I'm sure. We intend to stay in touch with Councilwoman Fernandez and Councilman DiCicco to follow through on this and see what we can do in this city to maybe change the regulations that sound like they were put together in the '50s, when the city -- the traffic people had to find a place for all those cars. And maybe now they have to find another place for them. Thank you very much. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Well, I am old enough to have grown up in the '50s. And some of the earlier comments reminded me that, in the '50s, white bread was really the thing. The whiter the bread, you know, the greater it was. And, also, we were all, at least I was, brought up on, you know, you really try to book and drive sort of as fast as the conditions will allow. And we have lived on 34th Street now for 30-some years and raised three children on 34th Street. And I must admit, my mind, I always 137 RESOLUTION 970628 accepted that 34th Street, we have busy traffic going through it. And it wasn't until I saw what they were doing in some other cities that I started to realize what a negative effect having, basically, a raceway right through the middle of the residential neighborhood, what that was doing not only to the Mantua community, but to the Powelton community. Then there is also Drexel right to the south, which has probably, what, six, eight, ten thousand students milling around, crossing the streets all the time.

And now they are increasing enrollment, and the numbers of students on the streets is even greater. So I think there is, as some of the other people noted, even though Philadelphia might have been doing some limited traffic-calming measures through the years, I think we have not looked at our residential neighborhoods and, say, taken a fresh look. White bread and a highway mentality really just isn't where it is at today, as we are all looking at ways to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. 138 RESOLUTION 970628 So it is an important one, and I am certainly pleased that the civic association is addressing this issue.

And I also want to comment, I agree with Councilman DiCicco, let's put up Stop signs, and let them force us to take them down, since we come to them and they say, "We can't do anything. We will just let people be hurt." COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: People in my neighborhood have been doing that for some time now.

My name is Rich Shickling from Wissahickon Neighbors. Related question. On Spring Garden Street between 33rd and 34th, since it must be right in your backyard, if the traffic on Spring Garden was two way and allowed to go to 34th and turn left, would it lighten the load of all of the people that wander through West Philadelphia heading to that hospital, to get them out of your local streets and return them to a more calm setting and slow the traffic down on 34th, and so forth, in order to, how shall I say, condense the people that are going through your neighborhood into the Spring Garden 139 RESOLUTION 970628 Street and 34th Street area, rather than all the people that constantly go around Hamilton and other streets and are racing their way over to 34th, and then southbound on 34th? Would it behove you to have that be two-way, and three-way lighting, at Spring Garden and 34th?

Yes. I spoke of 34th Street only in consideration of the time; where we have a few streets, Lancaster Avenue and Powelton Avenue. Those streets also have severe problems with traffic. But, yes, there are people that live in Mantua that I have spoken to that come west on Spring Garden Street, have to make a left to go south, then make another right and go, "Oh, this is an unbelievable trek," to get to where they are going in Mantua. Whereas, Spring Garden Street, if it were two ways, it would just continue west, as they used to years ago, one more block and be on your way home. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. Let's move on to our next witness. 140 RESOLUTION 970628 Why don't you identify yourself for the record.

Good afternoon. My name is Harry Moore. I am the Director of City Operations for Community College of Philadelphia. Thank you for inviting me to speak in front of Council today. The Community College of Philadelphia main campus is located in the northwest section of the Center City area. The campus is bounded by 16th Street on the east, 18th on the West, and Spring Garden to the north, and Callowhill to the south, on approximately 13 acres, an area dissected by 17th Street, which is a southbound transit vehicular route to Center City and the Vine Street Expressway. The college staff of 1100 provides educational opportunities to approximately 40,000 students, most of whom will, at one time or another during the course of their studies, use the main campus facilities. It is the third largest institution of higher learning in the city. The college is interested in the use of alternative calming measures, going through past 141 RESOLUTION 970628 and present experiences on 17th Street. The college has, since opening the main campus in 1982, always had a problem with traffic on 17th Street. But the problems were manageable, since the original campus buildings were connected with elevated pedestrian walkways. Once students and staff arrived in the buildings, it was not necessary to go out on the street to move to another building. This changed in 1991, when the college opened the Student Life and Instructional Building on the west side of 17th Street. Several factors began for student and staff safety. The new buildings were not built with pedestrian overhead connections, and now students and staff had to, as a matter of course, cross 17th Street to get to the new building. The college experienced at this time a tremendous growth in enrollments, increasing the pedestrian and vehicular traffic at all times of the day. The city at this time began taking steps to regulate street vendor sites in the Center City District, and the college saw an increase in 142 RESOLUTION 970628 the number of vendors along 17th Street. By 1993, faculty, staff, and students had begun to express their concerns to the Administration about the relative safety of crossing 17th Street. So much so that, as part of the college's self-assessment report to the state accreditation visit, it was included as an issue that must be addressed by the college, with the suggestion that all parking be eliminated on the west side of 17th Street. Our current master plan anticipates additional facilities will be constructed in the future to accommodate this continuing growth, exacerbating traffic problems for us. There have been several documented pedestrian accidents on 17th Street since this time, and I am sure many more undocumented near-misses. Thankfully these accidents did not result in serious, debilitating injuries to the individuals involved. At first the college attempted to work through License & Inspections to reduce the number of vendors on the street, as many people at 143 RESOLUTION 970628 the college claim their inability to see traffic clearly on the street was a major contributor to the traffic safety issue. The results of these efforts were less than satisfactory to the college Administration. In 1996 we came into the possession of some interesting information regarding traffic-calming techniques, which seemed to offer some new ideas for slowing down traffic; such as, installing traffic humps or constructing traffic bulb-outs. The Administration pursued the use of some, if not all, of these measures on 17th Street. And a letter was written to Commissioner Moy in September of 1996 expressing our interest in seeing that some of these measures would be applicable for 17th Street. We were shortly thereafter contacted by representatives of the department, who agreed to meet with myself and other administrative officials of the college.

At this meeting we were informed that the department did not believe that traffic calming 144 RESOLUTION 970628 would be a viable alternative for the street, but the department could rework the traffic and parking on the street. These actions have been put in place over this last year and a half. While the college admits that these actions have ameliorated the problem to some extent, there is remaining concern for the safety of our staff and students. I recommend that this committee thoroughly review the employment of these techniques with the Streets Department, as their use is evident. These measures offer better pedestrian crosswalks and shorter crossing distances, and increase visibility for pedestrian traffic. These measures create safer and friendlier streets for the visitors and residents of our city. Thank you for the opportunity to make these remarks. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much, Mr. Moore. I know there have been some issues 145 RESOLUTION 970628 out there, and there probably needs to be further conversation about how to really get what you need. And as a former university professor, I know how important accreditation is, and how you need to identify with these issues that are brought up by your outside accrediting agency, which would be in addition to the safety issues.

The college's overriding concern is, obviously, the student and faculty concern. The only legal crossing of 17th Street is the intersection at Spring Garden. And, unfortunately, that's not the way the campus is laid out. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. Let me just make sure of anyone else who was here. I will call their names. Thomas Mishler of Awbury Arboretum. Antoinette Stone of School House Lane. Peter Hecht, Philly Walks. And Sue McNamara, the Bicycle Coalition.

My name is Thomas Mishler. And I am the Executive Director of 146 RESOLUTION 970628 the Awbury Arboretum. I am here not only representing myself, but also the Awbury Neighborhood Association and Stenton Neighborhood Association, as well. I am grateful to you, Councilwoman Fernandez, for hosting this session on an issue that, while perhaps it has a new name, is an old problem. And this problem has been plaguing our neighborhood for a very long time. The Awbury neighborhood is very diverse, and it captures the spirit of Philadelphia. It is diverse in terms of the population, races, their ages, their occupations and income. Their interests differ, as well. The housing stock includes Victorian mansions from the mid 19th Century, 18th Century farmhouses, all the way up to very modern row houses and suburban tract-type houses. One of the things that really truly makes this neighborhood quite unique is the fact that it includes a sprawling 55-acre Victorian estate, which 80 years ago was dedicated to the public in the form of the Awbury Arboretum. And the Awbury Arboretum is divided by Washington Lane. 147 RESOLUTION 970628 Washington Lane, as it passes through the arboretum, is 40 feet wide. And on one side of Washington Lane is this Victorian house and estate, and on the other side is an 18th Century farmstead and a 42-family community garden. The nature of Washington Lane in this area is extremely wide. It is 40 feet wide of paving, with one stripe down the middle. And so it basically converts itself into a racetrack, where people in faster-moving vehicles try to get around people in slower vehicles. And the result is a very hazardous situation. There are a lot of pedestrians that use that stretch of Washington Lane. There are many schools nearby. The Lewis Middle School is just around the corner, with 1,023 students. And the Martin Luther King High School is also just one block away, with 2,700-plus students. And the AMY Day School is also a couple of blocks from there, as well. Many of these students walk to the arboretum throughout the school year to come to our educational programs. Some of them, this is what we're 148 RESOLUTION 970628 walking along. The sidewalk is as narrow as 28 inches in some places along this stretch of Washington Lane. There is also a nursing home right around the corner, with many wheelchair-bound patients who like to get out. So this is a difficult pedestrian environment. Adding to that, it is the folks that walk to the SEPTA station, the Washington Lane SEPTA station, which is also on this half-mile stretch of Washington Lane. This is halfway down the block, and this took place the beginning of October. And since then there have been two additional accidents, accidents where the cars could not move after the accident, they had to be towed away, just in the past three weeks. So there is a significant problem with vehicles crashing along here. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: It is a little bit hard to see it.

It is a car smashed up against those trees there. According to police reports from the 149 RESOLUTION 970628 period between September of 1996 to June of 1997, there were 65 crashes in this stretch of Washington Lane, from Chew up to Stenton. 31 of them were in this block. So it is a big problem. There is a more detailed diagram. 65 crashes per month. Of course the trees suffer. Every single tree along this stretch of Washington Lane, as you are driving through an arboretum, show the signs of having had a close encounter with a car. Some of the telephone posts do, as well. Awbury Arboretum offers educational programs along our lovely 55 acres to thousands of city kids. Last year we had over 9,000 children between the ages of pre-school, all the way through high school, participating in our programs. We have to use primarily the Victorian landscape because we are afraid, literally afraid, to take the children across Washington Lane to the other side. We also use the grounds as a teaching environment for adults that are in recovery from substance abuse, teaching them job skills in landscaping and construction. 150 RESOLUTION 970628 We have been meeting with representatives of the neighborhood association and the Clean Air Council to discuss ways that we can remedy this problem. And in 1956, when this was widened to its current configuration, it was a very different world. There was considerably less traffic along here. And in 1984, about the same period, one-year period, there were 10 accidents, as opposed to 65. So there's been quite an increase in the accidents along this route. Some of our dreams include converting this important gateway into Germantown, historic Germantown and Mt. Airy, into a beautiful demonstration street, tree project, where we employ some of the traffic-calming techniques that have been discussed today. Particularly, this is the equivalent of four city blocks. We would love to have a mid-block crossing with a pedestrian-activated light, perhaps a raised bump, traffic bump, that would slow the traffic down. Now, here is one of the problems. 151 RESOLUTION 970628 And I am sorry that some of the PennDOT representative have left, because this is a state highway. And we have been in discussions with the Streets Department and with the State Highway Department for years. And in 1984, when the neighborhood took this on, they did achieve a restriping, where they added yellow stripes along the sides and narrowed down the traffic to just two lanes, one in each direction. But when that wore off, it wore off, and it was never reapplied. So we're back to where we were. Thus, the importance of engineered solutions, as opposed to just putting down paint, which is an easy solution. It does work for a short period of time. We are also dreaming of having a wonderful pedestrian environment, safe crossing for the students that use the arboretum, and perhaps a pedestrian walkway over the road connecting the two sides of the arboretum. We are not just pie in the sky. We have recently received a $300,000 grant from the 152 RESOLUTION 970628 William Penn Foundation, which, in part, is paying for a comprehensive master plan of the arboretum. And we will be addressing with the community and our consultants the perimeter streets around the arboretum, and looking at specifically ways that we can propose traffic-calming ideas over this stretch of Washington Lane. We have also recently received the largest grant in the history of the Philadelphia Urban Resources Partnership, $80,000, towards restoration and interpretation of the farmstead portion of the arboretum. So we are anticipating much more users, much more children learning at the arboretum. Thus, we're even more eager, we are more eager than ever, to get this problem solved.

Your support would be greatly appreciated, especially in helping us to negotiate with the Streets Department and with other agencies, to come up with innovative solutions that perhaps push the envelope a little bit beyond what the state regulations will and will not allow. You heard loud and clear, as I did, that state roads, they don't permit any bumps. So 153 RESOLUTION 970628 right there we have got a problem. That rules out that idea. Well, your help would be very appreciated in tackling all of these buts and all these things that stop creative and innovative solutions to this problem. We will be having a community-designed workshop, to which you are cordially invited, on Saturday, the 22nd of November, in the morning at the Ada Lewis Middle School. Thank you for your attention. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you. We will think again the next time we go up Washington Lane about not driving so fast. That was excellent. Again, a comprehensive plan in ways to work with PennDOT and some of the foundation people in the schools, I think, is very important. Our next person to present is Peter Hecht from Philly Walks.

Good afternoon, Councilwoman Fernandez, Councilman DiCicco. My name is Peter Hecht, and I am here representing Philly 154 RESOLUTION 970628 Walks. I would like to take a brief moment to add two pieces of information about questions that were raised before. One is in terms of data related to Right Turn On Red. It is my understanding in discussions with the Pedestrian/Bicycle Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that PennDOT has done a study of fatalities in relation to corners. And that does not show significant differences in those that allow right turn on red versus those that do not. However, that does not say anything about intimidation of pedestrians, especially in an urban area where we have large numbers of elderly and children walking on our streets. The second one led to Councilman DiCicco's questions about warrants. I didn't hear any offers, but I have a copy of the warrants. And I would turn a copy over to you, which I think you would find very interesting reading. Once again, I would like to thank Councilwoman Fernandez and Councilman DiCicco not 155 RESOLUTION 970628 only for the opportunity to talk, but also for their outstanding work in the past year for permitting pedestrian safety. I am representing Philly Walks, which is a grass-roots organization of pedestrians. Philly Walks is very interested in seeing improvements to the pedestrian environment of Philadelphia that make it safe and convenient to walk anywhere within the city. Traffic calming is an important means for improving the safety of pedestrian environment, especially for those most vulnerable to traffic problems, our children and the elderly. Traffic calming in an environment such as Philadelphia, where the traffic enforcement and observance of traffic laws is problematic, provide another means to provide Philadelphians with the quality of life they deserve. One has to ask how many traffic lanes and parking lots can we afford breaking up our neighborhoods. How much more can we afford to pay for maintaining, or some facsimile of, asphalt? You do not get to talk to your neighbors driving in your car. You cannot discuss 156 RESOLUTION 970628 community issues or plan events in the steel shell of the wheels. It was conclusively demonstrated almost two decades ago that increased levels of automobile traffic ultimately led to residents knowing fewer of their medial neighbors, spending less time talking with our residents on the same block, increased noise and increased stress among residents. The pride of Philadelphia is its neighborhoods. And our city is choking to death on increasing traffic, parking problems, and its combination on our transportation system. I can walk 100 yards from my house in South Philadelphia to a corner where I have watched a full three-quarters of drivers ignore one of two sequential Stop signs. And two-thirds fail to stop at both. And I can also walk 50 feet from my front door, where there have been three motor vehicle accidents from the beginning of the year and almost every year. These are but two instances of what constitutes pedestrian intimidation within the 157 RESOLUTION 970628 city. Do you want your children and grandparents walking these streets, or trying to cross at these corners? The two Stop signs I just mentioned are less than 100 yards from an elementary school. Does this encourage parents to want to raise their children in Philadelphia? Does this make you feel safe about your elderly mother trying to get around? Is this not one more nail in the coffin that the city is calling alive? Operation Crosswalk being an outstanding example, however, the political will for traffic enforcement in this city is sadly lacking at the highest levels of our city's government. Traffic enforcement and following of traffic laws has the appearance of an optional activity within Philadelphia.

In the face of this not-so-benign difference, we really must look at other tools to maintain the improved quality of life for our residents. One of the tools that Philadelphia has yet to try in any significant manner is traffic 158 RESOLUTION 970628 calming. Traffic calming, which can be described, really, as an environmental-compatible transportation system, is the promotion of viable and attractive options to Philadelphia residents, choice of moving within their neighborhoods and around the city. The purpose of traffic calming is to develop a balance between walking, public transit, bicycling, and motor vehicles through the changing of design of the streets. Balance and the real choice among the different ways to get around the city is the key idea. This is in contrast to the current single mode of vehicles, or the primary focus of transportation. At the very least, Philly Walks would like to see the city, through the Streets Department, implement more of these traffic-calming measures throughout the city. Doesn't the Streets Department have funds they can do this with? Are there T funds, or whatever occurs next, T funds that might be available for pedestrian improvements that could be 159 RESOLUTION 970628 used in this manner? What about the safety funds that come through the state? It is my understanding in discussions with PennDOT that through the last few years, they have gone to rural areas. Couldn't this money be used to improve safety in Philadelphia? There is much more that can be done. But, first of all, we think the leadership in the City of Philadelphia must make it a safer and better environment for all Philadelphia's pedestrians, residents, commuters, and visitors. Philly Walks is happy to work with City Council to improve the life of all Philadelphians. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much. Our next witness is Sue McNamara, with the Bicycle Coalition. I think Annabelle Lowe from the Wissahickon Bridge Group also wants to speak. MS. SUE McNAMARA: I am Sue McNamara, the Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition. We 160 RESOLUTION 970628 have a 2300-member citizens grass-root group in the Delaware Valley. The Bicycle Coalition thanks Councilwoman Fernandez and Councilman DiCicco for holding these hearings, and for all her efforts to make Philadelphia a more livable city for the citizens of Philadelphia. Past city policies have favored those who choose to or can afford to own a private automobile. The Bicycle Coalition is pleased to see those attitudes changing at some of the highest levels of city government. The Philadelphia Bike Network and these hearings on traffic calming are examples of the city's desire to create a more equitable and people-friendly transportation system. The Bicycle Coalition believes traffic-calming measures could be implemented in all neighborhoods in the city, and we encourage all Councilpeople and ward leaders to support traffic calming in their districts and neighborhoods, including bike lines. The Streets Department has told me that there are neighborhoods in the Northeast where 161 RESOLUTION 970628 residents have requested bike lanes to slow the traffic on their streets. As more of the 300 miles of the Philadelphia Bicycle Network is implemented, the bike lanes will not only create a safer travel space for bicyclists, but will also reduce lane widths, thereby reducing auto travel speeds, making our streets safer for motorists, pedestrians, and transit users, as well. The Bicycle Coalition encourages city planners and government officials to bear in mind these additional traffic-calming benefits afforded to all citizens by the implementation of the Philadelphia Bike Network, and encourage all Councilpeople to support the construction of the Bicycle Network. Because in some places it is going to be a controversy. We are going to remove parking lanes. I saw the thing on Walnut Avenue.

I have rode my bike, and you can see that's two wide lanes there, and people use that as four lanes across. Now, if they restriped it, it is 162 RESOLUTION 970628 actually supposed to be two lanes. And the Streets Department will say that, when they go to restripe that PennDOT road, they would put in a bike lane. And that would be an instance where, in the past, we have had problems where people are saying it used to be four lanes, now you have this bike lane, there are no bikes here, and now it is only two lanes. I never see any people riding bikes. That's an instance where we have problems. And we have had problems like that in the Northeast and on these places where there are wider roads. We need the support of Councilpeople, ward leaders, of the media to encourage that, to tell them that's the way it was, even though the Streets Department does that. And this is to encourage it to be a safer place for everybody. One additional comment I had when I was hearing people, thinking about this, that wasn't in my prepared notes, is something I have talked to Nicole about a couple of times, zoning. Philadelphia, currently the way the zoning is, when you do new construction, to the best 163 RESOLUTION 970628 of my knowledge of this, you need to provide for parking spaces. In certain areas you can see that when they built the Freshfields, when they built the movie theaters near Manayunk, you remove the parking. You remove it from the street and make it less people friendly. The new structure in Manayunk with the movie theaters is horrible as far as people friendliness. Why would anyone want to walk on that sidewalk and a pedestrian walk to that movie theater? You are walking like a football field past cars. That is because of the ordinance requiring parking. I think we kind of have to question what are we, the suburbs or are we the city? Another thing, when they have residential reconstruction, they have to require parking. My office is on 11th Street, between Spruce and Locust. They built three new townhouses on that street. They had to build parking on the first level of those townhouses. So you have people pulling out of 164 RESOLUTION 970628 garages on 11th Street where you have a bus, used to be a trolley, people are backing out of their driveway. Additional curb cuts on 11th Street, on a densely pedestrian street, where kids come after school, that's ridiculous. Not only that, not only do you have the conflicts with the pedestrians and the conflicts with the traffic; you have a streetscape that's no 11 longer pedestrian friendly. You are not looking at one's front door or stoop; you are looking at someone's garage. I think that's one of the advantages that Philadelphia had. When you look at western cities, where they were built after the car, you will see that the streetscape did all like that. There are all these curb cuts in the middle, from street to street, where people can pull into their residential parking. And it is not as nice as Philadelphia. It is one of the things that makes Philadelphia landscaping friendly. So I just encourage Council to read, look into it. I keep bringing it up, but I really 165 RESOLUTION 970628 think that that's something that's slowly eroding the fabric of the city. Anyway, thanks, again, for the opportunity to speak and for your efforts to make Philadelphia streets safer and saner for everyone. Thank you. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you, and thanks for bringing so clearly in the Bicycle Network, what that will do. MS. McNAMARA: Yes. It really does, a lot of people. Even in the street in the northeast. Tom Ranagan, who is the city's Bike Coordinator, says they don't see that many bicyclists up there yet because it is not part of the network. But people do like it. Because there was traffic screaming down their street, and it calmed it. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Our last witness, Annabelle Lowe. Would you identify yourself for the record.

Hi. My name is 166 RESOLUTION 970628 Annabelle Lowe, and I am here representing the Wissahickon Bridge Neighbors. I want to thank you for having these hearings and I want to thank both of you for sitting and listening to a very long afternoon's worth of conversation about an issue that I have been talking about for the last two years. I think it is very important to point out -- and I know that both of you know -- what my issue is, and I will describe it briefly for the record. But I think it is very important to understand partially that this isn't just a technical issue; this is a political issue. And when you put the onus entirely on neighborhood groups, working through their district Councilperson, to deal with the Streets Department, who doesn't want to do any traffic calming and doesn't see the necessity of doing any traffic calming, and with PennDOT, who I still don't know what they said -- and I hope somebody knows what they said, but I don't -- I still do not know what he said their policy was about traffic calming on either state roads or nonstate roads. 167 RESOLUTION 970628 What I do know is that, every time we ask for -- we live in a neighborhood. Just like Councilwoman Fernandez has lived in the same neighborhood ever since she has been in Philadelphia, we have lived in the same neighborhood ever since I have been in Philadelphia. We live in a place where there is a shopping area, where there is a park, where there are bikes, where there are pedestrians. We live in an area which we want to say, we don't need to build open space, we don't need to build the neighborhood. We have the neighborhood. And if the Streets Department comes in and simply, because they are the technical experts and they know the regulations, and no matter how smart we are -- and I will say that I am a lawyer, and I generally find it possible to understand regulations, and I cannot understand what these people are talking about. Then I think that there is something wrong. I think that there has to be some sort of political will exercised on the behavior. " And if you press them for the regulations, you can't actually ever get to the bottom of it. And I think that I am the kind of person that can get to the bottom of things, and I can't get to the bottom of it. We have a coalition in Chestnut Hill which includes the Chestnut Hill Community Association, the Chestnut Hill Business Association, the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, the state arboretum in Pennsylvania. We have been dealing with the Streets Department for over two years now over a replacement bridge, which they want to put in at 35 miles an hour. They are going to tear down a 1786 bridge and put in a replacement bridge for the purported purpose of straightening the road so that the traffic can speed up. I work with this. This is correspondence. This is correspondence to PennDOT. 169 RESOLUTION 970628 This is correspondence to the city Streets Department, to the Councilpeople. I have met with both of the Councilpersons at the table. I have been the beneficiary of a lot of discussion with my own district Councilperson and her chief of staff, who was here. Unless some politicians can begin to, unless the people who we elect to hold the office can begin to, get some control of this situation, how about we rename it the Streets and Pedestrian Department and Traffic Calming Department? Their goal is to speed traffic, you know. And that means that they want wider roads. And whenever a community comes to them, they give you technical reasons why they can't do it. Now, Chestnut Hill happens to be a lucky community. We are a lucky community. We are a historic district. We are adjacent to another national register, historic district, Fairmount Park Historic District. Those two historic districts come together at this bridge. And the creek winds throughout, you know, Chestnut Hill. I mean, the park and Chestnut Hill 170 RESOLUTION 970628 are on very friendly ecological terms with each other.

This will be a new speedway right across, right across two entrances to the park, one within 5 feet of the bridge. It is going to be speed traffic that's going to be right next to Harbors Mill, which is a major place. It is going to speed traffic past our neighborhood homes. All I have to do is recognize -- I mean, this was prepared for federal review. There are all kinds of federal laws saying that if you, you know, if you are a historic area and there is adverse effect on you, then you get to have -- then you can have appropriate mitigation measures. Well, we can't get any appropriate mitigation measures. You know, we haven't taken this to the federal government yet because it has to go to the city government first. But they have decided that the appropriate mitigation measure is to take a bridge that was posted at 15 miles an hour and built in 1786, or probably 19 miles an hour, increase the speed to 35 miles an hour, the design speed at 35 171 RESOLUTION 970628 miles an hour, which is a 70 percent increase. Okay? There was already speeding going on there before, terrible speeding, which very much impacts three things. Not only the pedestrians, not only the bikers, but also the people who drive. The people who drive are involved in accidents quite a lot because they come down the hill and they speed because the hill says, speed down the hill, you know. And then there are no traffic-calming measures that say, don't speed down the hill. And then they get to a curve, and there have been a lot of accidents. However, in 1993, a part of the bridge fell off. And the Streets Department put up Jersey barriers on both sides of the bridge, and narrowed the roadway quite a bit. So as you come down the hill, you can see that you are going to have to go through a chute. In essence, accidents stopped. I live there. Other people live there. They won't give us the data, but I can tell you that, I mean, that crunching of metal on metal 172 RESOLUTION 970628 that you hear all the time stopped. That's a traffic-calming measure. It is ugly, it is very ugly, but it is a traffic-calming measure. You have taken a road which is essentially marked at miles an hour, and 7 there aren't any accidents. 8 Now, what's the definition of 9 safety? They have a definition of safety. It 10 exists somewhere in an ASHTO book, or in some 11 regulations which I can't understand. 12 I have a definition of safety. It 13 means not a lot of accidents, people can walk down 14 the street, people can bike down the street, and 15 neighbors can live along the street without being destroyed, without hitting cars driving through our houses, et cetera. I don't want to keep you, but I really do want to say that I think that despite all of the energetic and admirable help that we have gotten from politicians in Philadelphia and the state and the federal level, we still can't make some kind of impact. Because there are laws and there are regulations that tell them that they don't have to 173 RESOLUTION 970628 do what we want them to do. And so, therefore, they're not going to do it. So we pass a law that says in urban areas, they'll speed and traffic should slow down to -- you know, the real measure should be adopted to make the traffic to slow down to what the real speed is that's appropriate for the area, would be something that made some sort of common sense. I mean, if you begin to look at streets in a different way, you know, not the 85 percent of drivers who will speed, but for what you really think is appropriate, what's really going to save your neighborhoods, then I think that possibly we could get some help. And I am sorry to comment at the last minute. And I appreciate it. CHAIRWOMAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you for your testimony. And I am disappointed that after all the conversations, there still doesn't seem to be a satisfactory resolution to this longstanding problem.

But perhaps, again, discussions need to continue on that particular issue in another 174 RESOLUTION 970628 venue. The hour of o'clock has almost 4 arrived. I hear of no other witnesses. 5 I would like to thank my colleague, Councilman DiCicco, who also does Chair the Streets and Services Committee. And I think working together, Transportation and Streets and Services, I think both of us are committed to continue to focus attention both publicly and privately on many of the issues that were raised today. I'd also like to thank one of my staff, Nicole Seitz, who really did such a great job getting these hearings together. And any time people cannot reach me, Nicole is the expert on many of these issues. And I'd like to thank Mr. Trainer from the Streets Department for staying here all afternoon and listening attentively. And we'll look forward to working with you to move traffic calming forward, particularly in some of the neighborhoods where people do have issues and, I think, need that public/community partnership to increase the quality of life in their neighborhoods. 175 RESOLUTION 970628 Councilman DiCicco, did you have any closing comments? And I notice Deborah Schaaf has stayed all afternoon. Thank you. And, also, Bob Rivelli is here, after Denise Goren, left from the Office of Transportation. So I want to thank all who made these hearings very informative. And we intend to work with the people and groups that were here today to follow up on some of the very positive suggestions and some of the problems that were identified that certainly need to be addressed. So on that, we will adjourn this hearing of the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee. ) - - - 176 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, November 12, 1997, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES _____________________________________ DEBRA A. WHITEHEAD, RPR