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I've talked about Marin Avenue before. But today I'll compare it to Gilman.
Gilman: 4 "lanes" wide, 2 traffic and 2 parking.
Marin: maybe 6 wide: 2 traffic, 2 parking, 2 bike lanes and a turn lane. Widths are such that I can't rule out it being 7/4 of Gilman rather than 6/4.
Notably, both are ostensibly just two lanes of traffic, one in each direction. But Gilman, even when it has a lot of actual cars, feels like a sleepy slow street that can support a lot of (sometimes judicious) 'jaywalking'. While Marin feels like a fast dangerous street where I had better use the right intersection -- ones with at least a beg button if not a stop light.
Why the difference? Probably Marin's traffic really is faster. I'm pretty sure it has fewer stop signs and such. And, ignoring any possible difference in lane width, the travel lanes have different contexts. On Marin you're between a little-used bike lane and an even less-used (and very wide) turn lane. On Gilman you're between parked cars and unbuffered oncoming traffic. Presumably the latter induces slower driving.
There's also that there's simply less distance for the hapless pedestrian to cross. 50-100% more, depending on whether one measures from the curb or from the edge of the parking lane.
Nothing too surprising here, really, but I find it interesting to work it out, especially in this case where the streets have the same number of traffic lanes (vs. the more usual case of 4 traffic lanes on the wider stroad.)
Gilman: 4 "lanes" wide, 2 traffic and 2 parking.
Marin: maybe 6 wide: 2 traffic, 2 parking, 2 bike lanes and a turn lane. Widths are such that I can't rule out it being 7/4 of Gilman rather than 6/4.
Notably, both are ostensibly just two lanes of traffic, one in each direction. But Gilman, even when it has a lot of actual cars, feels like a sleepy slow street that can support a lot of (sometimes judicious) 'jaywalking'. While Marin feels like a fast dangerous street where I had better use the right intersection -- ones with at least a beg button if not a stop light.
Why the difference? Probably Marin's traffic really is faster. I'm pretty sure it has fewer stop signs and such. And, ignoring any possible difference in lane width, the travel lanes have different contexts. On Marin you're between a little-used bike lane and an even less-used (and very wide) turn lane. On Gilman you're between parked cars and unbuffered oncoming traffic. Presumably the latter induces slower driving.
There's also that there's simply less distance for the hapless pedestrian to cross. 50-100% more, depending on whether one measures from the curb or from the edge of the parking lane.
Nothing too surprising here, really, but I find it interesting to work it out, especially in this case where the streets have the same number of traffic lanes (vs. the more usual case of 4 traffic lanes on the wider stroad.)
Thoughts
Date: 2023-02-18 01:28 (UTC)From:https://www.strongtowns.org/
They have a lot of articles about what makes a street good or bad, safe or dangerous, and streets vs stroads vs roads.
Re: Thoughts
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