signs - things to come?

In the past month or so there's been some conversation about LOW cost solutions to pedestrian issues. I've done a fairly extensive literature search on the most effective safety devices and found these:

http://www.safehitlx.com/default/face.php?C=RT360_signs

Of all Blinky lights and neon painted cones, these are the most effective for slowing vehicles and improving pedestrian safety (see: Innovative Treatments at Unsignalized Pedestrian Crossing
Locations - Herman Huang, Charles Zegeer, Richard Nassi)

And HEY! at a couple hundred bucks a pop these are EASY to raise money for... OR perhaps concerned neighborhood groups could sponsor a few of these in trouble spots.

I've also read that these paired with curb bump-out are a very effective combo!

This might be the next big push, we'll see what research and opinion turns up. Feel free to comment here.

Got Data back from the city (Data with a capitol D!) about the traffic speed vs. time of day and found some interesting trends:
-Rush hour is just that, a rush. Well over 50% of the traffic using Cedar at that time are traveling in excess of 35mph, in a posted 30mph zone.
-The information, at first glance, indicates that it is the through traffic commuters that are doing the speeding (is that a surprise to anyone?). On my block from 6-7am there were 659 cars headed North, towards the city, while there were only 374 headed South, out of the neighborhood. Of the [commuter etc] vehicles headed North 55% are FAR over the speed limit (greater than 5mph, about 17% faster). Of the Southbound traffic, presumably neighborhood headed towards the highway, only 31% were over 35mph.
-the morning ratio shows about 2/3 of all vehicles are headed North
-in the evening it's about 50/50 although Southbound is slightly higher. Since the heaviest backups occur at night, it would be worth seeing if the additional vehicles are using other streets to go South.

Hey, that tells me something interesting. To ME it indicates that Neighborhood traffic acts more responsibly... Good for us! This is reassuring. But on the downside, generally at least 50% of all cars are moving far in excess of the speed limit during 'off times' (even at 3am) which contribute to a lot of problems; ped safety, noise etc. These numbers give no indication exactly how much over 35 the cars are traveling.

I think that this give us a better handle on where to focus. I think it's been pretty obvious to residents of Cedar. We all knew that commuter traffic was heavy, but I didn't realize HOW heavy... and the speeds of what I call neighborhood vs commuter are very interesting.

I'm working on getting these number to the local precincts in order to inform them of the best times to patrol... and which side.
Thanks go to Jim Grube at the county for sharing these numbers. I'll work on getting them up here so you can all see what I'm trying to describe.

So now is the big question, how do we slow down through traffic... those that don't live in our area and have no vested interest in the quality of life around Cedar? Any thoughts??

Idea for Crosswalk Signage on Cedar Ave

A GREAT idea was passed on to us from Stephanie, the block leader on 44th and Columbus regarding signage for crosswalks at the intersections of 44th and 47th Streets and Cedar Avenue.

It seems part of the hesitation by the city to put a crosswalk at an uncontrolled intersection is fear that traffic would not yield to pedestrians. I think her idea to put signage IN THE STREET, as well as on the boulevards, would make the crosswalk much more visable, and is substantially less expensive than a traffic light.

I've attached pictures of this type of sign...this one is at the interesection of 65th and Woodlake in Richfield. They also added wide, white stripes several yards before the intersection, as a further visual clue to watch for pedestrians.

Hooray!!

In case you haven't seen yet (since they came out this morning) we made the FRONT page of Southside Pride!!

The signs, however, are down temporarily since the Park Board wasn't too keen on having them in the easement. They will be up again SOON, hopefully tonight... and will be followed shortly by 2 other sets.

If you block is interested in creating these please let us know. The material for these sets was donated, but we now have a formula for creating successful, legible signage. They even Shine in the Dark!

-Will

Cedar Ave, Edgewater Blvd and Chain of Lakes Parkway

It's time to discuss Edgewater and Cedar. This is one of the most contentious points of discussion on see click fix within the Cedar Ave corridor.

here are the facts:

• Highway 77 stops and Cedar Ave begins
• Cedar Crosses the Chain of Lakes Parkway
• Edgewater Blvd terminates onto Cedar
• Turning traffic is not accomodated headed North
• 4 lanes condense to 2 in an intersection
• well over 20,000 vehicles use this small strip of land
• Traffic backups can stretch for miles headed North in the AM and South in the PM indicating HEAVY commuter traffic
• Pedestrian and cycle traffic from the park is heavy in this area
• outside seating is present at Fat Lorenzo's

Obviously there is a lot going on. In previous years there had been discussion of how to mitigate various issues. There were talks of a roundabout, talks of closing edgewater, adding turn lanes etc. Here is the same intersection in 1966 just before the freeways came through:

click the photo to see the full intersection

What was done then does not appear to be working now. It is time to rethink this again. I think that we should stick with Jean R. in the 'do no harm' approach. That is, we need to avoid turning this into a problem elsewhere. Let's fix it for real, and for good. Based on discussions over the last year I think there will be a number of very well thought out ideas for solutions.

since this is my blog, here are my ideas. I encourage people to chime in with responses and alternate ideas... dialogue is the only way we're going to fix this!

Issue, Heavy traffic backups created by turning traffic and a mid-intersection merge.
my solutions:
1. Add a stoplight farther south on 77. create a 4 stop way that deals with traffic coming off of 62 headed North, busses headed to 62 west and through traffic headed on to Cedar. Make the lane reduction here. 1 lane will continue on to Cedar. Incorporate access to the Crosstown Service Road and integrate traffic exiting to Cedar from 62 West. (the access to service drive would create a new access to the area now accessed by edgewater.) Close edgewater to anything but right turns. (or block completely) Use the additional space, now occupied by a poorly conceived 2nd lane, for creating a designated left turn lane. Make painted medians into hardscape and incorporate landscaping. make accommodations for the HIGH amount of pedestrians that use this area. Also consider bike lanes since fast cycles crossing on park trails can be in serious danger from turning vehicles.

2. Or, Add stoplight as mentioned above, condensing Cedar to 1 lane each way, and create a 1 lane roundabout at the intersection. Create a full, landscaped median on the south side of the junction. This will allow traffic that would be turning left onto edgewater to travel completely around the intersection and access Edgewater by way of a right turn. A roundabout does a couple things. Of course it slows traffic and gives the same access, but it also reduces potential vehicle conflicts. It will also effect traffic psychologically by cutting off a clear line of view up Cedar.
Stoplights are fun (aren't they!) but the race to catch the green only contributes to the problem of speed. And it's hard to run a red when there's no light! Roundabouts are also friendly for peds and bikes since crossings are moved out of the intersection.
Here is a great site about roundabouts from the MNDot: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/roundabouts/ Check out the statistics and capacity... Drastically lower crash ratings and fairly high capacity, though slower speeds.

Note-I also think this would be an excellent solution to the host of problems playing out at the intersection of Cedar and Minnehaha Parkway. The narrow lanes dont allow for North/South turnlanes from East/West traffic. A roundabout would eliminate the need for turn lanes, and add to the 'park feel' which is so lacking here. to me it feels like a freeway through a greenspace. This could be viewed as a large scale, 'placemaking'.

The issue of heavy through/commuter traffic has been discussed many times. Delivery services are essential, but Cedar is not a shortcut. By creating a slight resistance to the traffic flow, making it feel slower, I believe that we can clear up some of the folks who think Cedar is a shortcut. (it's not by the way... 35 is probably still faster, and Hiawatha is practically EMPTY) Cedar, a two lane road, already carries 2/3 the traffic as Hiawatha at the same cross streets. Eliminating some of the non-stake holder traffic will allow us to deal more effectively with local traffic sources, to make Cedar serve it's purpose to those who live on or near it, and the immediate community members that rely on it. That's the WHOLE IDEA. The freeways were installed to eliminate the problem we're having now. It's spelled out in the planning docs from the 1960's. Example: We build a dam to keep the flood out. One day we discover a leak and rather than patch it we decide to make the hole bigger, and keep saying 'we meant it to work that way'.


That's my 5 cents worth. I like it, but I'm not married to it. There are certainly other ways, and now is your chance to present them. Lets start collecting ideas here on the blog. I will turn them into a list and then we can work together to present them to the county.

Burma Shave Sign Party

We will be creating the first of our series of Burma Shave-inspired signs to be placed along Cedar Avenue with traffic-calming themes on Sunday, October 18th between 2-4 pm at 4223 12th Avenue S.

If you would like to help create the signs, please stop by and lend a hand.

If you would like to donate materials for sign construction, here is the list of items we need:

plywood sheeting - our signs will be 2'x4', so scraps this big or larger that we can cut to size

9" paint roller brush

1 qt (?) green exterior paint (as close to the CAU color green as possible)

wooden stakes 3-4' in length

1-2 cans white spray paint

1-2 cans florescent (clear) spray paint

letter stencils - 6-8" in height

Materials donations can be dropped off at 4223 12th Ave before the event, or the day of - although we will need the plywood, green paint and roller brush by Sat Oct 17th so that they can be pre-painted. If you have materials to donate but cannot get them to us, email me at jle819@hotmail.com with what you wish to donate, and I can arrange to pick them up.

We also need volunteer yards; preferably 4 in a row. If you and your neighbors on Cedar would like to host these signs let us know!

We hope to see you on Sunday, Oct 18th!

Jeri Elsner

scary observation

This morning I was observing the traffic types and notices 2 big tanker trucks whoosh by. I looked up the green chemical warnings on the back and this is what I found:

Anhydrous Ammonia, which is absolutely terrifying to me. Check out the first aid descriptions:

http://www.mda.state.mn.us/chemicals/spills/ammoniaspills/firstaid.htm

An accident involving one of these would warrant the evacuation of most of our area, something I doubt our crowded streets could handle. I remember hearing about residential evacuations (and they are spelled out on the website above) involving a semi crash... The houses were adjacent to the freeway, fairly far away compared to our city zoning. What would happen is this happened in our densely packed neighborhoods? At rush hour - when I observed the tankers - emergency response would likely be slow at best because of all the out-of-city commuting traffic... and an evacuation would be 'difficult' to say the least.

Anhydrous Ammonia is commonly used on farm fields all across the country. I can't see any reason why the trucks would be using Cedar, other than it provides a short cut from 35W, and coming into the city via Hwy 77 would make sense. This further supports our opinion that Cedar Ave needs serious attention in order to reduce it's 'short-cut appeal'. This may be an extreme example, but a valid one. I would imagine that the 2 trucks I saw were not the first, or the last to ever use Cedar.

I'm also sure this isn't the only chemical that gets shipped down this corridor. This one particularly scared me, especially when considering how fast the trucks were traveling. I KNOW that county roads are supposed to be open to all legal vehicles... but in a tight residential area there NEEDS to be some thought applied to this (if there hasn't been already). Are there safety considerations in place? Have they been updated as traffic counts increase (double, triple, etc) This seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has observed chemical tankers and/or hazardous material on Cedar. Please feel free to comment with your concern.

Updates all around!

This neglected blog needs an update, so here goes:

Good things keep happening! We had a great event back on Sept 19th. Thanks to all that attended the 42nd and Cedar cleanup AND the Linestriping BBQ. Special thanks to Lamont Cleveland for providing such fantastic BBQ (pulled pork and jerk chicken, 2 kinds!!).

We've been chugging away with our reporting at SeeClickFix. I'd like to remind folks that IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE RELATED TO THE ROAD, YOU CAN REPORT IT DIRECTLY TO MINNEAPOLIS THROUGH THIS WEBSITE. You can also find a portal to the CAU profile at our website: http://www.cedaraveunited.org/seeclickfix.html

Cedar Ave Pace car program is looming on the horizon. I will be giving updates on this at the meeting. I'd also like feedback and ideas as to how we can get this to spread into the surrounding neighborhoods. The notion of bumper stickers/static stickers has been brought up. THese could be available to private vehicles and possibly commercial vehicles.... we have made contact with one company that is willing to be a GIANT 18 WHEEL pace car for us; Freightmasters of Eagan. If you feel like sending them a thank-you e-mail, I'm sure they would love to hear it. Having a goliath pace car will be fantastic since it's tough to argue with something that size!

We've been kicking around the idea of creating road signs in the style of the old Burma Shave for a while. In our upcoming meeting we will be discussing this. We will need the following

• materials; wood, tools, paint, stencils etc
  
• rhymes (although we have MANY to work with currently)
• yard, we can't do this without participating yards, preferably next to each other
• crafty/artistic volunteers to help create the signs

We will also pick out some dates to work on this in the following month. Let's get these together before the snow flies! Even if we have to take them down in the winter, we will have them ready in the spring!! Won't they look great in those new Blvd gardens that we can all start next year??

So that's it for now. remember that there is an upcoming meeting on Wednesday, Oct 7th at 6:30. We'll be where we always are, at the Sibley Park Rec Center... here's a map: http://www.cedaraveunited.org/meetings.html

Thanks all, SEE YOU SOON!