Canal Pte Blvd Road Diet by the Numbers
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Jerry Foster
Mar 20, 2016, 9:43:28 AM3/20/16
to West Windsor Community Discussion
Pls join us at West Windsor's Twp Council work session to support bike lanes on Canal Pte Blvd, Monday (tomorrow) at 7:30pm ish (after the regular business session). Re-allocating public space is never easy, witness the reaction of residents to losing onstreet parking on N Post Rd between the Alexander circle and the first curve, even when it is rarely used and a side street with available parking is very close.
Canal Pte Blvd is over built at four lanes - the traffic volume counts have hardly changed since 2008, at 13.5K/day for the northern section and 9.5K/day for the southern, according to the engineering report. Generally, 17K and under is a good candidate for a four-to-three lane conversion, 17-25K it depends, and over 25K is not recommended.
Demand for biking and walking is growing - witness increased property values for walkable communities - i.e. only where it is considered safe. While the train station and our excellent schools have been the drivers of our excellent property values in the past, looking forward we need to attract young people and new businesses, and creating a walk and bike friendly community is key.
Of the alternatives to a road diet with bike lanes, sharrows are not preferred or appropriate for roads with (actual) speeds over 35mph, the Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign is only somewhat better, and a multi-use path is fabulous but also fabulously more expensive. The road diet costs no more money, but gets more people to use the same amount of public space - i.e. more efficient use of our property tax dollars.
Jerry Foster
Canal Pte Blvd is over built at four lanes - the traffic volume counts have hardly changed since 2008, at 13.5K/day for the northern section and 9.5K/day for the southern, according to the engineering report. Generally, 17K and under is a good candidate for a four-to-three lane conversion, 17-25K it depends, and over 25K is not recommended.
Demand for biking and walking is growing - witness increased property values for walkable communities - i.e. only where it is considered safe. While the train station and our excellent schools have been the drivers of our excellent property values in the past, looking forward we need to attract young people and new businesses, and creating a walk and bike friendly community is key.
Of the alternatives to a road diet with bike lanes, sharrows are not preferred or appropriate for roads with (actual) speeds over 35mph, the Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign is only somewhat better, and a multi-use path is fabulous but also fabulously more expensive. The road diet costs no more money, but gets more people to use the same amount of public space - i.e. more efficient use of our property tax dollars.
Jerry Foster
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