New Pictures Up

[tom...@gmail.com]

Hi Guys,

I've uploaded a few pictures that I think illustrate the major
troublespots I see downtown (except a few that I still need to take at
Beechurst. If you look at the pictures, there is a list here of the
picture number and a description of what I think is the problem at
each area:

001 and 003: This is the entrance to the Wharf District. Pedestrians
are told to cross the intersection at the same time that cars get a
green light and MUST turn left or right. This is very dangerous as
both the pedestrian and the driver may assume they have right of way.
Also note that this has a countdown clock which is good, but only
allows about 25 seconds to cross a major road.

004-006: When you cross the Bridge approaching the Post Office, the
majority of people who live in 1st Ward are walking down the right
side of the Bridge. There is no crosswalk at the end of the Bridge to
allow pedestrians to safely cross to the Post Office. They are
practically stranded at the end of the Bridge with no guarded passage
to cross.

009 and 010: This is a common problem in downtown Morgantown.
Traffic is stopped and cannot move forward, but Pedestrians are still
told not to cross by the signal.

011 and 012: The right turn signal falsely gives the impression to
cars that they have a right of way even when pedestrians may be
crossing here. This right turn signal is extremely long and makes it
a hard intersection for pedestrians to cross.

013 and 014: The South Park Bridge. If someone is walking towards
the bridge on the right side of the road, there is no crosswalk to get
them to the other side to cross the Bridge and no sidewalk on the
right side of the bridge.

015 and 016: The Dry Cleaner downtown is a great example of what NOT
to do with parking lots. Too much of the sidewalk space is to be
driven on and it would be extremely easy for pedestrians to get hit
with the traffic in and out of the dry cleaner.

017 and 018: High pedestrian and automobile traffic here next to the
Book Exchange downtown. A crosswalk is severely needed here.

[Jonathan Rosenbaum]

Hi everyone,

I feel strongly that our photo studies need to be put in an easy format
for the viewing audience. One solution is a powerpoint presentation,
however, online presentation solutions are perhaps even nicer. I went
ahead and did just this at
http://osenergy.org/pb/problem-spots.xul#eva,page1 .

There is one caveat, you will need to use a XUL capable browser like
FireFox to view this presentation. You can download it from
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ .

Again, try out at http://osenergy.org/pb/problem-spots.xul#eva,page1 ,
and tell me what you think at tomorrow's meeting.

Thanks,

Jonathan