The new traffic science
Wired has a great article on the new trend in traffic management. The idea is to remove signs, lines and lanes, and let traffic manage itsellf, leading to less accidents, more flow, and more livable cities. Seriously, check the article for yourself (hat tip: Johny Canal)
Monderman and I stand in silence by the side of the road a few minutes, watching the stream of motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the circle, a giant concrete mixing bowl of transport. Somehow it all works. The drivers slow to gauge the intentions of crossing bicyclists and walkers. Negotiations over right-of-way are made through fleeting eye contact. Remarkably, traffic moves smoothly around the circle with hardly a brake screeching, horn honking, or obscene gesture. “I love it!” Monderman says at last. “Pedestrians and cyclists used to avoid this place, but now, as you see, the cars look out for the cyclists, the cyclists look out for the pedestrians, and everyone looks out for each other. You can’t expect traffic signs and street markings to encourage that sort of behavior. You have to build it into the design of the road.”
January 23rd, 2005 at 20:01
I find it ironic and painfully poingant that for all of its consensus-building inadeqacy, the City of Vancouver is going to end up looking like a city planning visionary. Even modest improvements to the GVRD’s transportation system would boost trade and commerce throughout the province yet somehow its weakness will turn out to deliver its greatest asset, undeveloped (by North American standards) and thus liveable neighbourhoods.