ARTERIAL TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT
STATE OF THE PRACTICE
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

Objective

Visionaries in Arlington County are preparing for a journey few communities of its size in America have completed. They have a bold objective to rebuild arterial roadways in a way that contributes to the urban village character and provides a better balance of space devoted to pedestrians, bicyclists, transit patrons, and travel modes other than driving. The reason for taking on the challenge of arterial transportation management (ATM) is two-fold:

1. Reduce the number of pedestrians involved in motor vehicle related crashes.
2. Improve the quality-of-life for Arlingtonians who want an urban village experience where pedestrians of all abilities, bicyclists, and transit patrons feel comfortable and safe on the streets.

Purpose and Need

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety "about 80,000 pedestrians are injured in motor vehicle crashes annually in the United States. In the past decade, 4,700 to 6,000 pedestrians have died annually. The risk is greatest in urban areas. The frequency of pedestrian collisions can be reduced by improving roadway design through three broad categories" that are:

1. Separating pedestrians from vehicles by time and space
2. Increasing the visibility and conspicuity of pedestrians
3. Reducing vehicle speeds

Approach

Effective measures to reduce vehicle speeds in urban areas include physical changes to various street design elements such as the number and width of travel lanes, the addition of on-street parking and other "edge" treatments, and a myriad of pavement treatments. A reduction in the number of lanes on a busy street may be possible without controversial worsening of traffic congestion if traffic signals are removed. At intersections where traffic on the side street is too high, replacement of traffic signals with a modern roundabout may produce acceptable results.

The American Experience

There are American cities and counties experimenting with one or more of the measures identified above on "signature" streets in very public forms of petrie dish-type scientific experiments. These actions and the public funding needed to implement them are typically defended as demonstration projects that may or may not be "one of a kind" in that community. There are few American communities committed to systematically rebuilding a network of arterial streets in an urban area.

American Case Studies

This State of the Practice report highlights several U.S. communities that have adopted guiding documents that call for systematic changes to their arterial street networks. Three of these communities are: West Palm Beach, Florida; Portland, Oregon; and Denver, Colorado.

The City of West Palm Beach adopted a Transportation Element of their Comprehensive Plan with the following statement of purpose: "For sustainability purposes and livability reasons, the City of West Palm Beach fundamentally disagrees with the conventional approach to expanding streets for more and more motor vehicles". The City is in their second decade of a multi-pronged approach that includes:

" Traffic calming in neighborhoods, districts, and corridors
" Redesigning streets as they are torn-up for drainage and other utility issues
" Working with Palm Beach County and Florida DOT to reconstruct major streets to provide narrower and fewer lanes, two-way circulation instead of one-way, and narrowing at intersections to shorten pedestrian crossing distances.

The City of Portland is a leader in traffic calming and maintains one of the most informative websites on traffic calming at www.trans.ci.portland.or.us/TrafficCalming. Although severe budget restrictions have slowed the implementation of major street projects, the City has nevertheless taken a comprehensive approach.

The City of Denver took an innovative approach to planning the future of its street system on top of the conventional approach to street classification. It has retained the classification system used universally throughout America: freeways, arterials, collectors and local streets. However, it has added an "overlay" designation to relate street types based on the adjacent land use. The five street types are: residential, mixed-use, main street, commercial, and industrial. The premise is that regardless of the street's function (i.e. arterials move traffic), the street must serve the level of activity of the adjacent land use with appropriate design elements and varying modal emphasis.

The European Experience

Transportation management measures have proliferated in Europe. A grassroots movement begun in the late 1960's in the Netherlands to create "living yards" by placing tables, benches and sand boxes jutting into streets in neighborhoods prompted new laws to permit wide-spread application of the Dutch idea to countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Japan. By 1990, there were more than 3,500 "living yard" type streets in the Netherlands and Germany, another 300 in Japan and 600 in Israel. While impressive, this anecdote relates to neighborhood traffic calming which is already an established program in Arlington County.

Related to major streets, at least seven European countries have adopted aggressive goals for reducing fatalities and serious injuries related to traffic crashes, as highlighted below:

Sweden: Vision Zero "nobody should be killed or seriously injured within the roadway transport system."

United Kingdom: Targets set in 1987 have been achieved. New targets set for 2010 are a 50 percent reduction in children who are killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes, a 40 percent reduction in fatalities and serious injuries, and a 10 percent reduction in "slight casualties."

Belgium: Adopted goal to reduce fatalities and serious injuries related to traffic crashes by 50 percent by 2010.

Netherlands: Adopted goals that by 2010, there will be a 50 percent reduction in fatalities resulting from traffic crashes and a 40 percent reduction in hospital admissions.

Denmark: "Every accident is one too many." Adopted goal to reduce fatalities and serious injuries related to traffic crashes by 40 percent by 2012.

Italy: Adopted goal of a 40 percent reduction in fatalities and serious injuries by 2010.

Spain: Adopted a goal in the Catalan region of a 15 percent reduction in fatalities and serious injuries over a three year period.

Comprehensive approaches to reaching these targets are highlighted in Appendix A, ranging from education, enforcement, engineering, and encouragement. In particular, speed reduction measures are targeted in most if not all of the countries listed above.

Conclusion

Our review of the state of the practice in arterial transportation management suggests that Arlington County is considering a pioneering path not well traveled by other American communities. Leadership is offered by experiences in Portland, Denver and West Palm Beach. International examples are impressive and reinforce the purpose and need expressed by Arlington County; that is, the safety of its citizens.

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