Thursday, June 13, 2013

New Road Funding Models - New Road Design Categories

How does the pedestrian and cycling community assert their space on our public rights of way?

Capacity engineering has held sway for at least the last 50 years. That capacity was strictly for automobiles, though somehow most roads still have a sidewalk. Many sidewalks seem to have taken on the appearance of emergency sidewalks, like you find along the freeway bridge; only to be used in case your car breaks down.

Simply waiting for increased cycling to inspire politicians has little effect outside of cities like mine who are desperate to attract the younger crowd. That itself is not currently working all that well, though it's still in its early stages.

I suggest some basic frameworks:


Funding and Design

Much has been written about the shrinking pie of maintenance funding for all of our public infrastructure.
Roads and bridges are crumbling, stormwater flooding from sprawl is increasing un-abated, electrical blackouts and brownouts are evidence of development beyond its capability to sustain.

In the case of roadways, I propose three major funding and design classes:

Limited Access Highways
All Access Roads
Restricted Access Roads

Limited Access Highways: The high speed highway system is to be funded predominantly with a MUCH higher federal gas tax. Increasing the fuel taxes will help encourage alternative fuel technology.

As, (hopefully,) alternative fuel vehicles take a larger proportion, a use fee, such as a endorsement on your registration could provide an increasing amount of funding as gas tax revenues dwindle. Of course, at some point if everything goes well, it will become apparent that not all of our freeways can be maintained.

Excellent. Enabling sprawl, many of them are senseless 'pork' projects anyhow.

If high speed track systems, (trains) were ever made part of this geography, the requisite federal construction funding could be added for their construction and maintenance.

All-Access Roads: There should be a mixture of an equal share of that gas tax and additional, more traditional funding sources to be handled by the US State following the current status quo.

All motorized and non-motorized vehicles are required to be given EQUAL access, meaning equal space allocation, along with (those deemed necessary) segregation structures, such as car lanes, bike lanes and sufficient sidewalks. Mass Transit included.

Motorized vehicles speed limited to 20-30 MPH.

Restricted access roads: To be funded at the US State and local level with a proportion of private support. These road designs would restrict motorized vehicles to emergency or law enforcement only, along with limited, permitted small delivery vehicles. All non-motorized vehicles allowed at slow speeds with pedestrians given priority.

Commercial and Recreational development within the ROW encouraged, (alfresco dining, etc.,) within design capacity. Developers share in the maintenance cost of this development by permit.

These roadways should be the least expensive to maintain with public funds.


Saturday, June 1, 2013

Pocket Neighborhoods

There must be several dozen places in Cleveland where this type of car-lite development can be done.


Indeed, within a couple miles of the destroyed urban core there once existed many of these patterns, the remains of which are still discernible and ignored or worse, refitted for automobiles.

Redevelopment in the city so far has been geared towards restaurants, bars, and other playgrounds which obviously succeed best when attracting suburbanites.

Some of my friends have resigned themselves to this pattern hoping that the  neighborhood they saved as pioneering artists will return to livability once  'the next neighborhood' gets hot.

Our political leaders have finally noticed the bar-resto pattern for the misleading and fickle 'vibrancy' it provides. The business owners receive preferential treatment in zoning variances on a regular basis.

Pocket Neighborhoods, especially around a shared green-space and agricultural zone could provide the model for true urban rebirth.

In the city, a development like this would require some premeditation and multi-cultural cooperation: a particularly tricky business never successfully achieved to my knowledge.

How about a real future for CLE?