NYMTC Regional Pedestrian Safety Study - New York Metropolitan ...

nearby streets. Whereas Bus-pedestrian conflicts are much higher on transit malls than on other
streets, they have not resulted in a higher number of bus-pedestrian collisions.
Areawide Traffic Restrictions: Areawide traffic restriction plans have been employed in
Upsala, Sweden, entailing closing streets to vehicular traffic, using one-way flow on bypasses,
and bus-only streets. Risk for pedestrians within the restricted area declined by 29 percent.
However, risk on the streets outside the restricted area increased although by only 12 percent.
(Lovemark, 1974 and Brownfield, 1980, cited in Campbell et al., 2004).
Traffic Diversion: Traffic diversion can be made by street closures, diverters, and signs
restricting access, either during the peak travel hours or on a 24-hour basis. These projects are
designed to shift traffic off of a neighborhood street that is suffering from cut-through traffic
onto other streets. If these “ other streets” are major streets or arterial roads (that is, not other
residential streets), the project generally can be considered successful. Traffic diversion projects
often limit resident access, as well as for their guests and service vehicles.
Play Streets: Play streets entail closing, usually for a period of several hours, a neighborhood
street to allow children to use it as a playground. Play streets have been employed in the United
States in center city neighborhoods with few parks to provide safe play areas. A series of
interview studies at 20 sites in Philadelphia and New York City found play streets to be effective
in eliminating traffic and parking. (See example at:
http://www.walkinginfo.org/pedsafe/popup4.cfm?codename=34e)
Traffic Calming measures
Gateways: Entrance and exit symbols such as “gates” into/out of a city are widely utilized in
Europe to visually inform drivers of a change in driving environment such as speed limit,
pedestrian and/or bicycling activity. Entrance gates also offer an aesthetic effect that welcomes
visitors and drivers to the city or a neighborhood and acknowledges them as they leave. Such
entrance and leaving gates would be
most beneficial for major roadways that
enter well-designated cities. In densely
developed areas such as most of the
NYMTC region, the boundaries
of the cities and villages are often not
clearly distinguishable. However, it is
still possible to integrate similar “gates”
on roadway sections that warrant speed
and/or volume reduction or to indicate a
transition from one type of street to
another. Examples may include business
districts, dense residential areas, and
school areas. Additional gateway
examples can be found in Brewer et. al. Figure 5.8. Gate at City College of New York
(2001).
NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 65