Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

30 mph speed limit on (Upper) Wisconsin Avenue next to Subway stations

Friendship Heights
30 mph speed limit within one block of the Friendship Heights Metro on Wisconsin Avenue NW

Tenleytown
30 mph speed limit within one block of the Tenleytown Metro on Wisconsin Avenue NW

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5 Comments:

At 7:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So what? Neither of those blocks is a problem for pedestrians. But I guess that as someone who doesn't regularly walk in that area you wouldn't know that. River Road and Tenley Circle are the upper Wisconsin Ave intersections where pedestrians have to be watchful -- and in both cases that's more a matter of engineering/visibility than of the speed limit.

FWIW, 30 mph is the default speed limit in NYC.

 
At 9:13 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

FWIW, 25 mph is the default speed limit in DC. It's far better for dense places and around transit than 30 mph.

 
At 9:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If 25's the default in DC, then 30 seems utterly reasonable on this stretch of upper Wisconsin. It's a major arterial and it's signalized. Width is kept reasonable from a pedestrian POV (cf Wisconsin Ave in MoCo just north of Western) and, in both photos, the signs are located at a point where drivers are exiting the strips with the most pedestrian activity.

 
At 4:03 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

To belabor the point, which I guess I didn't feel necessary to outline, since I've written hundreds of relevant posts ....

pedestrian prioritized places, specifically around transit stations, and in neighborhood abutting commercial districts + in the vicinity of parks, libraries, and schools, should have a 25 mph maximum speed limit.

Slightly on a different topic, NYC, the home of your 30 mph stated speed, has introduced a "neighborhood zone" concept that may involve traffic calming measures (I'm not sure) but is mostly focused on creating a zone where the speed limit max is 20 mph.

 
At 4:44 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I support lower speed limits with better enforcement. A lot of drivers are pretty reckless in DC. Higher speed limits only coaxes a higher buffer for drivers to push toward and they don't get there any faster. And they waste fuel.

 

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