Traffic Calming
Traffic Calming is another strategy that looks to favor pedestrians and slow down vehicular traffic. The idea is to complicate the experience of the driver by narrowing the street, placing bulb-outs at intersections, building chicanes in the road, and utilizing other physical street components.
Streets as Places, published as part of PPS’s partnership with AARP, has a chapter dealing specifically with traffic calming. The chapter gives a history of how traffic calming gained traction as an international practice as well as background on a series of tools.
Streets for People is a handbook developed by New York City based advocacy group Transportation Alternatives that looks at how to make streets safer places.
The Institute of Transportation Engineers is a tremendous clearinghouse for many traffic calming resources. One great resource is the ITE Traffic Calming Library, a searchable database with a tremendous amount of information on specific strategies. They also have a series of older but extensive traffic calming manuals.
Roundabouts and well-marked crosswalks can be key tools for traffic calming.
The Placemaker’s Guide to Transportation is a series that helps citizens create vibrant streets and transit facilities in their communities. Each installment features a tool, concept, or resource that inspires engaged residents to think in new ways about their streets and neighborhoods.