Project Goals Project Outcomes - Seattle · that bridge in December, 2011 – and the greatest...
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1 NE 125th Street Rechannelizaon Before and Aſter Report Project Goals Improve traffic safety Increase compliance with the speed limit Improve pedestrian and bicycle access Project Outcomes Decline in the rate of total collisions and injury collisions Reducon in the number of people exceeding speed limit Reducon in pedestrian and bicycle collisions Background In May, 2011 the Seale Department of Transportaon reconfigured the lanes on NE 125th Street between Roosevelt Way NE and 30th Avenue NE to make the street safer for everyone, support buses, and make traffic flow more smoothly. Prior to the rechannelizaon there were two travel lanes in each direcon. The street was reconfigured to provide one lane in each direcon, a new two-way leſt turn lane, and bicycle lanes. SDOT agreed to monitor the project’s impact on safety and traffic aſter the rechannelizaon was completed. NE 125th Street Before NE 125th Street Aſter
Transcript of Project Goals Project Outcomes - Seattle · that bridge in December, 2011 – and the greatest...
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NE 125th Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Project Goals
Improvetrafficsafety
Increasecompliancewiththespeedlimit
Improvepedestrianandbicycleaccess
Project Outcomes
Declineintherateoftotalcollisionsand injurycollisions
Reductioninthenumberofpeopleexceeding speedlimit
Reductioninpedestrianandbicyclecollisions
Background
InMay,2011theSeattleDepartmentofTransportationreconfiguredthelanesonNE125thStreetbetweenRooseveltWayNEand30thAvenueNEtomakethestreetsaferforeveryone,supportbuses,andmaketrafficflowmoresmoothly.Priortotherechannelizationthereweretwotravellanesineachdirection.Thestreetwasreconfiguredtoprovideonelaneineachdirection,anewtwo-wayleftturnlane,andbicyclelanes.SDOTagreedtomonitortheproject’simpactonsafetyandtrafficaftertherechannelizationwascompleted.
NE 125th Street Before
NE 125th Street After
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NE 125th Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Speed
Speeddataismeasuredatthespeedmostdriversarecomfortabledriving(the85thpercentile),thenumberofdriversexceedingthespeedlimit(30mph)andthenumberofaggressivespeeders,ordriversexceedingthespeedlimitbyatleast10milesperhour(40mph).Highspeedscanbeakeycontributingfactortothecollisionandinjuryratesoncitystreets.Highspeedsreducedriverawareness,andcreatemoreseverecollisions.Forexample,ifavehiclehitsapedestrianwhilegoing40milesperhourthepedestrianhasaslimchanceofsurvival.Reducingvehiclespeedgreatlyimprovespedestriansafety.
SDOTmeasuredspeeddatanear20thAvenueNE.Thelocationisfiveblocksfromthefullsignalat15thAvenueNEandfiveblocksfromthepedestriansignalat25thAvenueNE.Priortotheproject,the85thpercentilespeedwas41mpheastbound(whichisdownhill)and39mphwestbound(uphill).Eighty-sevenpercentofdriversweretravelingoverthespeedlimit.16percentofdriverswerespeedingat40mphormore-morethan10mphoverthespeedlimit.
Sincetheprojectwascompleted,mostdriversarestillabletotravelatorabovethespeedlimit.The85thpercentileisnow38mpheastboundand36mphwestbound.Therehasbeenan11percentdecreaseinthepercentageofpeopleexceedingthespeedlimit.Andtherehasbeenanevenmoredramatic69percentdecreaseinthepercentofdriversspeedingmorethan10milesoverthespeedlimit.
Theseaggressivespeedersaremostlikelytocausedeathorinjuryintheeventofacollision.
Thefactthatmostdriverscontinuetoexceedthespeedlimitindicatesthattraffichasnotcometoastandstillbutrathercontinuestobefree-flowingmostoftheday.
NE 125TH STREET SPEED
BEFORE AFTER CHANGE
85th Percentile 40.0 36.9 -8%
Eastbound 41.4 38.0 -8%
Westbound 38.6 35.7 -8%
Driving Faster Than 30 87% 77% -11%
Eastbound 92% 85% -8%
Westbound 83% 68% -18%
Driving Faster Than 35 51.6% 29% -44%
Eastbound 62.3% 38.6% -38%
Westbound 40.8% 19.5% -52%
Driving Faster Than 40 16% 4.9% -69%
Eastbound 22.4% 7.3% -67%
Westbound 9.5% 2.5% -74%
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NE 125th Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Volume
Aftertheprojectwascompleted,motorvehicletrafficonNE125thStreetincreasedsignificantlybetweenLakeCityWayand30thAvenueNE.Furthereasttrafficvolumeisroughlythesameasitwasbeforetheproject.Takentogether,thedataindicatesthattrafficvolumeoverallhasincreasedroughly10percentonNE125thStreet.OnepossiblefactorinexplainingthisincreasemaybetrafficdiversionsimmediatelyfollowingtheintroductionoftollingontheSR520floatingbridge.TollingbeganonthatbridgeinDecember,2011–andthegreatestincreaseintrafficon NE125thStreetappearedimmediatelyaftertollingbegan.
NE 125TH STREET MOTOR VEHICLE VOLUME
Between Lake City Way & 30 Avenue NE
June 2009 January 2012 Change
DailyWeekday 11,089 14,819 +34%
AMPeakHour 364 527 +45%
PMPeakHour Westbound
485 717 +48%
NE 125TH STREET MOTOR VEHICLE VOLUME
Between 26th Avenue NE & 27th Avenue NE
September 2009 February 2013 Change
DailyWeekday 16,209 15,574 -4%
AMPeakHour 518 536 +3%
PMPeakHour 720 722 (<)+1%
PedestrianandbicyclevolumewascountedattheintersectionofNE125thStreetand30thAvenueNE.ThecountswereconductedonMarch16,2005andagainatthesamelocationonJanuary31,2012. Onbothdays,rainwasrecordedinSeattle.BothbicycleandpedestriancountstendtobelowerinthewintersothissnapshotprovidesaconservativeestimateofthenumberofpedestriansandbicyclesusingNE125thStreet.
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NE 125th Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
NE 125TH STREET BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN VOLUME
5-hour Count (7-9am; 1-2pm; 4-6pm)
March 16, 2005 January 31, 2012 Change
HighTemp56Precipitation0.14”
HighTemp49Precipitation0.03”
Bicyclesalong NE125thStreet
7 15 +114%
Pedestriansin thecrosswalks
330 676 +105%
Thelargeincreaseinpedestrianandbicyclevolumemaybepartiallyexplainedbynearbylandusechanges.Thenortheastcornerofthisintersectionwasredevelopedin2007andBartellsDrugStoremovedtothatlocation.TheLakeCityBranchofSeattlePublicLibrary,whichisoneblockaway,wasexpandedandremodeledin2005.
LakeCityisdesignatedanUrbanVillagebytheCityofSeattle.UrbanVillagesareexpectedtoabsorbmostofthegrowthinpopulationandjobs.AccordingtotheSeattleDepartmentofPlanningandDevelopment(DPD),thenumberofjobsinLakeCitygrew20percentbetween2004and2010.ThepopulationofLakeCitygrew43percentbetween2000and2010–aratemuchhigherthanthecitywide8percentpopulationgrowthduringthesameperiod.Accordingtoa2012reportbyPugetSoundRegionalCouncil,thepopulationofLakeCityisanticipatedto
growanother30percentandemploymentby85percentby2040.TheadditionaltripsgeneratedbymorepeopleworkingandlivinginLakeCityarelikelytoresultinevengreaterincreasesinthenumberofpeoplewalkingandbikingalongNE125thStreetinthefuture.
Collisions
Therateofcollisionsandtherateofinjurycollisionshavedeclinedsincetheprojectwascompleted.Thenumberofinjurycollisionspermonthdecreased.Themostpronounceddeclinesoccurredincollisionsinvolvingpeoplewalkingorbikingandfatalityandhead-oncollisions.Despitetheincreaseintrafficvolume,therateofcollisionshasdecreasedby10percent.ThesefindingsaresimilartoarecentFederalHighwayAdministration(FHWA)study(“EvaluationofLaneReduction‘RoadDiet’MeasuresonCrashes”)whichstudied30streetreconfigurationsinWashingtonandCaliforniaandfounda19percentreductioninthecollisionrateafterconversionfromfour-lanetothreelaneroadwayconfiguration.
COLLISION RATE
Before After Change
Collisionsper millionvehicles
5.83 5.24 -10%
Injurycollisions permillionvehicles
2.41 1.99 -17%
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NE 125th Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Conclusions
ReconfiguringthelanesonNE125thStreethasmadeitsaferforeveryonetravelingalongthisstreet.Thesafetybenefitisespeciallyprominentforpeoplewalkingandbiking.Theprojectdramaticallyreducedthenumberofpeoplewhoaredrivingmorethan10milesoverthespeedlimit.Evenastrafficvolumehasincreased,therateofcollisionshasfallen10percent.Bicycleandpedestrianvolumehasincreasedalongthisstreetanditisexpectedtoincreaseevenmoreinthecomingyearsasthecitygrows.Theprojectaffordstheopportunitytoinstallnewmarkedcrosswalks–somethingSDOTisplanningtodoat20thAvenueNEadjacenttoachurchandpreschool.Thenewconfigurationofthestreetgivespeopleadditionalchoicesforhowtogetaround.Anditprovidesanadditionalwaytoencouragenewtripstobemadebywalking,bikingandtakingtransit.
