afransen
Senior Member
Came across an idea that seems like a very good way of traffic calming the really unpleasant high speed, high traffic volume arterial intersections that are common across the GTA. This solution also has the benefit of maintaining throughput capacity and minimizing delay for drivers despite reducing speeds and making the streets friendlier for vulnerable road users. It has the side benefit of making such intersections into more desirable places, whereas arterial intersections today are deeply unpleasant due to high speeds, long crossing distances and noise.
The solution: one way couplets. This approach is appropriate for greenfield areas but could also be retrofitted in existing suburban areas with big setbacks.
www.strongtowns.org
innovativeintersections.org
innovativeintersections.org
I also like the idea of having a separate, low car, transit mall as the centre street of a triplet. Seems like a much better idea than our current approach of putting BRT/LRT in the middle of 4-6 lanes of traffic. Could be combined with limited private vehicle access like the King St pilot (no through traffic). It is also very easy to very effectively calm speeds using light timing of one way streets to 30 or 40 kph.
These also don't take that much space. The intersection from San Marcos, CA mentioned above is 105m curb to curb. Here is something that scale overlaid on a typical intersection of major arterials in the GTA, Mavis and Britannia. Very little of value would be lost with such a retrofit...
Even if retrofitting some of our awful suburban intersections is too much of a dream... why can't we at least make our greenfield intersections better?
The solution: one way couplets. This approach is appropriate for greenfield areas but could also be retrofitted in existing suburban areas with big setbacks.
Can One-Ways be a Middle-Way for the Suburbs?
When choosing between a narrow one-way couplet and a large stroad, one-ways get my vote every time.
www.strongtowns.org
Town Center One-Way Couplets (Pt 1) | Place Making Alternative Intersections
innovativeintersections.org
One-Ways in our Greatest Places (Pt2) | Place Making Alternative Intersections
innovativeintersections.org
I also like the idea of having a separate, low car, transit mall as the centre street of a triplet. Seems like a much better idea than our current approach of putting BRT/LRT in the middle of 4-6 lanes of traffic. Could be combined with limited private vehicle access like the King St pilot (no through traffic). It is also very easy to very effectively calm speeds using light timing of one way streets to 30 or 40 kph.
These also don't take that much space. The intersection from San Marcos, CA mentioned above is 105m curb to curb. Here is something that scale overlaid on a typical intersection of major arterials in the GTA, Mavis and Britannia. Very little of value would be lost with such a retrofit...
Even if retrofitting some of our awful suburban intersections is too much of a dream... why can't we at least make our greenfield intersections better?
