•1

Level

Of

Service

Jeffrey L. Rosenblum, PE

•2

Level

Of

Suffering

Jeffrey L. Rosenblum, PE

Level of Service

• Bottleneck theory of cars: how to

maximize throughput

– Long signal cycle lengths

– More through lanes

– Left turn pockets

– High-speed turning radius, right turn pockets

– Pedestrian push-buttons to increase car time

4

6

Measures of a successful street?

7

Metrics

• LOS: vehicle throughput

• Safety

• Livability

• Economic growth

8

What can you do? • Tools

– Coordinate signals (slow but steady)

– Restrict turns (needs network analysis)

• Planning

– Put the numbers in context: what is “peak”?

– Do not unnecessarily plan for traffic growth

– Combat car LOS with multimodal LOS; I

recommend going with simple measures.

– Use other measures (queue, network impact)

• Policy

– Stand behind “complete streets” policies

9

10

11

What can you do?

• Policy

–Decide not to care. LOS is the wrong approach altogether

12

13

Lessons not learned?

BOSTON

It could have been a highway

•18

Cambridge, Mass.

Proposed “inner belt”

CENTRAL

SQUARE

21

MY DAUGHTER’S

SCHOOL

It wasn’t built

MY DAUGHTER’S

SCHOOL

23

City of Cambridge

How workers commute to Cambridge

Policies “pays off”

Growth Without Gridlock

4 million sf 2000-2010

(38% growth)

Residential parking permits declining

Mass. Ave., Central Square

Before After

Mass. Ave. road diet, 1996

Western Avenue

Traffic

Western Avenue, Cambridge

Western Avenue, Cambridge

Counts

Western Avenue 48

Western Avenue

49

Bridges

Boston University Bridge

Boston University Bridge

55

BU Bridge

56

59

60

• AM PM

• Do nothing C C

• Bicycle lanes F D

Technical traffic analysis

Boston Globe, Feb 10, 2009

“BU bridge plans could

spur road rage; Some fear

closing lane will choke

traffic”

Boston Globe, Feb 10, 2009

"There's going to be road rage," predicted

Stanley Spiegel, who lives across the

bridge in Brookline. "If you're going to

spend public money to go for an

improvement, you don't predictably

make things worse. That's nuts."

#1

Good news for commuters: BU Bridge nearly done

67

Anderson Bridge

69

70

71

72

Max pedestrian wait time

36 sec

86 sec

94 sec 59 sec

86 sec

94 sec

AM PEAK

Pedestrian crossing time

68 sec

18 sec

10 sec 45 sec

18 sec

10 sec

AM PEAK

Average pedestrian wait time

5 sec

34 sec

41 sec 15 sec

34 sec

41 sec

Highway Capacity Manual Ped LOS

A

D

E B

E

D

AM PEAK

Mass. Ave., Boston

Although the remaining six approaches along the project do not meet the quantitative criteria, XXX does feel that qualitative safety criteria are satisfied at all approaches and that increased conflict between vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists would result with the elimination of left turn lanes along this project.

•“…because defendants’ current bid specifications, engineering plans, and related materials violate Chapter 89 of the Massachusetts Acts of 1996 as codified in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 90E §2A (Massachusetts bicycle and pedestrian access accommodation law, hereafter “§2A”). Such injunction should remain in effect unless and until defendants’ re-design, re-engineer, or otherwise alter their proposed construction documents so as to incorporate “ALL (emphasis added) reasonable provisions for the accommodation of bicycle and pedestrian uses in… [the MassAve reconstruction project]”, as required by (and quoting from) §2A.”

McGrath Highway Removal

Highway Removal 86

Community vision 87

Conclusion

89

Hans Monderman (1945 – 2008)

90

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”