Unfortunately, no. I know signals are a key piece in today's urban spaces, but they aren't at the core of what it means to be urban. We had urban space long before we ever envisioned signals.
Thanks for the shout out to Portland. 200 feet is pretty fantastic short block lengths that definitely gives people options when they're walking. If you combine these grids with narrow streets, you have a pretty effective network by which you can also manage speeds with signal coordination. Hopefully signal cycle lengths that are short make an appearance in the 12 days of Walkable Urban.
How could I talk about short blocks without Portland!?!? That would be a crime! Of course, we used Portland again when we talked about parking! When the block lengths are that short, you don't even need signal coordination to get folks in line.
Short signal cycles are a great part of a delightful urban space, but we had good urban environments a lot longer than we had signals. There were even some places in the Netherlands that experimented with abandoning signals entirely. Signal coordination can have plusses and minuses. If you do the coordination too well, drivers may quit watching the people because they're focusing on making the next light. Of course, keeping a progression speed that you like (and telling drivers what it is) can help. The problem I see with this is that it's another brute force strategy: Drivers will pay more attention to the strategy than the people they're going to hit. The best traffic calming will be completely imperceptible to the driver. Then they won't be able to push back on it and their focus will remain where it needs to be.
Unfortunately, no. I know signals are a key piece in today's urban spaces, but they aren't at the core of what it means to be urban. We had urban space long before we ever envisioned signals.
I do love a 60 second cycle, though!
Thanks for the shout out to Portland. 200 feet is pretty fantastic short block lengths that definitely gives people options when they're walking. If you combine these grids with narrow streets, you have a pretty effective network by which you can also manage speeds with signal coordination. Hopefully signal cycle lengths that are short make an appearance in the 12 days of Walkable Urban.
How could I talk about short blocks without Portland!?!? That would be a crime! Of course, we used Portland again when we talked about parking! When the block lengths are that short, you don't even need signal coordination to get folks in line.
Short signal cycles are a great part of a delightful urban space, but we had good urban environments a lot longer than we had signals. There were even some places in the Netherlands that experimented with abandoning signals entirely. Signal coordination can have plusses and minuses. If you do the coordination too well, drivers may quit watching the people because they're focusing on making the next light. Of course, keeping a progression speed that you like (and telling drivers what it is) can help. The problem I see with this is that it's another brute force strategy: Drivers will pay more attention to the strategy than the people they're going to hit. The best traffic calming will be completely imperceptible to the driver. Then they won't be able to push back on it and their focus will remain where it needs to be.