I recently
attended a meeting of North Bay writers talking about the business of writing. Among folks with filmed screenplays and
published novels, I felt presumptuous calling myself a writer based on this modest
blog, but hoped that, if I can kept my ears open, I might learn something.
I was
correct. Among other insights from the
evening, a novelist suggested that I should remain continually aware of
barriers to new readers. Readers who
don’t have a grasp on the rudiments of urbanism might not glean as much from a
blog post, so might be less likely to become regular readers.
Her comment
was appreciated. Within the constraints
of relatively short blog posts, I think I do reasonably well at staying in
touch with the fundamentals of urbanism, but it would be impossible to begin
each blog post with a complete recap of urbanist principles. Therefore, I’ll begin 2015 with a series of
posts laying out the urbanist philosophy as perceived and expounded by me. My hope will be to attract new readers whose
New Year’s Resolutions included greater community involvement.
Meanwhile, the
exercise will also be good for me because my grasp of urbanism has deepened,
broadened, and evolved since I began this blog.
It’ll be helpful for me to recheck and to solidify the fundamentals of
my own understanding.
So if you
have friends who have been interested in this blog, but have been unsure where
to start, tell them to mark January 5th on their calendars. On that day, I’ll begin a recap that will
hopefully provide benefits to all.
But even while
acknowledging that some potential readers might need a remedial symposium on the
fundamentals of urbanism, I felt comfortable that my current readers had a good
grasp on the principles and the logic of urbanism.
It’s
possible I was wrong.
In an email
exchange about Measure Q and the proposed Rainier Connector in Petaluma, a
reader advised me that traffic congestion was a continuing concern to him and that
he was likely to support the Rainier Connector “in the absence of a good
achievable alternative”.
The reader
was someone with whom I’ve chatted many times, both electronically and
face-to-face, so his position surprised me.
And to the extent it reflected a misunderstanding of the nature of
traffic congestion, it was a rebuke to me and my apparent inability to
correctly convey the pertinent information.
Accordingly,
I’ll use the Rainier Connector as an example to present urbanist thought on
traffic congestion. It’s a bigger topic
than I want to cover in a single day, so today I’ll define the problem as created
by town planning and as generally understood by the public and then identify
the generally perceived “solution”. In
my next post, I’ll explain why the solution doesn’t work and what urbanism
offers instead.
The Problem:
Like most cities that grew in the years after World War II, the street system
of Petaluma is largely organized in a hierarchical form, with arterials at the top
and local streets and alley at the bottom.
The expectation is that drivers will use local streets to access
collectors and then arterials which they’ll use to reach their general destination,
at which point they’ll return to local streets for the final distance.
(In
comparison, consider older cities such as San Francisco or New York. A street hierarchy still exists, but the
extent of the differentiation is reduced.
Market Street is still a major arterial, but Mission, Folsom, and Howard
offer alternative routes that more hierarchical towns don’t.)
When a town
such as Petaluma is divided by a river or another geographical feature, traffic
is further concentrated on arterials.
The costs of bridges or tunnels allow fewer crossings, forcing all traffic
to the limited crossings available. That
concentration becomes troublesome as population growth, increased affluence, and
land use decisions result in increased traffic.
Which brings
us back to Petaluma. Many destinations
are clustered in two areas, the downtown and the development around the
freeway. E. Washington Street, which
crosses over the Petaluma River, is the most direct route between the two, so
is the logically preferred route for many.
There are
three alternatives to E. Washington Street that also cross the river. However, Corona Street is too far north for
many drivers, Lakeville Street is oddly skewed across the city grid and doesn’t
meet the needs of many drivers, and D Street is well located, but heads into a limited
capacity residential neighborhood east of the river.
So, E.
Washington Street remains the preferred route for many. And, as traffic grew over the years, many became
convinced that the street was impossibly congested.
(To be fair,
the congestion can be a matter of perspective.
The traffic consultant on the Petaluma Station Area study, having heard
horror stories about E. Washington, spent time studying it. He reported back that he found the congestion far
less than reported. Instead, he noted
that the development pattern along the street is ugly and that drivers are more
frustrated by congestion when their surroundings are unappealing, so over-report
congestion. He thought that E Washington
was an aesthetic problem as much as a traffic problem. I suspect there is at least some truth in his
comments, although I doubt that public perception was swayed by his argument.)
So that
brings us to today. E. Washington Street
is perceived as congested and the existing alternatives don’t provide much
relief.
The
Solution: The most generally understood solution is the Rainier Connector, a
new street that would cross the Petaluma River between E. Washington and Corona
and connect into the existing street grid on both ends. (The Caulfield Extension and Bridge might
actually be more effective than Rainier, but hasn’t grabbed the public attention.)
The Rainier vision
is appealing, but the likely practical effect is less promising. The reasons for the shortfall are complex,
but I’ve already taken too much of your attention today. I’ll defer the discussion to my next post.
And be sure
to remember January 5.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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