North Avenue Realignment Options Unveiled
This is not chicanery at City Hall. Three alternatives for North Avenues next look have been received, and each, as you shall see, has its pros and cons.
Photos
Chicane... or not chicane?
When the local architects of the North Avenue Plan for East Tosa set about re-envisioning the streetscape through the 60th to 76th street district, they proposed doing away with the winding lanes, called chicanes.
But once the city officially adopted the North Avenue Plan, the thinking on the streetscape update took on a broader scope.
Planners and consultants looking at traffic flow, business, parking, emergency services, bus, bike and pedestrian traffic and more, began to weigh in.
Some residents of the Fifth District got an advance screening Wednesday night of three options for North Avenue submitted this week by a traffic engineer.
To the surprise of some, two of the three alternatives retain the now-familiar chicanes, while only one does away with them.
The official premiere of the plans will come next week, in a public exchange meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. Immediately after, at 7 p.m., the options will be heard by the Traffic and Safety Committee.
One thing common to all three plans from consultant Ayres and Associates is the addition of bicycle lanes. In the cases of both plans calling for keeping the chicanes, the avenue would lose a number of street parking spaces. In the case of the no-chicane plan, parking spaces would be gained.
All the plans were posted on the city website at 5 p.m. Wednesday for public view.
Option 1: Do the bump
Alternative 1 (in no order of stated preference) is called the "Bump-Out" design. It retains the chicane feel with pedestrian penisulas at corners that force traffic to slalom but also give walkers a shorter distance to cross the street.
This plan also continues to provide for no left turns at half the intersections on the avenue.
Ayres identified the pros and cons of each plan. For the Bump-Out plan, they are:
Pros
- Provides left-turn lanes at every other intersection to allow through vehicles to move around the turning cars. (Through traffic does not have to wait for a car to turn left)
- 34-foot pedestrian crossing distance at bump-outs
Cons
- Approximate loss of 47 on-street parking spaces
- 48-foot pedestrian crossing distance where left turn lanes are provided
- Buses stop in through traffic lane, causing queuing of through traffic
- Maintains Chicane effect
Option 2: Turn anywhere, anytime
Alternative 2 is the one preferred by the originators of the North Avenue Plan. It is the one that does away with chicanes and permits left turns anywhere.
It essentially straightens out the avenue but adds bike lanes that move right along with traffic, alongside parking lanes that would actually add a few more spaces.
It does not provide for dedicated left turn lanes, though, so there is the likelihood of vehicle traffic invading those spaces at intersections.
It has the unmusical name, the "No Left-Turn Lanes" plan.
Pros
- Approximate gain of nine on-street parking spaces
- Left turns are permitted at every intersection on North Avenue between 60th Street and 76th Street
- Bus stops are not located in a through traffic lane
- 34-foot pedestrian crossing distance at bump-outs
- Eliminates Chicane effect
Cons
- Left turns from through traffic lane makes cars wait in traffic until the turning vehicle can make a left turn or will result in cars going around left turns into the bike lane and bus stop area
- Cars going around left turns into the bike lane/bus stop area creates a pedestrian safety problem
- 48-foot pedestrian crossing distance at non bump-out locations
Option 3: Places of refuge
Alternative 3 sounds like a Caribbean cruise to... the "Median Islands."
These islands, though, are in the middle of a busy street, but they are intended to provide a safe haven for pedestrians as well as to slow traffic.
It is also a "retain the chicanes" plan.
Pros
- Median islands create traffic taming benefit
- Provides a pedestrian refuge island which creates a 2-stage crossing movement
- 17-foot pedestrian crossing distance of 1-way traffic at median islands
- Provides a left-turn lane at every other intersection to allow through traffic to move around a turning car. (Through traffic does not have to wait for a car to turn left)
Cons
- Approximate loss of 71 on-street parking spaces
- Maintains Chicane effect
_____________________________________
You may email comments on the plans to William Porter, Wauwatosa’s Director of Public Works at bporter@wauwatosa.net by the end of business on March 29, 2013.
Tosa66er
8:46 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
I'm rather disappointed that none of these focus on the speed of traffic on North; at least not the bullet points in the article. The street would not feel so wide for crossing pedestrians if the traffic were not coming at you at high speeds. Think Frogger. The game was a lot easier when the traffic was moving slowly. If you want to draw more pedestrian traffic to this area so people with flow from shop to shop, the speed of traffic will have to slow down. Are we trying to accommodate the vehicles or draw a foot crowd? If there is one thing that really frustrates me while trying to experience North Avenue with my children it's that we have to worry about just getting across it to see what's on the other side. North Avenue will always be busy around rush hours unless the traffic can be diverted to other streets, and drivers need to realize that. In fact, it's actually safer for pedestrians to cross at rush hour. The problem lies in the hours when there is minimal traffic and drivers see a long straight drag strip before them and the chicanes seem to disappear. These non-rush hour hours are also the times that families are/would be walking the strip. It also doesn't help to have little to no law enforcement present to make drivers even consider slowing down.
Random Blog Commenter
9:36 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
All good points. North Ave cannot be looked at myopically as a hometown street between 60th and 76th streets -- it is a metropolitan arterial that connects the stadium freeway with hwy 45. Traffic will only increase once the Zoo interchange project hits and people use North Ave to avoid that mess.
Put two additional stoplights between 60th and 68th and 68th and 76th. However, only have them trigger a red light when a pedestrian hits a walk button or a side street driver meets the intersection.
The bike lanes depicted in the image look like a recipe where bikers are killed, as does option #2.
Jim Price
9:37 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Tosa66er – I know the bullet points don't provide much detail, and the diagrams posted on the city website are kind of hard to read. But given your main concerns, I'd say that Option 3, "Median Islands," seems most up your alley. It provides for the greatest pedestrian safety – you only have to cross half the street at a time, looking only one way, and have a much shorter distance to cover in traffic – and it is also a traffic calming (slowing) solution.
There are other considerations that have to be taken into account, including the speed with which fire and police vehicles can navigate the course. Business wants more parking and more left turn options. Bicyce advocates want more room and less danger.
ann
10:11 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Bike Paths=Horrible idea
Mark Farrelly
11:08 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
I really agree with one of the proposals, and that's the one that removes the chicanes. Option 2 was it? I think the bike lanes and straight lanes of traffic will naturally slow traffic. The chicanes are the obvious problem - people fail to decrease speed because they can easily bypass turning traffic.
Lisa Fohey
7:22 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
When the last streetscaping was done, one the biggest obstacles to making the avenue pedestrian-friendly was the traffic that would pass on the right wherever there weren't parked cars. That traffic was going at high speeds, crossing intersections very close to sidewalks and certainly endangering any bikers. It seems to me that the Option 2 doesn't have a way to prevent the speeding and passing and protect walkers and bikers.
ann
8:09 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
You people simply do not get it. If you make it difficult for cars you will choke off business, this obsession with bike paths is getting a little tiring.
Holly
2:52 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013
How about a plan that slows traffic, makes pedestrian crossing easy and adds parking? My husband and I just about get run down anytime we try to cross North Ave, it is more like a race track than pedestrian friendly! I agree, the bike lanes will be nothing more than a death wish!
jbw
6:48 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013
Sorry, but crossing a busy street is always a little dangerous. I've walked across North Avenue a thousand times over the last few years, and the only time I came close to being injured was when that group of kids at the bus stop assaulted me this year. I've stayed away from East Town Tosa since then but haven't missed it.
Honestly the option 2 streamlining traffic flow is probably the best choice. Very few people here want to walk anywhere - they act like it's a death sentence to walk 10 yards down the street from their car to a crosswalk instead of jaywalking for Pete's sake. What they do want is to be able to drive fast and reckless - and trying to obstruct that with special turn lanes or medians will either make them more reckless out of frustration or cause them to go elsewhere.
There wouldn't be enough parking spaces there as it is now if people actually patronized all the businesses in the neighborhood - which is supposedly trying to attract people from out of town (i.e. drivers who need to park), so why would you want to eliminate lots of parking spaces?
I also dislike the "median island" approach personally. When I do cross the street - which is nearly always at an intersection with a traffic light even if I have to walk half a mile to get there - I want to quickly jot across during an opening in traffic. I don't want to stand in the middle of high speed traffic hoping nobody crashes into me on the median for minutes between lights.
Betty Rubble
9:04 am on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
We have two new restaurants along North Avenue slated to open in the next year and the City would even consider a plan that loses any, let alone 71, parking spaces? Who will bother to frequent businesses on North Ave. if they have to drive around for 15 minutes to find a place to park? And who wants to risk their life riding a bike on such a busy, crowded and confusing street? Not me.