Comments on: Smith Level roundabout draws concern

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:13:20 +0000

L Thomas makes a great point in the previous point. The excess of this design should be of great concern. They are proposing a divided highway designed for 50mph for 0.3 miles. It is fed by a 2 lane road and empties into a 2 lane road. That sounds like a drag strip to me.

The lack of bus stop at Willow Oak should concern the town. I don’t think it is coincidence that the traffic on Smith Level has decreased since the buses have been free. See link below. http://www.ci.carrboro.nc.us/PZI/PDFs/2005MobilityReportCard.pdf
Of course that is another issue. Traffic has decreased on this road, but for 15 years the justification from the DOT for the divided highway design is the projected unmanagable traffic increases. We need to encourage bus, bike and foot traffic to help reduce auto traffic. Carrboro has already shown that it works.

By: Concerned Citizen

Concerned Citizen — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:07:18 +0000

Seems to me like DOT has been trying to improve this road for quite some time, but all of the requirements of Carrboro, and folks who do not actually live there but wish to insert their opinion anyway has delayed this much needed improvement.

Weaver Dairy Road, southern version.

DOT scratches their head and moves to Greensboro.

By: L Thomas

L Thomas — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:51:19 +0000

Agree with Terri about perception. It would indeed, be a crying shame to end up with a design that does not, now only allow, but encourage more families and students to walk and cycle to school and enhance choices for all. We need to address both perception and perspectives more effectively. It would be great if we could do this, in this case without without totally derailing a badly needed project, and perhaps develop a model of inter-agency and community cooperation for future projects. Can we do this for the long-term health, safety, and livability of our community?

By: Terri Buckner

Terri Buckner — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:47:31 +0000

Connection to the Morgan Creek Greenway doesn’t show because the greenway is outside of the SLR project area. (It stops before the bridge.)

The problem with the roundabout is perception. The school board/district does not have set criteria for what makes a safe walk zone around schools. Instead, they review each proposal separately, guided largely by perception. As long as individual school board members perceive the roundabout as unsafe, they will not authorize a walk zone from kids coming to Carrboro High School from the other side of Smith Level Road. It would be a crying shame to spend all this money to add sidewalks and bike lanes, along with the roundabout, without having the school board’s commitment to expand the walk zones around the high school.

The BOA needs to call a public hearing on these proposed changes prior to April 6.

By: L Thomas

L Thomas — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:08:10 +0000

re: roundabout concerns: There are pedestrian crosswalks planned for all three legs of the roundabout (north, south, and west – not only south). There are several advantages of well-designed, low speed roundabouts. First, there are only two possible conflicting movements between motorists and pedestrians crossing at each leg of the roundabout, versus 3 each leg if this were built as a traditional intersection. Thus some forms of exposure to crashes are reduced by a roundabout design, not even considering the slower traffic speeds. Often, motorists do not yield to pedestrians or cyclists when making turns at signalized locations (these are among the most frequent types of crashes), so a signal is no guarantee of safety (esp. if permissive left turns are allowed, and where there are right-turn lanes). Motorists will be slowed on approach to the roundabout and are more likely to yield at slower speeds, as required by law. Thus, exposure to higher speed, and more severe crashes is also reduced (again, I emphasize, with proper design). Educational and enforcement measures could help train motorists to yield to pedestrians. However, if motorists still do not yield, an alternative to completely re-designing the intersection to a traditional signalized configuration (with the resulting 3 conflicting movements per leg and higher approach speeds) is to add what are known as HAWK signals. These signals would only be triggered by pedestrians needing to cross. Then motorists would receive a red signal; otherwise traffic could flow continuously. See a case study of a community that instituted roundabouts along a school corridor:
http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/bikesafe/case_studies/casestudy.cfm?CS_NUM=216

Of greater concern to me is the rest of the design, with a design speed of 50 mph. Roadways should be designed to be self-enforcing for the speeds at which they are intended to be used (35 mph here, and the school zones near FPG and CHS should be 20 mph). The lengthy spans of added lanes, raised median, and other pavement of dubious necessity, between signalized locations will encourage motorists to travel FAST and make it more difficult for local users to access Smith Level. Pedestrians are likely to continue crossing in-between far apart controlled crossing locations, rather than walk 600 feet out of their way to cross at an intersection; the higher speed, multi-lane traffic that will result from this design will place them at added risk to possible collisions and more severe collisions.
The number of right-flow, turn lanes, where motorists often barely slow before turning without checking for peds or bikes, also raise concerns. The DOT design map also shows only one bus stop, not the two at Willow Oak, nor the several along BPW Club close to the intersection. Most transit users must cross Smith Level in one direction daily on the start or return trip. How are people with disabilities to access the stops at Willow Oak Ln? There is nothing shown to provide pedestrian or bicyclist access through the raised median in the expanse near Willow Oak Ln, much less, any way to stop 4-lanes of traffic to access these transit stops safely.

It might be preferable to add roundabouts at each of the intersections, and keep the road to two lanes which would probably do more to improve the overall traffic flow, lower speeds, and enhance safety for all users.

My view is that wider (say 6′) bike lanes on the downgrade sections of Smith Level would give cyclists plenty of room to ride, as long as they are swept frequently and well-maintained. And more people are likely to ride if bike lanes are provided, as opposed to wide outside lanes. A greater concern for me is the lack of ped and bike connectivity to S Greensboro St, as well as the planned Morgan Creek greenway.

By: Adrian Hands

Adrian Hands — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:50:40 +0000

My chief concerns with this project are:

1. Bike accommodation on a steep grade
2. Interchange with the future Morgan Creek greenway.

On a steep downhill, bikes often approach the speed limit and cyclists need to be able to utilize greater lane width, especially if the lane edges are obstructed by litter, foliage, ice, salt, bad pavement, etc.. For this reason, wide outside lanes (no stripe) are preferable to bike lanes on steep descents. Furthermore, it is never a good idea to put a bike lane on only one side of a two-way street, because that would encourage wrong-way cycling. Wide lanes with Sharrows would be the appropriate treatment for the hill on Smith Level Rd..

Smith Level/Greensboro serves important destinations including Carrboro High School to the south and Weaver Street and Farmer’s Market to the north. This section will also intersect with the future Morgan Creek Greenway. It is important that road widening in this section be planned to safely interchange bike & ped traffic with the future greenway–e.g. to allow safe ped crossing where necessary, discourage “wrong way” cycling, and facilitate easy, efficient and safe access for all travelers.

The DOT design map for this project doesn’t even show the Morgan Creek greenway!