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Safer Roadways: A Complete Streets Guide
Planning Complete Streets in Limited Rights-of-Way Retrofitting existing roads to add or improve multimodal facilities could mean working within limited rights-of-way. Design professionals should come up with a feasible solution that best accommodates all modes of transportation that are using the road. Note that there are minimum design criteria (such as travel lane widths for each road) that need to be met for each transportation mode to function safely and efficiently. For example, if a design is located on a transit route, design professionals may want to confirm with the local transit agency that the minimum lane width requirements and design will not adversely impact transit operations. The typologies shown in the previous section show high priority elements along with lower priority and optional elements. As most road projects will be Complete Streets retrofits, limited right-of-way may be experienced. Providing the typical section with ideal facilities for all modes, parking and medians may not always be feasible, particularly where existing streets are restricted due to limited right-of-way, environmental features, mature canopies, or hedgerows, and established building setbacks. In such cases, the corridor objectives, user needs, and community values must be further evaluated. When faced with limited right-of-way, one or more of the following strategies can be used to make room for the needed multimodal facilities: ELIMINATE OPTIONAL ELEMENTS Each typology has elements prioritized according to expected users. Some of those elements, like an additional travel lane or parking lane, can be removed to ensure that the street serves all users appropriately. When eliminating these elements, care should be exercised to ensure that all users are being adequately served. REDUCE LANE WIDTHS Reducing lane widths provides additional space for multimodal facilities, and results in reduced crossing distances, increased visibility of vulnerable users, and slower motor vehicle travel speeds. Wider travel lanes are correlated with faster motor vehicle speeds, with each additional 3.3 feet of lane width resulting in faster travel speeds of approximately 9.4 MPH 19 . While narrower lanes can be beneficial for active transportation, careful consideration is required before reducing lane widths. When reducing lane widths, special consideration should be given to larger, heavy vehicles such as buses, trucks, and emergency vehicles. In many cases, a hybrid approach is feasible whereby inner lanes are reduced to the minimum width and wider curbside lanes are maintained for large vehicle access.
19 K. Fitzpatrick et al., Design Factors That Affect Driver Speed on Suburban Streets (Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2000)
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