Spokesman-Review Letters to the editor
Slow traffic inefficient
As reported in the "Best of the Voices" section in the Feb. 25 newspaper, according to Troy Russ, a transportation consultant from Orlando, Fla., "Another means of improving Appleway Boulevard's efficiency would be to cut speeds to 30 mph and reduce the space between vehicles." That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Improve efficiency by slowing the traffic down? Let's take this foolishness to the limit. If we "cut" the speeds to 5 mph the cars can be even closer, thus vastly improving efficiency over racetrack speeds like 35 mph. Better yet, at 0 mph the efficiency would be maximized! It seems as if Mr. Russ' objective is to cover as much of the pavement with cars as possible. That's actually the definition of a parking lot, not a roadway.
I always thought that an efficient road would be one that got a driver from point A to point B quickly and safely. Maybe Mr. Russ is accustomed to dealing with roads loaded with Florida retirees. Who hires these people?
Tom Cameron
Spokane Valley
Do you agree with Mr. Cameron or is there something to Mr. Russ' idea of slowing traffic down? I didn't read the original article quoting Mr. Russ, so I don't know if he mentioned that many communities are slowing traffic, but with the intent of making areas with lots of businesses more pedestrian friendly, more attractive, and easier for customers to access businesses. In other words, less like a city with a ground-level freeway running through the middle of it.
2 comments:
Measuring the efficiency of transportation systems is not a matter of opinion or conjecture. Troy Russ simply pointed out that the Highway Capacity Manual (and other traffic engineering textbooks) shows that there is a relationship between traffic speed and traffic flow and the most efficient speed at which traffic flows is around 30 mph. This is in terms of the number of vehicles that can move hourly down the road per lane of travel. Higher speeds require larger gaps between cars, thus reducing the number of cars that can move through the system in a specified amount of time.
The Sprague/Appleway Revitalziation plan strives to balance the needs of cars, pedestrians, bikes and transit in relation to the desired land uses along the corridor...which includes a City Center at University and Sprague.
Check out Troy's entire presentation on the project website www.spragueappleway.com.
Thanks for weighing in Scott. It's good for people to hear it from 'the horse's mouth' and we appreciate you sharing Mr. Russ' materials.
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