Traffic planner touts benefits of slimmer streets

By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer

March 10, 2010

Jason Schrieber wants us to think narrow — as in narrower streets.

That was just one of the suggestions Schrieber, a transportation planner, gave at a presentation Tuesday on creating a better balance between cars and other ways of getting around in neighborhoods.

Slimming down streets by adding turn lanes and bike lanes and extending curbs can have the effect of ''calming'' — or slowing — traffic, Schrieber said at the Urban Innovators Speaker Series.

That, in turn, makes roadways more hospitable to walkers, bicyclists and those using public transportation, he said at the last of three sessions at the historic Andrew Jackson House near the University of Akron.

Another plus: creating spaces that help spur economic development.

About 100 people attended the event presented by University Park Alliance, a group working to revitalize the 50-block neighborhood around UA.

''Unfortunately, in most of our communities, and certainly in Akron, the No. 1 public open space [downtown and in many neighborhoods] is the street,'' Schrieber said. ''It's the connector; it's the conduit. It's part of our commerce, our livelihood.''

Schrieber, who works in the Boston office of Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates, praised such moves as reverse-angle parking [car facing the street] along a portion of South Main Street downtown. Such parking tends to make drivers more cautious, slowing them down, planners say.

The bicycle lanes Akron has created are among the most inexpensive actions — essentially, the cost of paint — he said.

He also noted the downtown Akron trolley.

Schrieber suggested the area focus more on creating pedestrian- and transit-friendly streets and less on building parking garages that take up a lot of valuable real estate.

''It's not that these are bad facilities,'' he said, displaying on a big screen pictures he took of parking decks downtown and around UA. ''They look good. They're well designed. But [the decks]. . .dominate a lot of the landscape in Akron.''

There's a hidden cost to parking, he said. The costs of building and maintaining parking get passed along to taxpayers and customers.

There's a societal expense, also, he said: less land available for other uses, such as affordable housing.

Schrieber listed ways other areas are trying to get people out of their cars: designs that make streets friendlier to walkers and bicyclists, better deals on bus passes, parking ''cash outs,'' in which companies pay workers to not use costly parking infrastructure, digital signs telling the time of the next bus, car sharing, more inviting bus stops and bus routes accessed on cell phones.

Merger moves ahead

Plans for the University Park Alliance to merge with the smaller University Park Development Corp. are moving forward. UPA Executive Director Ken Stapleton has announced plans to resign. His successor would be chosen by a board of the merged organizations.

Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.