Friday Factiod: Atlanta's Driving Costs

AAA’s “Crashes vs. Congestion – What’s the Cost to Society?” reported metro Atlanta’s car crashes cost the area $10.8 billion, or $1.979 per person, in 2009. The report also noted 498 deaths and 62,263 injuries related to car crashes in metro Atlanta.

Almost 500 deaths a year on our roads.  We just accept it and move on.  Driving is the most dangerous thing that the average Atlantan does and we continue to want to widen roads, drive faster and live in an environment where the car dictates our lives.  We should be building places that don't require us to get into a car for every trip.

Atlanta Business Chronicle via ATLUrbanist

Where to Park on Canton Street?

I recently read this article on The Roswell Neighbor discussing the availability of parking on Canton Street and potential solutions to the issue.  I know this is a hot topic for many especially since the restaurant scene has exploded here over the past ~5 years.  I think the common complaint is that it takes too long to park and thus we need more parking.  However, let's not over react.  

I go to Canton Street (by car) almost weekly to eat and the longest it has ever taken me to park at peak time is about 10 minutes.  When I do get a spot, it's usually within 50 yards of the main restaurant area. Anywhere else on Canton is a breeze to park.  There are 1,847 parking spots between Magnolia St and Woodstock St and a recent study suggest that the area is 69 spaces short during peak times.  

A normal parking space is about 180 sq ft (10x18).  So, 69 spaces is 12,420 sq ft. or ~.285 acres.  When you add in driving space, that effectively doubles.  So, just to meet the current peak demand, Canton St would need to figure out where a half an acre could be paved to park some cars.  I'm not so sure that we need to do this given the demand but I wanted to think about what we could do to prepare for added demand if that does come.

Here are my recommendations in order of cost from the least to the most expensive:

• Do nothing - The current situation isn't actually as bad as it seems.  There are plenty of spaces within a short walk along Mimosa, at City Hall and across 9 from Diesel.  Proper direction and labeling could help.  There is also some opportunity for lot reconfiguration and multi-use lots in areas.
• Create a Parking Lot - I don't have any ideas on where to do this since we won't be able to find a half/acre unless we tear down a building or two.  If we do that, then we might as well do it right.. see the last two entries.
• Deck Behind Restaurants - Here, we would just build a deck where a current parking area is.  See the red shaded area on the map.
• Surface Lot Behind Buildings - This one is actually my favorite as it will do a lot to complete Canton Street and give additional parking.  You tear down the old antique store and move a 2-3 story building up to Canton Street and line the north side of Webb Street with either shop fronts or townhomes.  Behind the buildings invisible to Canton Street, you would have a surface parking lot that is larger than what is existing. If demand grew, you could eventually build a deck here.
• Deck Behind Townhomes - Here we would line the southern tip of Canton St, the northern side of Magnolia and the southeastern tip of the Webb Street Extension with townhomes or live work units with some retail below.  The corner of Canton & Magnolia would be a small office or bank building.

Here's the visual:

Now, let's not forget the age old problem of charging for parking.  If the need to charge arises and you have built an expensive deck, the logical course of action would be to charge for the deck and leave the surface parking alone.  However, what you really need to do is price the deck lower than the surface parking.  This will price the commodity properly by pricing the most sought after commodities (street parking) higher than the less desirable (deck parking).  If you fall into the trap of charging for deck parking while not charging for street parking, you will still have congestion which will cause a perceived lack of parking because everyone will try to park on the street for free first and use the deck as a last resort.  

Update from The Cone Zone

I check the Cone Zone update on the Roswell city website at least once a month to get an update on what is going on with transportation projects around town.  I was really excited to see an update to the upcoming project list this month that gives more detail on the sidewalk improvements that are on tap for the area around the square.  Here's what the site says...

SR 9/Atlanta Street at SR 120/Marietta Highway - This project, slated to begin in January 2012, will make several improvements at the intersection of SR 9 and SR 120 at the Historic Square:  1.  the project will modify the turning radius from SR 9 southbound to SR 120 westbound to prevent large trucks from hitting and damaging the wall at the Historic Square; 2.  the outside receiving lane on SR 120 westbound will be turned into a truck apron to give drivers passive guidance to turn deeper and avoid striking the wall.  In addition, this improvement will force turning traffic to yield rather than allowing unsafe free-flow turning movements; 3.  brick paver sidewalks will be added along the Barrington Hall wall along SR 120 and SR 9 and along the north side of SR 120 to Bulloch Hall connecting to existing sidewalks; 4.  the crosswalks at the intersection will be upgraded to improve pedestrian connectivity in and around the Historic Square; and, 5.  the traffic signals will be placed on mast arm poles (similar to SR 9/Sloan Street) to improve the aesthetics in the Historic Square area.

The addition of sidewalks along 120 down to Bulloch Hall will be excellent along with the sidewalks around Barrington Hall.  The mast arm poles replacing the wired traffic lights should be nice as well.

Now, let's hope that we can encourage some more viable businesses to locate around the square.  

Quote of the Week: Walkability

Walkability is a magnet that attracts and retains highly educated and skilled people and the innovative businesses that employ them. Much more than a faddish amenity, walkability is an ecological imperative, and to an increasing extent, as fuel and time costs continue to climb, a financial one as well.

All of this is leading to something of a convergence across America’s best neighborhoods, a morphing of what we used to think of as suburban versus city life. More and more of our most desirable suburban communities look more like cities, with bustling town centers alive with pedestrian life, while our best city neighborhoods have taken on many of the characteristics we used to see as the province of suburbs: good schools, green spaces, safe streets, and family life.

Richard Florida, excerpted from The Atlantic Cities

Quote of the Week: Craig Voth on Transportation

Cars. There's too many of them.

Craig Voth, Roswell City Council Post 3 Candidate, when asked at the Roswell Candidate forum last week what he thought was Roswell's biggest transportation problem.

I love his answer but personally, I'd rephrase it.  Here's what I'd say:

Subdivisions. There are too many of them and not enough true neighborhoods where people don't have to drive for every trip they need to make.

Friday Factoid: The Costs of Commuting

For each mile you drive across two times on your round trip to work daily, it multiplies to 500 miles per year, or a $170 annual fee.  For each of these miles, you waste about 6 minutes in the round trip, adding to 25 hours per year ($625 of your time).

So each mile you live from work steals $795 per year from you in commuting costs. $795 per year will pay the interest on $15,900 of house borrowed at a 5% interest rate.

In other words, a logical person should be willing to pay about $15,900 more for a house that is one mile closer to work, and $477,000 more for a house that is 30 miles closer to work. For a double-commuting couple, these numbers are $31,800 and $954,000.

from Lifehacker: The True Cost of Commuting

Friday Factiod: Transportation Expenditures

On average, people living in drivable suburban areas spend 24 percent of their annual income on transportation while those living in walkable urban areas spend about 16 percent.

via The Atlantic

Quote of the Week: The Experiment Part 2

We completed one life cycle of the suburban experiment using a pay-as-you-go approach. As we reached this point—around the mid-1970s—growth in America slowed. Although multiple factors were involved, one significant cause was our suburban cities were now seeing cash outflows for infrastructure maintenance. We’d reached the “long term” and the end of commitment-free money.

Our problem was not, and is not, a lack of growth. Our problem is sixty years of unproductive growth. The American pattern of development does not create real wealth; it creates the illusion of wealth. Today we are in the process of seeing that illusion destroyed and with it the prosperity we have come to take for granted.

It took us a while to work through what to do, but we ultimately decided to go “all in” using debt. In the second life cycle of the suburban experiment, the United States financed new growth by borrowing staggering sums of money, both in the public and private sectors. By the time we crossed into the third life cycle and flamed out in the foreclosure crisis, our financing mechanisms had, out of necessity, become exotic, even predatory.

Excerpted from the Strong Towns Curbside Chat

Chuck Mahron has one of the most logical yet blistering takes on our suburban development pattern out there.  The approach that he and the Strong Towns organization take is pragmatic and conservative.  If you don't subscribe to the Strong Towns Blog, I highly recommend it.  

Quote of the Week: Grids vs Arterials

Overall, a gridded street network of two-lane roadways can accommodate both pedestrians in addition to much higher volumes of vehicles as compared to the large arterial/collector single intersection.  The superiority in capacity even holds when the grid system is compared against the arterial/collector without any pedestrian  accommodations whatsoever.  This research presented results in terms of vehicle delay and vehicle level of service; while not ideal in terms of truly understanding the impact of these large intersections in a complete urban environment, these results should instead be used to clarify many of the misconceptions that conventional traffic engineers have with regard to such large arterials/collectors intersections.   

Additional benefits of the grid system include real-time route decisions, increased levels of walking and biking, reduced vehicle speeds, and  as some recent research is showing, safer roadways for all users.  Critics may point out that the grid system increases overall vehicle delays for through traffic.  The analysis done as part of this study agrees with this assertion; however, the analysis is limited in that it assumes all trips begin outside the grid, travel through the grid, and then exit the grid.

From Supersized Intersections vs Gridded Street Networks: Comparing Capacities & Pedestrian Accommodation

Each week we feature a quote or an excerpt that clearly illustrates the benefits of new urbanist thought. 

Friday Factiod: Density and Productivity

Economists studying cities routinely find that after controlling for other variables, workers in denser places earn higher wages and are more productive. Some studies suggest that doubling density raises productivity by around 6 percent while others peg the impact at up to 28 percent. Some economists have concluded that more than half the variation in output per worker across the United States can be explained by density alone; density explains more of the productivity gap across states than education levels or industry concentrations or tax policies.

Excerpted from: One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities

h/t: Strong Towns Blog