Fixing Streets and Collecting Pet Food
Patrick
Hartley, our Tucson Department of Transportation Complete Streets Program
Coordinator sent us an invitation for two street design seminars at the U of A
School of Architecture. I decided to attend both because one was in the morning
and the other offered lunch. In addition, since both were scheduled for 90
minutes each, the 2-hour parking meters worked perfectly. It would have been a
no go otherwise because parking around the University is very stressful.
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Both lectures
were presented by Peter Koonce,
a national leader on innovative transportation
engineering and planning solutions for safer
multi-modal transportation.
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Of course, there were a lot of young folks in the lecture hall but I fit right in because I said nothing like most of them. In the morning session I learned a very interesting fact which I already suspected was a normal human trait. When folks plan for far into the future, say 25 years which is the timeline for our committee, they seldom-to-never accomplish such a grand plan. The colored lines in the chart above are the projected time span and the black dots indicate the level of achievement over a 14-year period.
This tells me that concentrating on fixing potholes and building sidewalks and bike paths is the right way to go.
In
the afternoon session I really did learn something about speed and pedestrian
safety. At 20 mph, 9 out of 10 pedestrians survive, 5 out of 10 at 30 mph, and
only 1 out of 10 at 40 mph. Very sobering and yet there doesn’t seem to be a
way to slow the vehicles down. I’m thinking that perhaps just posting the
mortality numbers on every Speed Limit Sign would help a lot. This information
sure gave me pause.
While standing in
line for my Jimmy John’s roast beef sandwich and oatmeal raisin cookies, I got
a chance to speak to Dr. Arlie Adkins, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning in
the College of Architecture who coordinated the two lectures. When I asked him
about adding a speed limit indicator in all automobiles as they now have for
most trains, he said that the situation is quite political with resistance from
auto manufacturers and congress. I for one would love to have a speed limit
indicator on my dashboard. And there would be fewer accidents, fewer smashed up
cars and … oh, wait, I get it.
This
week we donated 119 lbs. of pet food, one bag of cleaning pads, 14 pill bottles
and $111.71, in cash and two checks.
See you Sunday,
Peter
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