Fixing Ford and Washington
Article Table of Contents
- Step 1: Install car-friendly roundabouts targeting a ~20 mph throughput speed throughout the city and eliminate all stopsigns and stoplights
- Step 2: increase friction to drivers trying to cut through Golden
- Step 4: Fix the average throughput problem on rt 6
- Resources worth reading
Do all of these, in the right order/way/buy-in. btw, i’m pretending it’s easy. it’s not trivial, but it is doable:
Step 1: Install car-friendly roundabouts targeting a ~20 mph throughput speed throughout the city and eliminate all stopsigns and stoplights #
Please see about roundabouts.
It might not be possible to eliminate every stop sign and light, but I think a 90% reduction is very reasonable.
You’ll know it’s working when vehicles, with very minimal signage, comfortably and casually move through the city at a speed of about about 20 miles per hour, no matter where they’re starting and finishing their journey.
Critically, the turns/roundabouts need to function adequately in the following ways:
- automobile drivers making left and right turns
- automobile drivers going straight through the intersection
- bicyclists making turns
- bicyclists going straight
- one should never have to stop completely
- at night
- in rush hour
- in rain/heavy rain/snow/heavy snow
Here’s the complete guide to roundabouts. It’s from the Netherlands, who have refined mobility networks:
Step 2: increase friction to drivers trying to cut through Golden #
Here’s how google maps “views” the primary roads through some of Golden:
And here’s Ford, which you can see very clearly is also many other big roads:
Step 4: Fix the average throughput problem on rt 6 #
- Block off Washington over the bridge and through downtown, completely. (please see below “after” )
That’s it!
Golden before:
Golden after:
The green line would be made easy for cars to move along.
The yellow lines would indicate where “people first” road design would be used, ultimately, though it’ll take a variety of treatments to get it all safe/pleasant/usable in all conditions, but at minimum all intersections would be roundabouts.
It’s not that big of a change, to the cars. This won’t fix all the bad traffic, but it will help.
Critically, if you can naturally keep cars (and other vehicles) moving in a close-to-free-flow way, now you can loop streetcars back into the picture, because they can keep up with traffic and such
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