On Wednesday evening (March 21st) representatives from West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads met with DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy and Mr. Joseph Menzer from the design firm The RBA Group to discuss the issue of parking as it pertains to the "shared space" street design for those streets.
The issue of parking has arisen as a result of three (3) separate factors:
1. The existent narrow width of our streets,
2. Federal Regulations, specifically the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
When initially proposed by DOT and The RBA Group, the "shared space" street design concept or "woonerf" was described to us as a residential street design having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, where pedestrian and traffic mingle, removing the traditional segregation of motor vehicles, pedestrians and other road users. Conventional road priority management systems and devices such as curbs, lines, sidewalks, signs and signals are replaced with an integrated, people-oriented understanding of public space, such that walking, cycling, shopping and driving cars become integrated activities.
Unfortunately, our pervasive risk-management climate, as well as federal accessibility guidelines, stymied efforts to incorporate all the elements associated with the shared-space model.
The first challenge to arise with this project was the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]. You cannot build a true woonerf given the criteria of the federal government on safety and accessibility.
Thus, ADA regulations requiring separation between car-free and car-accessible zones required a major concession: a dedicated disabled pedestrian pathway for each street with tactile warning strips (the initial design called for bollards but was changed at the request of the community) for the visually impaired had to be added. Although this runs absolutely contrary to the true "woonerf" shared space concept of having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, federal regulations require it.
The inclusion of this dedicated pedestrian pathway reduced the already constrained street space available for the planned "shared space" street.
Consequently, yet another problem arose in that the total width of the proposed “Shared Space” street, minus that footage allocated for the A.D.A. required walkway on the north side of W12th Road as well as that footage to be used for parking, utility poles, fire hydrants and resident access on the south side of the street would not leave sufficient footage for unimpeded two way vehicle traffic on the street according to regulations set forth by the American Association of State Highway and
The issue of parking has arisen as a result of three (3) separate factors:
1. The existent narrow width of our streets,
2. Federal Regulations, specifically the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
and,
3. Regulations set by the American Association of State Highway and
3. Regulations set by the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
When initially proposed by DOT and The RBA Group, the "shared space" street design concept or "woonerf" was described to us as a residential street design having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, where pedestrian and traffic mingle, removing the traditional segregation of motor vehicles, pedestrians and other road users. Conventional road priority management systems and devices such as curbs, lines, sidewalks, signs and signals are replaced with an integrated, people-oriented understanding of public space, such that walking, cycling, shopping and driving cars become integrated activities.
Unfortunately, our pervasive risk-management climate, as well as federal accessibility guidelines, stymied efforts to incorporate all the elements associated with the shared-space model.
The first challenge to arise with this project was the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]. You cannot build a true woonerf given the criteria of the federal government on safety and accessibility.
Thus, ADA regulations requiring separation between car-free and car-accessible zones required a major concession: a dedicated disabled pedestrian pathway for each street with tactile warning strips (the initial design called for bollards but was changed at the request of the community) for the visually impaired had to be added. Although this runs absolutely contrary to the true "woonerf" shared space concept of having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, federal regulations require it.
The inclusion of this dedicated pedestrian pathway reduced the already constrained street space available for the planned "shared space" street.
Consequently, yet another problem arose in that the total width of the proposed “Shared Space” street, minus that footage allocated for the A.D.A. required walkway on the north side of W12th Road as well as that footage to be used for parking, utility poles, fire hydrants and resident access on the south side of the street would not leave sufficient footage for unimpeded two way vehicle traffic on the street according to regulations set forth by the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
AASHTO is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols and guidelines which are used in highway design and construction throughout the United States. Despite its name, the association represents not only highways but air, rail, water, and public transportation as well.
While AASHTO is not a government body, it does possess quasi-governmental powers in the sense that the organizations that supply its members customarily obey most AASHTO decisions.
Unfortunately, pursuant to AASHTO regulations, the remaining shared street space on W12th Road is not sufficient to allow for two-way traffic, cars travelling on and off the block and, in order to allow city engineers to sign off on this plan, it was initially thought that a regulation allowing parking on only one side of the street would have to be enforced. If that were to take place, West 12th Road would lose half of our presently available parking spaces and that was deemed unacceptable.
In time DOT presented us with an option which would allow for parking on both sides of the street by creating passing spaces on both sides of our street. This would be accomplished by "mirroring" the existent 30 foot "no parking" area adjacent to each of our street fire hydrants (15 feet on both sides of the hydrant) on the opposite side of the street. This option was presented to us again last evening.
Quite frankly, this option and its accompanying loss of parking spaces on the street opposite a fire hydrant makes no sense as the existing 30 foot "no parking" areas encompassing each fire hydrant provides sufficient and ample "passing space" for vehicles coming upon each other entering or leaving the block.
Yet another problem arose when it was revealed last evening that we may lose even additional parking spaces on both the north and south sides of the street at the entrance to our block when it is reconfigured to allow for sufficient space for traffic entering/exiting the shared space street. It was suggested that when the fire hydrants are moved to the south side of the street, placement of one 15 feet from the top of the block would provide 30 feet of "no parking" which would prove sufficient for this purpose.
We are keenly aware that by now many of you are becoming frustrated with this issue but please keep in mind that it is not unusual for problems to arise when you are working towards a goal and encounter obstacles along the way, especially when dealing with a municipal bureaucracy.
When West 12th Road set out in this endeavor back in April of 2010, we were looking to achieve three goals:
1. A marked reduction in the severe tidal flooding being experienced by our block.
2. No, or very minimal, loss of presently available parking, and,
3. An aesthetically pleasing street appearance when work is completed.
It is only issue #2 above that appears to be problematic at this time. Commissioner McCarthy stated that she would raise these parking issues with the appropriate city agencies and staff in an effort to resolve them and report back to us as soon as possible.
Hopefully, if Commissioner McCarthy is successful in attaining a palatable resolution to this
problem this project can then quickly move forward.
If, however, untenable parking losses still continue to be a factor in this matter, in addition to continuing to intensively interact with DOT and the city, we may also have to call upon our elected representatives to step in in order to assist us in resolving this issue.
We will keep you advised.
Unfortunately, pursuant to AASHTO regulations, the remaining shared street space on W12th Road is not sufficient to allow for two-way traffic, cars travelling on and off the block and, in order to allow city engineers to sign off on this plan, it was initially thought that a regulation allowing parking on only one side of the street would have to be enforced. If that were to take place, West 12th Road would lose half of our presently available parking spaces and that was deemed unacceptable.
In time DOT presented us with an option which would allow for parking on both sides of the street by creating passing spaces on both sides of our street. This would be accomplished by "mirroring" the existent 30 foot "no parking" area adjacent to each of our street fire hydrants (15 feet on both sides of the hydrant) on the opposite side of the street. This option was presented to us again last evening.
Quite frankly, this option and its accompanying loss of parking spaces on the street opposite a fire hydrant makes no sense as the existing 30 foot "no parking" areas encompassing each fire hydrant provides sufficient and ample "passing space" for vehicles coming upon each other entering or leaving the block.
Yet another problem arose when it was revealed last evening that we may lose even additional parking spaces on both the north and south sides of the street at the entrance to our block when it is reconfigured to allow for sufficient space for traffic entering/exiting the shared space street. It was suggested that when the fire hydrants are moved to the south side of the street, placement of one 15 feet from the top of the block would provide 30 feet of "no parking" which would prove sufficient for this purpose.
We are keenly aware that by now many of you are becoming frustrated with this issue but please keep in mind that it is not unusual for problems to arise when you are working towards a goal and encounter obstacles along the way, especially when dealing with a municipal bureaucracy.
When West 12th Road set out in this endeavor back in April of 2010, we were looking to achieve three goals:
1. A marked reduction in the severe tidal flooding being experienced by our block.
2. No, or very minimal, loss of presently available parking, and,
3. An aesthetically pleasing street appearance when work is completed.
It is only issue #2 above that appears to be problematic at this time. Commissioner McCarthy stated that she would raise these parking issues with the appropriate city agencies and staff in an effort to resolve them and report back to us as soon as possible.
Hopefully, if Commissioner McCarthy is successful in attaining a palatable resolution to this
problem this project can then quickly move forward.
If, however, untenable parking losses still continue to be a factor in this matter, in addition to continuing to intensively interact with DOT and the city, we may also have to call upon our elected representatives to step in in order to assist us in resolving this issue.
We will keep you advised.
I don't know if reducing parking is part of a broader push to get more people onto public transportation. I also don't know if anyone has considered that we own cars not as luxury but out of basic need: so we can travel to work, run daily errands, and medical visits because we live at the end of the longest subway line in the city, the A train. If you need to get to midtown, as many of us do, it meanders through Southern and Northern Queens, Eastern and Downtown Brooklyn, Downtown and finally Midtown Manhattan. Express bus service is limited to three per weekday morning with the last one leaving at approximately 8:15 a.m. These are inadequate choices and force Broad Channel residents to own a vehicle for each adult in a family or suffer hardship and risk, because we are forced to function as if we live in a more rural area, even though we are in South Western Queens. Let us also not forget that the A train was stuck for more than 10 hours during the blizzard of December 2010, with passengers on board, which puts its reliability further into question, not to mention its regular lack of frequency. It is particularly vulnerable to the elements with a significant portion of the tracks that travel through Jamaica Bay; I don't think there is any other line that is so close to salt water. This too should be discussed when our community's needs are hashed through, unless there is a public transportation over-haul capital project set to liberate us in the immediate future.
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