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Green Lake curb bulb project approved

What do you think? (3 Comments) January 3, 2010 at 6:39PM

Thanks to Pennie of Sustainable Green Lake for passing along this exciting news about the Green Lake curb bulb:

…the 76th Street Curb Bulb project (near GL PCC) has been officially approved for funding by the City Council and Mayor’s office!! More details will follow. Way to go, Karl!!

Word at the July Green Lake Community Council meeting was pretty grim, so this news is quite unexpected. What to learn more about curb bulbs? Learn more from Seattle DOT.

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What do you think? (3 Comments)
  • http://www.InklingBooks.com/ MIke Perry

    Your article misses an important point. Curb bulb's are part of the traffic “quieting” agenda. The brief amount of time theses curb bulbs save an occasional pedestrian isn't the reason they're being installed. Read further down the Seattle DOT link you give and you'll find this:

    “Preliminary data suggests that curb bulbs may serve to reduce vehicle speeds by narrowing the roadway. “

    That's the basic objective of traffic quieting, choke up and slow down traffic so, the proponents claim, more people are driven to use mass transit. Curb bulbs do that by narrowing the traffic lanes, blocking traffic and making right turns take longer. They leave drivers angry and drive vehicles off the now choked up main thoroughfares onto side streets, increasing traffic and traffic accidents there. Note especially the contrast between their concern for bicyclists and buses in comparison to their indifference toward drivers.

    Perhaps the most depressing aspect of “traffic quieting” is the bureaucratic elitism it represents. There's been virtually no public debate about the underlying issues. Those who're implementing it are quite aware of the burdens they're imposing on all the many people who need to drive to and from work, school and shopping, but assume that those burdens can be concealed behind words like “neighborhood improvement.” And unfortunately, they do discover people in communities who confuse change with improvement.

  • http://www.InklingBooks.com/ MIke Perry

    Your article misses an important point. Curb bulb's are part of the traffic “quieting” agenda. The brief amount of time theses curb bulbs save an occasional pedestrian isn't the reason they're being installed. Read further down the Seattle DOT link you give and you'll find this:

    “Preliminary data suggests that curb bulbs may serve to reduce vehicle speeds by narrowing the roadway. “

    That's the basic objective of traffic quieting, choke up and slow down traffic so, the proponents claim, more people are driven to use mass transit. Curb bulbs do that by narrowing the traffic lanes, blocking traffic and making right turns take longer. They leave drivers angry and drive vehicles off the now choked up main thoroughfares onto side streets, increasing traffic and traffic accidents there. Note especially the contrast between their concern for bicyclists and buses in comparison to their indifference toward drivers.

    Perhaps the most depressing aspect of “traffic quieting” is the bureaucratic elitism it represents. There's been virtually no public debate about the underlying issues. Those who're implementing it are quite aware of the burdens they're imposing on all the many people who need to drive to and from work, school and shopping, but assume that those burdens can be concealed behind words like “neighborhood improvement.” And unfortunately, they do discover people in communities who confuse change with improvement.