A Simple Dirt Path

This is a well-worn path on Needham Avenue where the sidewalk is missing. 

Needham Avenue is an underdeveloped street; it hasn't been built to its full mapped width, and the sidewalks have not been built. The rocks and trees offer a more scenic quality where there would normally be paved spaces. The narrower street offers shorter crossing distances, and those same rocks and trees act to calm traffic. 

Of course, this path subjects people to an uneven surface. This is of little consequence for most pedestrians on a typical day, and the mud when it rains isn't even that large an issue. Snow is substantially worse. For people with disabilities, it poses a larger problem still, which could significantly limit their mobility.


This street functions well with its narrow width. It would be amazing to see it simply improved with adequate sidewalks while preserving the trees and rocks. To really make the most, just add a couple of nice little rain gardens or bioswales.


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Dashing through the Snow

Dashing through the snow, climbing icy hills, across the street we go, hoping we don't get killed...

This snow mound in the middle of the crosswalk creates a hazardous condition. It was downright terrifying with our stroller this afternoon!



The thing is, at this specific location, the problem is entirely avoidable. The pedestrian refuge area consists solely of markings; there is no raised concrete island (nor ADA tactile warning strips). The snow plow that cleared the vehicular lanes could have made equally quick work of the crosswalk and pedestrian refuge. The only minor challenge of any type is avoiding the small concrete base for the pedestrian signal light.

Beyond the matter of getting the snow plows to clear out this specific mess, it raises a possibility for the design of pedestrian refuges. Recently, designs have evolved into a cut-through to accommodate ADA, rather than a ramp-up/ramp-down combination. Looking at it during the winter is enough to wonder if it would be ideal to align the accessible pedestrian ramps and ensure they are suitably wide that a small plow could clear the whole thing. The largest challenge that presents itself is the tactile warning plates they way they are currently being installed at many temporary plaza locations. To avoid being stripped off by a plow, it would be critical to ensure they were inset instead of simply overlaid on the pavement.

"Sneckdowns"

@StreetsblogNYC pic.twitter.com/tpVZjqTk28

The #sneckdown tag has been trending on Twitter. The term is a clever combination of the words "snow" and "neckdown." The tag is used with photos of snow at intersections where it has not been cleared by vehicles, leaving areas that closely resemble neckdowns (see p. 74 of NYC DOT's Street Design Manual). As it is currently trending, these generally have an implicit or explicit claim of demonstrating that space is wasted by vehicles and could be used instead for traffic calming and pedestrian space.

I initially saw some discussions about "sneckdowns" last winter, with useful observations about how the snow piles were acting as temporary traffic calming. This winter, I noticed #sneckdown making the rounds at the first snowfall here in New York. Rather than discussing the temporary effects or snow plowing practices, the focus seemed to have shifted to claims that the areas that had not been cleared by vehicles should be converted into permanent neckdowns.

I found the original observations and discussions about snow plowing very useful. The observations about roadway space that wasn't actively used after the snowfall also initially struck me as something that might inspire a closer look at specific intersections. However, as the popularity of the #sneckdown tag grows and more people jump on the bandwagon with their own photos, I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable.