East
York Traffic Calming
Springettsbury
Township contracted with FCE and TRG to help them with the excessive
speed that vehicles were traveling along the Township streets in the
East York neighborhood. The existing Eastern Boulevard was a wide open
local street. This street was much wider than what was required to efficiently
move traffic and created the appearance of a multi-lane highway instead
of a residential street.
The
solution was to create a boulevard effect by placing landscaped islands
in between the islands to reduce the overall width of the street. The
pavement would be wide enough to allow for a bicycle pathway to be located
along the edge of the cartway. In addition to the islands small traffic
circles were located at the intersections of several key streets. The
intersections were also narrowed by brick paver islands that encourage
pedestrian crossing areas. These narrow areas force the traffic to slow
down and thus provide the desired effect to improve public safety.
Another
area of study for the project was a very undefined and dangerous intersection
with an arterial highway. A wide island and limited access to Eastern
Boulevard were part of the solution to this public safety hazard.