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Closing streets in #NewtonMA to vehicles (with exception for local traffic).
1. Start with Lake Ave. and any other street that is a similar draw to pedestrians. I was on Lake Ave. this morning. Tons of people. Need to be in the middle of the street to social distance.
1. Start with Lake Ave. and any other street that is a similar draw to pedestrians. I was on Lake Ave. this morning. Tons of people. Need to be in the middle of the street to social distance.
1. Lake Ave (cont.) There was one car that drove by at just faster than walking pace and drove around people rather than make people drive around them. Others went by at 20 or more, making people get out of the way and, more importantly, squeezing them closer to others.
1. Lake Ave (cont.). Streets like these need to be clearly marked as primarily pedestrian zones. It was 45º out this morning and already getting crowded. As the days get warmer, it& #39;s only going to get more crowded. Destination streets like Lake Ave. need robust intervention.
1. Lake Ave (cont.) By robust intervention, we need sawhorses at every entry point and probably some sawhorses mid-block. To make clear that, during this period of social distancing, pedestrians are the primary users of the entire right-of-way.
2. There are some streets that are so local that they don& #39;t required intervention to make it safe to walk down the middle of the street.
3. For the rest of the streets, why isn& #39;t the analysis: let& #39;s just shut (to cars, except local traffic) every last one that we can without too much disruption to the grid. Which, in #newtonma, all but arterials and some collectors.
3. Yes, that will be a benefit to folks who don& #39;t live on arterials and collectors, as the modest amount of car traffic gets directed to open streets.
3. And, yes, as long as the arterials and collectors connect destinations, shutting off everything else won& #39;t solve the problem of how to have safe social distancing along the narrow sidewalks on arterials and collectors.
3. But, shutting all the non-arterials and collectors won& #39;t *not* solve the problem of moving between destinations safely. And, the closed streets can become destinations in their own right.
4. We do need more space for people on foot or on bikes along roads we can& #39;t close. So, lower speed limits. Throw up some temporary traffic calming.
4. So, simple plan. A. Immediately, decisively intervene on already foot-trafficed streets, like Lake Ave. B. Close all streets that are not essential for through traffic. C. Figure out how to make more space along roads that can& #39;t be closed.
And, reduce speed limits.
And, reduce speed limits.
