Henry, Mac, Taylor, Sam
Traffic Flow:
For almost half of the walk, we were on Norwich, which is a one way street. This helps to direct traffic off of High Street, which is much busier. For the area, this street is relatively quiet. There is parking on both sides since it is a one way street, but it is only one lane of traffic. More than one lane of traffic is not needed here because the street is so quiet. There were not a lot of traffic signs in terms of speed limit markings along the route. Overall, we only counted 2. In Ohio, streets that are unmarked and within a municipality usually have a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. This seems to be a little high given that this is an area close to campus where a lot of students walk to and from class. The drivers we noticed appeared to be driving at a safe speed but again, there were few cars that passed us on this relatively quiet street. Having a lower speed limit or including more speed limit signs could be beneficial to this area. Not all drivers understand what speed they should be going or sometimes don’t notice how fast they are going if they don’t have a speed limit sign to base their speed off of. Other than that this road works well as a single lane, one way street. There is not enough traffic to recommend changing it to a two way street or even a two-lane one way street.
Sidewalks:
Photo #1: Campus sidewalks Photo #2: W Norwich
Photo #3: Gap Photo #4: Slope
Photo #5: Uneven Photo #6: High Street
Throughout our walk, the sidewalks drastically changed in both feel and condition. On campus, for instance, the sidewalks are very wide and many extend to the curb (photo 1). The sidewalks on campus are also well maintained with no evident cracks or gaps. These sidewalks make it feel like pedestrians are a main priority in the area, which makes sense given the volume of students at the university that use walking as their main form of transportation. As we turned on to W Norwich the sidewalks got narrower (approximately three feet across), barely fitting two people (photo 2). The sidewalks in the residential areas of our walk were also in poor condition. On Norwich the sidewalks have large cracks, gaps, and are uneven in places (photos 3, 4, and 5). The gaps and uneven sidewalks are hazardous for pedestrians, skateboarders, and bikes especially in dark and icy conditions. There are a variety of options for improving sidewalks on this portion of the walk. One option would be to remove the damaged blocks and repour the concrete, which would be fairly expensive. A cheaper alternative could be to fill in the cracks and shave down some of the concrete to make it more level and prevent potential pedestrian injury.
Street Width:
Street width can be a determining factor in the overall feel of a neighborhood. With each aspect discussed, the width of the streets in question play a deciding role. Traffic flow can be over or under controlled, sidewalks can be allowed space to breathe and can require varying amounts of maintenance, and safety and accessibility for pedestrians can vary, all to some extent through the width of the street involved. Beginning with our walk up Tuttle Park Place we were struck by the width of the street being much more than the traffic required. The road likely sees little pedestrian traffic crossing it because of its proximity to the edge of campus. Tuttle Park Place may see more foot traffic during sporting events, but the width of the road plays a small roll because of the expectation that the road will be closed for these events. Along our section of Neil Avenue the width of the road is serving the service needs of campus buildings and needs little to no adjustment. Moving into the neighborhood north of Campus, Norwich is (as previously stated) a one way which allows the street’s width to be focused on street parking for the mainly student population. Norwich seems wide enough for the traffic it handles (photo 2); the one way nature of the avenue creates the atmosphere of a residential neighborhood. Turning onto High Street the roadway widens dramatically (photo 6) because High Street serves as one of the two major thoroughfares for Columbus. Although High Street is frequently congested widening it would probably do more harm than good because of the university and businesses immediately flanking it. Overall the street widths on our walk served the purposes they were meant for.
Street Safety:
The campus area had very reasonable street safety. There were ample opportunities to cross the street, although many people still jaywalked and created a potentially dangerous environment. The usual crossing time was 10-15 seconds, which is generally enough but could be tight for slower walkers or large groups. Around campus, the sidewalk was usually very well maintained and had only minor cracks that were not overly dangerous. The sidewalks were large enough to accommodate several people and allow people space to walk around any potential hazards. Off campus, the safety was much more varied. While many areas were fine, there were some obviously unsafe areas. The sidewalks felt much narrower, making it difficult to navigate and avoid collisions, as well as forcing people to walk on the street or through hazards. In some sections, especially at a parking lot near Lane, the sidewalk seemed to blend into the surrounding area. Large areas of the sidewalk would be cracked or uneven, creating a serious tripping hazard. On one section of Norwich, it appeared that several sidewalk tiles were missing and slanted, creating a serious hazard. While we felt that campus would quickly deal with any accumulated snow or ice, we did not feel the same about off campus areas. There was still some snow left over from the weekend, and it is easy to imagine the sidewalks getting icy and slick. There were also few opportunities to cross the street. While there was not much traffic when we went, this could pose a serious issue during more congested periods. Creating more visible crossing areas, clearing and maintaining the sidewalks, and trying to clearly label and expand pedestrian areas would greatly improve the safety of the off campus area.
Accessibility:
The campus area walk signs provides audible walk cues, a great asset to the vision impaired. Expanding this to the surrounding area would be a big step in increasing accessibility. Almost all curbs we encountered had ramps, although some seemed steep or poorly maintained. Some of the poor maintenance discussed in the safety section is especially dangerous for people with disabilities. The uneven sidewalks could be a major obstacle for people in wheelchairs, as well as the vision impaired who may not be able to detect the uneven ground. We also felt that many of the sidewalks were too narrow for wheelchairs or walkers, especially if people are walking in both directions. This makes it difficult for wheelchair users to navigate, and possibly contributing to feelings that they are being a burden or holding people back by blocking the flow of traffic. This is less noticeable on the wide campus sidewalks, and expanding the off campus sidewalks as much as possible would be a major improvement.