The general traffic flow around campus is good. Most roads that are close to where a lot of students would walk directly around campus are one lane, two way streets. Woodruff has a lot of areas to cross making it quite safe for students, but it maintains traffic flow by allowing many cars to go once the light turns green. Usually there is not a buildup of cars at all after the light is green, everyone gets their chance. The one thing that stops drivers are the campus buses as they dont have a separate pull in area on some streets, backing traffic up. Drivers seem to follow all traffic laws and are extra careful knowing the number of students around. If there was something to improve, it would definitely have to be adding some extra spaces for the buses to pull into their stops. That way, normal traffic flow can still be maintained, and students can safely use their campus transportation. While it wouldn’t be ideal for more construction in an area used as often as this, using the extra wide portion of sidewalk before the light and some of the grass area before that and turning it into more road for a bus to pull aside could be a nice addition to campus increasing traffic flow. It is not necessary as the area is already quite good, but something to keep in mind if improvements are ever to be made.

The sidewalks on Tuttle Park Pl. are in good condition, and are a good width to allow more than one person walking each way to fit. The larger width allows for increased pedestrian traffic and feels much more comfortable in comparison to the narrow sidewalks of the surrounding area, such as the sidewalks on Norwich Ave. pictured below.

In addition to being much wider, the sidewalks on Tuttle Park Pl. and Woodruff Ave. are in much better condition with few large gaps. The sidewalks on Norwich Ave. and many of the surrounding areas are in poor condition with many gaps, and large cracks that can be potentially dangerous. Continuing the walk from Norwich Ave. to High St. the sidewalk conditions improve, but could still use work. The sidewalks are chipped, cracked, and although the conditions are better than on Norwich Ave. they could be improved. The Ohio State University side of High St. has much wider sidewalks, and the sidewalks are in better condition than the non-OSU side of High St. continuing down Woodruff Ave. from High St. the sidewalks are wide to accommodate the high levels of pedestrian traffic and are kept in good condition.

The street safety on Tuttle Park Pl. is adequate with ramps for increased accessibility, and large crosswalks. The crosswalk timing is properly timed, due to the lower pedestrian traffic in this area of campus. On Norwich Ave. there are very few crosswalks and designated areas to cross the street. There are crosswalks at either end of the street at the corner of Lane Ave. and Norwich Ave. and at the corner of High St. and Norwich Ave. but these are the only crosswalks available to pedestrians. To improve safety, adding an additional crosswalk towards the middle of the street may improve safety, because it can be hard to see crossing pedestrians at night due to the lack of crosswalks. The Norwich Ave. crosswalks could also be improved by adding the white lines on the street that indicate a crosswalk, and by possibly adding a light that indicates that pedestrians are attempting to cross. 

Streets around campus are generally only one lane each way, but high street does extend that at some points to make traffic flow easier for when cars need to slow down to turn. This also makes it easier for pedestrians to know what cars are about to do and where they are trying to go. Then pedestrians can use the many different cross walk areas at the proper time. The street safety down High St. is generally good, with many places for pedestrians to cross although many of the crosswalks could be improved by adding a crosswalk light to indicate pedestrians are crossing. It would be a nice addition and keep students safe when they go out at night, even though there are already a lot of good crossing options overall.

In terms of accessibility for those with disabilities, there are quite a few ramps, and the on campus crossing areas are all leveled and ramped to the street so that anyone in a wheelchair or using crutches doesn’t have to struggle or overexert themselves to just to get around. Even the buildings for campus have ramp entrances meaning that anyone can access them. Admittedly, it would be hard to accommodate for everyone and everything for disabilities, but campus and the surrounding area do it pretty well. The best way to improve their current situation would just be to make the crossways safer for everyone as already described.

Brendan Barry, Hayden Murphy, Garrison Glover, Sean Deeter

CRPLAN BLOG 3

Team Reimagined

Garrison, Brendan, Hayden and Sean

Some of the problems in which we discovered and discussed amongst our group was that there’s no bike lanes, the cross-walk signs are outdated, the sidewalks/streets are filled with trash, no place to take a break and sit, the Dunkin Donuts sign looks outdated and out of place, and the layout of the Dunkin Donuts, Joy Village, etc. is very awkward and doesn’t fit the location. The first solution we came up with was introducing a bike lane separated from the regular lane. Next we decided that the cross-walk signs could be updated by adding flashing lights to indicate people are crossing the street. The excessive trash problem would be resolved mostly by adding more trash/recycle cans along both sides of the street. Also, with nowhere to take a break and sit we planned on adding benches and different sorts of seating along both sides of the street. The last two problems can be resolved by changing the layout and updating the part of the block where Dunkin Donuts, Joy Village, etc. is located.

One of the largest issues that affects the High Street corridor between Lane Avenue and Woodruff Avenue is the lack of a dedicated bicycle lane. The addition of a dedicated bike lane on both the north and south bound sides of High Street would allow for better circulation of traffic, and would be a safer alternative than the current sharing of lanes. An example of a properly implemented dedicated bicycle lanes in Columbus, are the bike lanes on 4th Street and Summit Street pictured below. A proposed sketch of the bike lane is shown below (The bike lanes are shaded in white and yellow dotted lines).

Fourth Street bike lane shown on the right.

Another problem that could be addressed is the crosswalks located along High Street. In my experience as a pedestrian, it can be difficult to cross High Street using the crosswalks, especially when it becomes dark due to the low visibility. As a driver, I’ve found it difficult to see pedestrians waiting to cross the street, and a very simple and cost effective solution would be to add flashing lights to the crosswalk sign, that pedestrians could activate by pressing a button. This would make drivers aware that people are preparing to cross. This would make it safer for both oncoming drivers, and pedestrians crossing the street. 

Current crosswalk signage on High Street.

(The sketch above; the street light up close is surrounded by alert lights to tell the driver that students are on the walkways)

Implementing one of these two plans would be rather costly. Adding in a dedicated bike lane would benefit the hundreds of students who ride their bikes down High Street, and between Lane Avenue and Woodruff Avenue, however the cost of modifying the roads and sidewalks would be a concern not counting in the wave of traffic that would occur during construction. For this to happen, planners would have to interact with students who use a bike, scooter, skateboard, to get around on the sidewalks, and others who are in support of the proposal. If there’s enough support, the planners who then collect enough funds to open way for construction. The flashlight crosswalk plan would be a very effective strategy, since many more people use the crosswalks to cross roads around campus or off campus. This would bring in tons of support from typical OSU students and other regular pedestrians, and could easily bring in funds for the project. It would also be very cost effective, as you wouldn’t need to shut down significant parts of High Street to install the lights onto the crosswalk signs.

OUTLINE

•         Add bike lane to improve bicycle safety. Heavy traffic on High St. makes it unsafe for people on bikes.
•         Improve crosswalk signs by adding flashing lights to indicate people are crossing the street.
•         Add more trash cans and recycling bins on the OSU side of High St.
•         Add benches or seating options to both sides of the street.
•         Fix sign for Dunkin Donuts, Joy Village, etc.
•         Fix sidewalk cracks and breaks.
•         Wheelchair access/ramps from the front of the building to Dunkin Donuts, Joy Village, etc. and change layout/remodel.

Members: Sean Deeter, Garrison Glover, and Hayden Murphy