Sneckdown

A sneckdown[1] or snowy neckdown[2] is effectively a curb extension caused by snowfall. A natural form of traffic calming, sneckdowns show where a street can potentially be narrowed to slow motor vehicle speeds and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. Coined by Streetsblog founder Aaron Naparstek,[3] popularized by Streetfilms director Clarence Eckerson, Jr. and spread widely via social media,[4] the term first appeared on Twitter on January 2, 2014 at 11:19pm EST.[5] Other Twitter hashtags that have been used to describe snow-based traffic-calming measures include #plowza, #slushdown, #snovered and #snowspace.

Sneckdown on a T-intersection in Sofia

Benefits
  • Shortens pedestrian crossing time
  • Highlights unused road space
  • Calms vehicle traffic
  • Allows planners and road engineers to clearly see possible modifications to road structures
  • Encourages slower vehicle speeds, increasing safety for all road users, including pedestrians
  • Reduce asphalt surfaces, increase plant surfaces, improve the absorption of rainwater by the soil, reduce runoff and floods

Drawbacks
  • Narrowing road also reduces time for driver to react when pedestrian steps on the road
  • Large vehicles are wider than their tracks on snow, so pedestrian can be hit by vehicle mirrors, corners or outstanding parts of the vehicle body/trailer
  • In case of a traffic collision narrow road is blocked
  • On narrow road there is no way to yield to emergency vehicles as required by the rules

Examples

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Baltimore and 48th Street: A sneckdown inspired permanent upgrades to the pedestrian environment at this intersection in 2011.[6]

In the 1980s, some planners in Australia distributed cake flour in intersections to observe patterns of vehicle movement hours later.[7]

gollark: ```javascriptimport m = require("mithril")import * as RPCTypes from "../common/rpc"export const sendMessage = (msg: RPCTypes.Message): Promise<RPCTypes.MessageResponse> => { return m.request( { method: "POST", url: "./rpc/", body: msg, }).then(res => { const [ type, p1, p2 ] = res if (type === "error") { throw new RPCTypes.RPCError(p2, p1) } else if (type === "ok") { return p1 } else { throw new Error("Invalid RPC response") } })}const handler = { get: (target, prop) => (...args) => sendMessage([prop, ...args])}export const serverProxy = new Proxy({}, handler)```
gollark: The RPC thing and some JS hax on the client mean I can basically just call any function the server provides as if it's a local one (except asynchronously).
gollark: minoteaur is just plain RPC - you do `POST /rpc` with a function and its arguments as JSON.
gollark: You're forced to try and map the data/functions your thing provides onto a structure which may not really fit them well.
gollark: To be honest I find REST kind of an uncool way to design APIs.

References
  1. "Streetfilms - Street Lessons from a Blizzard (with sneckdown!)".
  2. "Streetfilms - Snowy Neckdowns Redux: Winter Traffic Calming (Now: #sneckdown)".
  3. "Natural traffic control". The Economist. 13 February 2014.
  4. "Streetfilms - The Complete Origin of the #Sneckdown".
  5. "Aaron Naparstek". Twitter.
  6. "Can Snow Inspire Better Streets? It Already Has". Streetsblog USA.
  7. "Facebook".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.