TRAFFIC SLOWING TECHNIQUES

Fast moving cars along shared roads create concern for many park-goers, especially those traveling around the parkways with small children. While some people may drive quickly to arrive at a specific destination within the park, others use the park as a cut-through between Brockton and Avon.

What kinds of design elements and planning efforts might help slow down drivers and increase feelings of comfort and safety for people walking and rolling around the park?

Narrow Roads

According to the Global Street Design Guide, people drive more slowly along narrower roads (Global Designing Cities Initiative). Reducing car lanes from 12 to 11’ maximum width might help slow down drivers within the park.

Considerations: Road width saved from cars could be allocated for separate pedestrian, bike, and shared pathways, as well as green infrastructure facilities like bioswales.

Gateway Treatments

Adding features that indicate drivers are entering a space with pedestrians, especially children, might help decrease speed around D.W. Park destinations. These designs could include speed tables, signs, and raised crosswalks.

CHANGES IN ROAD TEXTURES/MATERIALS

Grooves in asphalt, such as rumble strips, can get drivers’ attention. Interrupting a long stretch of pavement with stones, bricks, or a painted pattern can also indicate it’s time for drivers to pay attention.

Considerations: Some surfaces can be more challenging to traverse for bikes, strollers, and wheelchairs.

Promoting Public Transportation

Promoting alternative modes of transit could help decrease some of the car traffic within D.W. Field Park. There are currently several bus stops near the Oak Street entrance. Expanding additional lines, or considering setting up shuttle services between an off site parking lot and the park might also help increase transit use.

CAR-FREE HOURS/DAYS

Currently, cars are not able to enter the middle section of the park until 10am during the week and noon on the weekends. Extending these hours, or having a regularly scheduled car-free day on a weekly or monthly basis could be a low cost solution to increasing pedestrian and bicycle use within the park for those who do not wish to share the road.

Parking Lot Partnerships

For large events like Tower Fest, the Park Association arranges overflow parking at a nearby church lot and offers a shuttle. Exploring partnerships with surrounding community organizations and businesses who have parking lots but different peak hours than D.W. Field Park could be a strategy to expand parking capacity for the park without increasing impervious coverage in the area.

Speed Humps And Speed Tables

Speed humps are raised mounds that are generally shorter in height and longer than traditional speed bumps. Cars can drive over these features at a maximum speed of 20mph; the speed limit within D.W. Field Park. Boston recently launched an initiative to add 1,500 speed humps throughout the city by 2026 to reduce traffic-related fatalities. Adding speed humps and speed tables, which are similarly shaped features except with a flat top, throughout the park could help keep drivers at or below the speed limit, particularly around destinations with lots of pedestrian use.

Considerations: The D.W. Park roads are plowed during the winter and plows must be able to pass over these types of features. Additionally, some concerns have been raised about speed increasing between speed humps/tables if not paired with additional slowing measures. An upcoming road conditions and safety study may help investigate and evaluate this risk further.

Reccommended spacing to maintain speeds under 25-35 mph is less than 500’ between speed humps