[NFBV-Alexandria] FW: Chapter participation needed to win the battle for more pedestrian friendly streets in Alexandria

[Brian Miller]

Good afternoon,

Please see Bob Hart's urgent email below that requires quick action if you
have not acted already.

Brian Miller

President

Alexandria, NFB

 

 

From: Robert Hartt <bobmhartt at gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2019 3:49 PM
To: brianrmiller88 at gmail.com
Subject: Chapter participation needed to win the battle for more pedestrian
friendly streets in Alexandria

 

Brian, your help in forwarding to all chapter members would be appreciated:

As the city finalizes plans to repave a section of a key arterial road
through Alexandria's Seminary Road neighborhood (a little under a mile
between Quaker Lane and Howard Street), there is a fierce battle going on
between those who want only minimal to no changes and those who are
advocating for safer, more pedestrian  friendly streets that follow what is
known as a "road diet".  For those who want more detail, at the end of my
email is a link to a brief Federal Highway Administration video explaining
the road diet approach with good narration, as well as a link to the city
web site with exhaustive analysis and background information on three
options for the Seminary Road project.

The bottom line:  Before the city survey on this project closes in less than
a week, on Wednesday, April 10,  take the city survey and vote for Option 3,
the road diet approach I strongly recommend as the safest approach for both
motorists and pedestrians.  The city says it will give important weight to
feedback from Alexandrians and those who travel Seminary Road.  If we don't
participate in this survey, the vocal minority who want to continue the
status quo of a dangerous four lane road with minimal attention to safety
will win the battle to influence the final decision by the Traffic and
Parking Board and City Council.  For those who say I don't live or travel
much along this portion of Seminary Road and have other priorities for use
of my valuable time, please consider that the selection of Option 3 for this
project will help set a standard for what the city does closer to your
neighborhood when it comes time to repave and make the streets safer for
your daily activities, whether you are in a car or on foot.

Note that while the survey is technically accessible, it is not efficient to
complete quickly with speech software and took me at least 15 minutes to do
on my own, even with Aira support to double check my selections.  For every
little check box you have to listen to the entire question before you know
which selection you are on.  Thus, some sighted assistance to complete the
survey on your device  is recommended.  Another  option would be to call the
city transportation department reasonable accommodation person  during the
day for help completing the survey.  This can be done by calling
703-746-4084.

This is an opportunity for us to make a difference in building a more
livable community for all of us.  Your help in completing the survey would
be much appreciated.  On question 12, which asks you to rank your preference
for each of the three options, for Option 3, please type in the number 1,
which is the highest priority.  More background, including my suggestions
for answering other questions, are included further below.
<https://www.research.net/r/AlexandriaVA-SeminaryProject> To fill out the
online survey to provide feedback on the Alternatives, CLICK HERE.

Thank you,

Bob Hartt

What Is a Road Diet?

Link to Federal Highway Administrationvideo:

https://vimeo.com/176522659/7c0d3d1174

City Web Site with Full Background and Analysis:

https://www.alexandriava.gov/tes/info/default.aspx?id=103393

Suggested responses for some of the survey questions

consider rating the following as extremely important, which is number 5 on a
scale of 1 to 5:

Question #9,  "Important factors":  

5 for Provide left-turn lanes.  This prevents a car from backing up traffic
when stopping to turn left.

5 for Reduce illegal speeding.

5 for Provide safer crossings.

5 for Provide greater separation between people driving and people walking.

Also on Question #9 "Important factors"  consider rating the following with
a lower priority, such as 1 or 2:

1 or 2 for Maximizing vehicle throughput.  Because a road design to maximize
throughput primarily for vehicles encourages higher vehicle speed and
congestion at the expense of pedestrian safety.

For Question #10, Most important improvements, consider choosing Pedestrian
Refuge Islands, Left Turn lanes and Reduce traffic speeds among your top 3
choices.

For Question 12, asking you to  Rank Alternatives, under Alternative 3,
which is the road diet I recommend,  type in a #1 to indicate this is your
first choice.   For Alternative 1, which keeps all four lanes of traffic,
type in #3, to make it your third choice.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-alexandria_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190406/abade224/attachment.html>