Cherry Street makeover

[AngieB]

I am finding that the slowdown of traffic has also made it easier to turn left onto 15th from the side-streets.

[TheTed]

So can this death be blamed on poor urban design, or just a bad driver?

The city's response is more lights. I'm not sure that will help that much. If people driving down Cherry Street on a busy Saturday night aren't already going slow and getting ready to stop, they're doing it wrong.

Family of woman killed in autoped accident calls for changes
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/hit-and-run-joann-carlson/XmKNonu5vEunTMmsIFbPTg.cspx?rss=2448

[patric]

The city's response is more lights. I'm not sure that will help that much. If people driving down Cherry Street on a busy Saturday night aren't already going slow and getting ready to stop, they're doing it wrong.

Street lights only really improve safety when they produce little or no glare.  Glare will keep you from seeing that kid or little old lady step out in front of you.
The solution isnt to add more glare, and yet that is exactly what some people end up proposing.  
How about shielding some of that glare instead?

That means no more in-your-face "acorn-style" lights that throw light horizontally at eye-level.   There are plenty of shielded choices that look just as nice in the daytime, but dont blind you at night.   Also, replace the opened-bottomed NEMA "farm lights" with low-glare, shielded "Full-Cutoff" fixtures that light the same amount of street for half the electricity (which, BTW, is a good way to pay them off).

Don't get me wrong; LED streetlights have great potential, but only if we get the color and optical performance right.   It's just that everything Im hearing from the Mayors and TPD's spokespeople is practically right out of the Phillips sales brochure, and not truly informed study.

Cherry Street could benefit from some serious traffic calming (and I dont mean speed bumps) that would be more effective than ruining the character and ambiance of the neighborhood with prison-yard lighting.


Stop using blinding junk like this:


And consider something like this:

[Teatownclown]

So can this death be blamed on poor urban design, or just a bad driver?

The city's response is more lights. I'm not sure that will help that much. If people driving down Cherry Street on a busy Saturday night aren't already going slow and getting ready to stop, they're doing it wrong.

Family of woman killed in autoped accident calls for changes
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/hit-and-run-joann-carlson/XmKNonu5vEunTMmsIFbPTg.cspx?rss=2448

There appear to be blind spots. I have come close twice going at 5 mph. Recognize the fact that signage lighting, street lighting, and oncoming traffic combine to cause glare and bad visual light. Blind spots have become increasingly an issue there ever since the new parking plan. They need to remove several spaces close to corners to make the line of sight more open to those crossing the street.

[AquaMan]

Cherry Street for a driver at night is a nightmare. The markings at the intersections have faded beyond visibility. People at Peoria and at Utica simply don't understand where the left turn lane is and where the right lane is. First improvement would to be repainting the lines for that half mile. Drivers stop without warning to make left turns which causes the drivers behind them to swerve into non-existant lanes. Drivers shooting the gap at Utica then stopping quickly to turn into the bakery are common.

Then, regardless of what lights are there, you cannot see the pedestrians from dusk to dark crossing the street. They are black silhouettes at best and as unpredictable as squirrels. In daytime the pedestrian can make eye contact with the driver and get feedback. That is impossible when the pedestrian (or driver) is drinking or pre-occupied with their group and the driver is stupidly driving fast anyway.

I try hard to avoid Cherry Street at night. I'm sure that was not the intention of the redesign. Repainting lines and improving lighting would be helpful.

[davideinstein]

I completely agree with the ideas of the family in that article. More visible crosswalks are a necessity.

[carltonplace]

People have to go 25MPH or less on this street...however when I go that slow and stop for opening car doors, people turning left or pedestrians trying to cross in the middle of the block I almost always get hit by the impatient driver behind me.

Riding a bike on Cherry Street is just plain scary now, in spite of the message intended by all of the new bike racks.

[patric]

People have to go 25MPH or less on this street...however when I go that slow and stop for opening car doors, people turning left or pedestrians trying to cross in the middle of the block

Seems to be a common theme, are crosswalks there irrelevant?

[kingsy]

I don't understand why there is not more of a police presence.  Living in Brookside, I was amazed by all the violations that I would see and the police would not pull people over.  It seems in other cities, people are aware of the traffic laws and will slow down in crosswalks, not speed in areas where there are pedestrians, etc. because they know they will be ticketed.  Better crosswalks are great, but if people will not follow the law if they do not have a fear of being ticketed.  I would love to see motorcycle officers in these areas just for a reminder to people driving.

[carltonplace]

I don't understand why there is not more of a police presence.  Living in Brookside, I was amazed by all the violations that I would see and the police would not pull people over.  It seems in other cities, people are aware of the traffic laws and will slow down in crosswalks, not speed in areas where there are pedestrians, etc. because they know they will be ticketed.  Better crosswalks are great, but if people will not follow the law if they do not have a fear of being ticketed.  I would love to see motorcycle officers in these areas just for a reminder to people driving.

Pedestrians are not using the cross-walks. They are running across in the middle of the block. I expect people to cross from Mi Cocina to White Owl and slow way down there. Makes sense to put the cross-walk where people are crossing (and not where you expect them to cross). Flashing 25MPH signs would also help.

[kingsy]

Which is a ticketable offense as well.

[Red Arrow]

Pedestrians are not using the cross-walks. They are running across in the middle of the block. I expect people to cross from Mi Cocina to White Owl and slow way down there. Makes sense to put the cross-walk where people are crossing (and not where you expect them to cross). Flashing 25MPH signs would also help.

Maybe real cobblestone streets would help.  (Not smooth go fast type surfaces.)

[carltonplace]

Maybe real cobblestone streets would help.  (Not smooth go fast type surfaces.)

Agreed

[DTowner]

Maybe real cobblestone streets would help.  (Not smooth go fast type surfaces.)

Please no - we need fewer streets built to crumble under Oklahoma weather extremes.  The brick cross-walks in Brookside lasted about 3 months before they needed work.  Police presence to enforec the rules would be much preferred.

[Red Arrow]

Please no - we need fewer streets built to crumble under Oklahoma weather extremes.  The brick cross-walks in Brookside lasted about 3 months before they needed work.  Police presence to enforec the rules would be much preferred.

I'm not talking about cheap **** bricks.  I am talking about real cobblestones like East Coast cities used for hundreds of years.