The first retail tenant at the Chevy Chase Lake development, Amazon Fresh, opened yesterday. Also making its debut is a trendy new urban design concept, a woonerf, or shared street. You'll notice the surface doesn't look like a road you should be driving on at first glance. Drivers are expected to share a woonerf with cyclists and pedestrians - thus, the 5 MPH speed limit. There are also benches along the woonerf for people to sit on.
9 comments:
I’m not sure I fully understand the idea of a woonerf. Even at 5 MPH, a car can easily kill a small child running to get an ice cream cone from a central greenspace. I doubt that many drivers will adhere to such a low speed. It seems that the blurring of the definition of vehicular space and pedestrian space will inevitably lead to tragedy. It seems to me that either you create safe car-free pedestrian places, or make sure pedestrians can easily understand where cars are possible.
At the woonerf at the DC Wharf, you often seen cars creeping through a large group of pedestrians.
So, this is going to be a lower-speed, 360-degree version of the recently-installed, and apparently largely-ignored (at least, around here), "pedestrian crossing" arrangements that this blog has already discussed?
I see this being closed off to vehicles with bollards right after the first child is run over, which is only a matter of time. What a monumentally stupid idea this is. Seriously.
Are there a lot of squashed kids at the DC Wharf, 7:17, or are drivers and juveniles able to sort themselves appropriately?
Several times this year alone, we have read about drivers jumping the curb and injuring or killing pedestrians. I just don’t understand the logic of purposefully mixing pedestrians and cars, and hope the drivers pay attention, and only drive 5 MPH. At Chevy Chase Lake, there is plenty of access at the perimeter for cars to get to underground parking. Why force many drivers through a pedestrian area to access only a few street parking spaces or drop someone off. Provide drop off spaces at the perimeter, and make sure underground parking has direct elevator and stair access to the pedestrian areas above, for those who might not be able to walk very far or use a wheelchair.
Give it a try, let it work out on its own. We overdue the separation of transportation uses in our culture. Letting them mix saves space.
"Even at 5 MPH, a car can easily kill a small child"
Well, no. And obviously the idea is you can, you know, press the brake and avoid contact entirely. This is not a revolutionary concept.
Cars only drive 5 MPH if you let them creep without your foot on the gas or brake. Many drivers don't realize or do that. Put a sign that says 5 MPH and I guarantee you that you'll have drivers doing 10-15 MPH. It's what happens. This is a disaster in the making and someone is going to get hurt.
" It seems that the blurring of the definition of vehicular space and pedestrian space will inevitably lead to tragedy"
It already has, my friend, many times in this County. just 10 days ago on River road, for example. False sense of security in bike and ped lanes cause deaths in this county all the time. Look at that stupid crosswalk at the very bottom of a steep incline on Viers Mill Rd. It took 3 deaths before the idiots in charge put up a stop light. Well, it was ONLY 3.
And look at that green lane on Old Georgetown Rd. inside the Beltway - another death there so what do they do - double down and now put up white plastic stakes - there - THAT will do it! You can run over those stakes easily with no damage to your car. For as smart as people think they are - this County is full of some dumb people.
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