What can the ITE/CNU Guide for Walkable Streets do for Elgin? Lucy Gibson, P.E. Smart Mobility, Inc.
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What can the ITE/CNU Guide for Walkable Streets
do for Elgin?
Lucy Gibson, P.E. Smart Mobility, Inc.
The Elgin Pilot
• The Big Picture: How Elgin’s plans fit into the region, and will help shape Chicagoland’s Future.
• How the CNU/ITE Manual supports Elgin’s plans• How Using the Manual differs from
Conventional Practice (Engineering Myth-Busting)
• Challenges in applying to two Locations in Elgin: National Street and Route 20
ELGIN’S PLANS WITHIN THE REGIONThe Elgin Pilot
Chicago Metropolis 2020
Choices for the Region
A different approach is needed to address congestion – The Metropolis Plan
HOW WILL THE MANUAL SUPPORT ELGIN’S PLANS?
The Elgin Pilot
Elgin’s Plans: Implementing the Metropolis Vision
Downtown Elgin Vision
A Vibrant Center City • A community that promotes downtown Elgin as a
welcoming place to live, work, shop, entertain, and visit – the “heart” of the community.
• A community that promotes more attractive, useable downtown plazas and parks; improves the pedestrian character of the streetscape; creates greenways; and improves access to the riverfront.
• A community that promotes increased use of transit services, and walking and biking between the center city and the surrounding community.
Mixed Use Centers
The mixed use service center land use designation provides for . . . residential, institutional, office, service, and retail uses in a compact and pedestrian oriented setting. . . . characterized by vertical, higher density at its core, transitioning to less intensity and predominantly single family residential at its edge.
Where does the ITE/CNU Manual Apply?
HOW THE ITE/CNU MANUAL DIFFERS FROM CONVENTIONAL PRACTICE
The Elgin Pilot
Empirical vs. Theoretical Design
• AASHTO is Theoretical, with design criteria based on physics, behavior of vehicles and drivers.
• New Urbanism is Empirical. Community design principles are developed based on detailed observations of what works well, is proven successful.
• ITE/CNU guidelines are a hybrid.
Multiway Boulevard
America’s Newest Multiway Boulevard
Octavia Boulevard
How is ITE/CNU Manual Different?
• Context Based, for walkable communities – To use these guidelines, you need to clearly define your future context.
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City, Tennessee
Developed by Steve Price in association w/ Dover Kohl & Partners & Glatting Jacksonfor Johnson City Tennessee
Johnson City, Tennessee
E14th Corridor - San Leandro, CA Source: Community, Design + ArchitectureE14th Corridor - San Leandro, CA Source: Community, Design + Architecture
Source: TJPDC, VDoT, City of Charlottesville, & Albemarle Co.CD+A, Meyer, Mohaddes, & Urban Advantage
Excelsior and Grand, 1999
The Suburban Highway Corridor Reconsidered
Excelsior and Grand, 2003
How is ITE/CNU Manual Different?
• Network based – Need to consider future network to create a walkable place.
NEW URBAN TRAFFIC ENGINEERINGThe Elgin Pilot
Rethinking our old ways (or Engineering Myth Busting)
• Arterials are for driving, not for walking (or biking or shopping or placemaking. . . )
• Mobility = Speed • Intersections , and street connectivity, are bad
for traffic
Great Streets are Great Places
Mobility = Capacity
• Providing Mobility has been equated to providing high speed driving on arterials.
• High speeds are:– highly dangerous to pedestrians, – toxic to placemaking, and – most importantly, not needed for maximizing
vehicular throughput, or capacity.
Mobility = Speed
New Way to Define Mobility
• Multimodal: Conditions for mobility for all modes should be considered and balanced
• For Vehicles:– Provide for peak hour capacity to avoid congestion– Keep traffic moving at a speed that does not pose a
threat to pedestrians, nor detract from the area.– Provide a network that increases capacity and
allows for choices of routes.
• For Pedestrians: Traffic Speeds less then 35 mph
Conventional Arterial DesignConventional Arterial Design
The Value of a GridThe Value of a Grid
CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING WALKABLE MAJOR STREETS
The Elgin Pilot
Conventional Network Design
• Concentrate traffic crossing or entering arterials into as few intersections as possible.
• This allows high speed travel between intersections, but the intersections themselves must be very wide.
• High speeds, lots of lanes for pedestrians to cross = Not Walkable.
Route 20 Corridor Study
• Takes a conventional approach to arterial planning: “Predict and Provide”
• Uses suburban or rural design criteria
Route 20 Corridor Study
• Recommendations are not oriented to support walkable development in the Mixed Use Centers.
Conventional Guidelines Impair Network Development
• Elgin Development Standards:– Arterial Streets are to be limited to a maximum
and a minimum of four (4) street intersections with collector streets for each mile of length. Such intersections are to be located a minimum of one thousand (1,000) feet apart.
• CNU/ITE Guidelines– Block Lengths of 300 to 600 feet; pedestrian
crossings every 300 to 600 feet.
General Plan – existing conditions
General Plan – Future Arterials
General Plan – street connectivity grid
General Plan – Future uses and n’hood centers
Improve Arterial Connectivity
• Designate Mixed Use Centers as Urban Areas, which allow smaller blocks, on-street parking, and lower speed limits.
• Adopt the ITE/CNU Walkable Street Guide as official policy (Texas DOT Example).
NATIONAL STREETWESTERN CORRIDOR
The Elgin Pilot
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