Once the work is complete, there will be two additional turn lanes onto Fulton St. and new 6-foot sidewalks on both sides. The work is expected to be completed by the end of May. A full description of the work, including the times when some of the lanes will be closed for construction, is reprinted after the break (courtesy of the Herald Sun).
From urban planning perspective, the idea of road widening is often controversial because of the "induced demand phenomenon" which postulates that building wider roads leads more people to drive on them, which, in turn, increases traffic and creates a vicious cycle of traffic congestion. An often-proposed solution to break this cycle is to increase availability of public transportation at the expense of private vehicles. For a thorough primer on the folly of mitigating traffic by widening roads read Traffic, an excellent book by Tom Vanderbilt, who is also a frequent contributor to Slate Magazine. You can read his articles here. Of particular interest -- and relevant to the current plans to add two extra left lanes to Erwin Rd -- is his excellent article about the folly of adding left lanes.
By Neil Offen
DURHAM — Sometimes, the traffic starts backing up on Erwin Road at the LaSalle Street light.
With the recent opening of the new Duke Cancer Center and the impending opening of the new Duke Medicine Pavilion, traffic heading to and from Duke Hospital would only get worse.
Transportation officials are trying to do something about that.
Starting later this month, work will begin on the widening of Erwin Road between the Eye Center and the Duke Hospital entrance and on Eye Center Drive. A new stoplight also will be added to at Eye Center Drive.
“When you add square footage, you have to do a traffic improvement analysis,” said Shawn Subasic, director of facility planning, design and construction for the Duke Medical Center.
The two new facilities are adding about a million square feet to the medical campus.
“The state and the city reviewed that analysis and based on that, they determined we needed to add more left turn lanes and the stoplight,” Subasic said.
Extra turn lanes already have been added off N.C. 147 and by Trent Drive. Now orange fencing has been installed along the south edge of the existing sidewalks on the east side of Eye Center Drive and the south side of Erwin during the first phase of the work, which will last about two weeks.
The new curb and gutter and 6-foot sidewalks will be installed during working hours behind this fencing and will not interfere with pedestrian traffic on the existing sidewalk.
Once the new curb and gutter and sidewalk are in place, pedestrian traffic will be diverted to the new sidewalk so that the road widening can begin. This work will occur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
During those hours, one of the eastbound through lanes will be closed from just west of Eye Center Drive to the railroad tracks near Emergency Drive. This will be facilitated by barrels, cones and signage.
By 6 a.m. each day, the existing travel lanes will be re-opened.
When completed along the south side of Erwin Road, the widening will allow two eastbound turn lanes onto Fulton. Work is anticipated to be complete by the end of May.
During the work, the bus stop near the entrance to Duke Hospital will remain active. A bus turn-out will be in place during the eastbound lane closures, and temporary walk paths will be provided through the construction zone to get to the buses.
On or around April 9, the installation of storm sewer lines in the Erwin/Fulton intersection will begin. This will require the closure of additional lanes of traffic along Erwin and Fulton; however, one lane in each direction will remain open.
This work will also be done between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The lanes will be re-opened each day at 6 a.m. Each of the sections of the excavations will be plated for traffic during the day. This work is also anticipated to be completed by the end of May.
“All these improvements should help with the projected increase in the volume of traffic,” Subasic said. “I really think these improvements will be able to handle the increase.”
Read more: The Herald-Sun - Widening planned for Erwin Road
It is unbelievable to me with the amount of jay-walking that happens around the hospital that someone hasn't gotten killed crossing Erwin, and now the street will be wider? Are any of these improvements going to force pedestrians to the crosswalks or improve this situation in some other way?
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading. I agree that widening the street is not the answer to easing traffic suggestion,and it is sad that no real improvements have been announced to help pedestrians navigate that part of town safely. There are lots of things that the city/university can do to help pedestrians, including better lighting, safe-islands in the middle of the street, and other improvements. But as we have seen in the past, cars always come first in the minds of city planners.
ReplyDeleteThis is really a great idea. Thanks for the share.
ReplyDelete