Category Archives: transportation

Number One Is In The Back Yard

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Or is it the front yard?

From the WSJ:

“Fewer than 10 bridges in the U.S. have the clearance of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the 1,200-foot span that collapsed after a supersize containership slammed into one of its vertical supports. All of them have a vulnerability where the failure of even a single steel component in tension along the span could cause a collapse. 

The National Transportation Safety Board flagged this condition in the Key Bridge after it fell early Tuesday morning—but the hit that destroyed the Key wasn’t a blow to one of those crucial steel components. Rather, it was the devastating strike taking out one of the bridge’s concrete vertical supports, known as a pier, that caused the massive structure to cascade into the water below. 

Any span of that size suffering a comparable loss could tumble, according to engineers, making bridges that can accommodate giant ships particularly at risk.”

Pedestrian Safety Versus The Speed Of Traffic

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Pedestrian safety is all about the “built environment”. From “Determining who gets blamed when cars hit pedestrians.”

“’But what we’re seeing in this research is that the built environment is a key factor. People make errors in judgment, but no one deserves to die or get injured for such errors. And they would be less likely to make these choices if there were more pedestrian infrastructure,’ said the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at Ohio State.

One recommendation from the researchers is to redesign the crash forms completed by police to include information on the built environment around the crash site, such as distance to the nearest pedestrian crossing, to give more context on why pedestrians make certain choices.

The built environment for pedestrians isn’t just a problem in Columbus, according to the researchers. Many cities have similar issues. And the situation in Columbus is improving because of Vision Zero Columbus, a government effort focused on reducing crash-related fatalities and injuries in the city.

But this study shows the importance of a Safe System Approach to designing roadways to minimize the effects of human errors and allow pedestrians, as well as cars, to move safely through the city.

“We don’t have to design the streets the way we do. We can make fundamental design choices that could prioritize safety over the speed of traffic,” Miller said.

Put more simply, the relative frequency of cars crashing into pedestrians based upon the presence of cross walks and related pedestrian infrastructure is fairly predictable. No, that’s not surprising. The larger question, I suppose, is how can citizens get their municipalities to prioritize pedestrian safety over traffic speed?

Infrastructure Y’All

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As reported by Anthony Macuk of KGW:

“The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) has secured its first big tranche of federal funding, marking a major milestone for the effort to replace the aging twin bridges that carry Interstate 5 over the Columbia River.”

$600million of $6billion. I think that’s ten percent.

Why Pedestrian Deaths Are Up In The (dis)United States

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There are a multiplicity of factors, but this analysis highlights the increase in pedestrian deaths at night as a result of walkers wearing dark clothes, crosswalks being poorly lit, and a rise in homelessness.

I live 4-5 miles from a perfect storm for ped deaths. Right now in Olympia, Washington it’s dark between 15-16 hours a day. Right off a main drag, there’s a Salvation Army that is a magnet for the homeless, whom I refer to as the “walking wounded”. But they’re not always walking. I’ve seen homeless people dressed entirely in black, suddenly shoot across the street on skateboards and bikes, between crosswalks. It’s human-powered transportation Russian Roulette.

There are accidents, sometimes even deaths, but I’m surprised there aren’t more.

Everything You Wanted To Know About U.S. Bridges

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But were afraid to ask.

TL/DR . . . “bridges in the US are getting more ‘average’ over time. We have fewer excellent bridges, but we also have many fewer bridges in poor condition. We’re fixing our worst bridges, rather than spending money keeping bridges looking sparkling and new. Because the difference between a poor quality bridge and an ‘average’ bridge is much larger than an average and an excellent bridge (since a poor quality bridge is at risk of collapse), this means that bridge infrastructure is getting safer over time, even as it gets older and handles more traffic.”

Bicycle Riding is Falling in Portland

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From a comprehensive report. Long story short, in 2022, Portland bicycle traffic dropped more than a third compared to 2019, to levels not seen since approximately 2005-2006.

A precipitous decline despite several measures to increase bicycle riding. The “discussion” on page 11 suggests Portland officials really don’t know why bicycle riding is in decline.

Maybe schedule more of these?