Letter to the Editor: Papp on Safe Streets

To the editor:

Complete Streets first and foremost guiding principle is safety. And so far, safety has not been not been a pivotal player in the debate about the King Street traffic redesign. Instead bicycles, cars and parking define the decision and the arguments… and we proceed without an expert, traffic safety study of any kind.

The proposal to add bike lanes to a particularly well-documented, high-accident stretch of King Street—without a traffic study—and based only on a small, staff-measured, vehicle count, many conversations and the stated “beliefs” of the transportation director, Rich Baier, leaves much to chance. Even though I am greatly in favor of building better infrastructure for both pedestrians and bikes, it will never be by wading blind into a high-risk situation such as this.

Every traffic and parking change suggested for Old Town has had an accompanying traffic study done by a transportation consulting firm providing site-specific, reliable, data, analysis and a number of alternative solutions. In most cases these did not involve areas where accidents and speeding was a regular phenomenon. So, it is alarming to see that a small stretch of roadway with a history of speeding, major accidents, narrow roadways and usage by a great variety of vehicles is being treated to decision-making based on anecdotal evidence.

The argument that bicyclists act as buffers is without conscience. Who would ask that a totally unprotected person, riding on a downhill, relatively narrow accident-prone roadway, to put him or herself at risk of injury or death for any reason? In Copenhagen, where they have a genuine bike culture, both cyclists and pedestrians are protected from moving vehicles by parked cars or meridians, which act as buffers. 

Shared, multi-modal streets have been around for a very long time. But what is absolutely critical to the lives and welfare of everyone is that safety remains the prime directive. Without a traffic study, preferably done by Toole Design Group, which conducted the highly professional and thorough Union Street Corridor Study, we are moving forward without the expertise of traffic professionals, whose own first mantra will always be safety first. So far we operate under the opinions and advice of: the Traffic and Parking Board, Park and Recreation Commission, Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (non-city affiliated), and Alexandria Transportation Commission. None of these were advised by or supplied with a site-specific traffic safety study.

Union Street is not a high-speed, high-accident area, and yet we conducted a major traffic study to get expert understanding and advice on whether and/or how to make changes. At a minimum this must be done for this treacherous stretch of road and would provide neutral ground for everyone to come together around what an expert transportation study has to show. I can’t imagine anything more important than a safe roadway on this fast, high-traffic hill. Getting professional input and advice is the only way.

Kathryn Papp