TRAFFIC CALMING - 6

TRAFFIC CALMING

Education/public involvement is a big part of traffic calming.

With all due respect to the profession, many people shudder when they hear “traffic engineer.”

They equate it with sins of the past: losing their front yard to road widening, losing their tranquility to rushing traffic, etc.

They first may be skeptical of traffic calming, but in the long run, traffic calming is the rarest of opportunities to reach out and improve a community on a personal, “see, touch, feel the improvement” level.

Wright frequently writes about Smart Growth and sustainable communities. He recently participated in the prestigious Forum on Land and the Built Environment: The Reinvented City sponsored by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com