2022 AIA Communities by Design Reimagining Petaluma SDAT - Report - Page 13
Petaluma DAT
Create Connections
Connectivity and reliability are paramount for making
walking, bicycling, and transit trips more attractive than
SOV trips. Active transportation and transit should be
safe, easy, convenient, comfortable, and direct.
Reallocate space (road diet)
To meet its goals, the City must expand its bikeway
network and enhance its Petaluma Transit system
operations. However, implementation via roadway
widening is often cost prohibitive and may not support
the City's VMT reduction goals. In advance of full
roadway reconstruction, the reallocation of existing
roadway space through restriping and pilot installation
of low-cost materials can be an effective method to
installing bike lanes, bus lanes, and queue jump lanes.
Known as "road diets," roadway reconfiguration can
include travel lane removal, parking lane removal, and
lane narrowing to maintain existing curb-to-curb width
or existing right-of-way. A typical road diet converts
a road with four travel lanes to a street with two travel
lanes, a center turn lane, and bike lanes. Local examples
include Petaluma Boulevard South and Rainier Avenue.
Implementation
The City of Petaluma must reimagine how it allocates
space on its arterials. The City should identify candidates
for road diets, which are generally characterized by some
combination of the following: three or more travel lanes,
travel lanes that are 12 feet wide or wider, underutilized
parking lanes, or average daily traffic volumes under
15,000 vehicles per day. The City can then develop
short-term concepts that can be implemented through
simple resurfacing and long-term concepts that
necessitate full reconstruction. The elements included
in the concepts should tie directly to City goals and may
include bus lanes, bike lanes, and crossing treatments
in the short term and street trees, green infrastructure,
shared-use paths in the long term.
Critical Next Step
Identify and study streets that may be near-term or
long-term candidates for space reallocation.
Reallocate space to prioritize the movement of people rather than the movement of cars.
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