I heard that the possibility of removing the parking restrictions in Wesley Heights might be in doubt and I thought I might throw in my two cents. I am a pedestrian and bicycle planner, and a majority of my work involves traffic calming. Of all of the techniques I have looked at and seen in action, the chicane appears to be the most effective speed reducer in neighborhood roads, along with 4 way intersection stops, yields, or roundabouts. Retrofitting physical chicanes can be costly and timely to install, but alternating parking on both sides of the road accomplishes the same thing. Speed bumps or humps are not as effective, and actually have some disadvantages that our neighborhood might not appreciate such as louder traffic sounds and wear and tear on our vehicles.

We have to be realistic and understand that slowing down traffic for everyone else means slowing down the traffic for us, too. And if we truly want to slow down traffic and not merely try other tested methods that simply do not work, we need to alternate the on street parking to both sides of the roadways.

I want to thank Vivian for working on this. We are lucky to have her expertise living in our neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Bill Clark
Transportation Planner
URS Corporation, North Carolina
6135 Park South Drive, Suite 300
Charlotte, NC 28210
(704) 716-0748

(809 Woodruff Place)

By Bill Clakr