N. Calif. project taught town, highway planners how to slow traffic and create a business district

Small towns bisected by major highways might learn from Willow Creek, Calif. State Highway 299 once widened to five lanes as it entered the town, presumably to let thru traffic continue at highway speed while locals made turns. But many drivers saw the stretch as a chance to make time on the Trinity Highway that winds and climbs through the Coast Ranges east of Eureka, and "might pass other vehicles at 70, 75, 80," Laura Tillman writes for the Daily Yonder.

In 2001, Tillman reports, "Those five lanes were reduced to three, with bike lanes added to either side of the road. Two years later, continuous sidewalks were added to allow pedestrians to move between downtown shops. Sycamore trees were planted to show cars this was a neighborhood, not merely the intersection of Highways 299 and 96. Traffic slowed further, which legally allowed the speed limit to be lowered to 35 miles per hour. Pedestrian crosswalks were drawn. A community downtown was created." (Google Earth photo by Bill Cook)

Also, the project was "a professional turning point" for the California Department of Transportation, which "typically looked at road building only in terms of safety and traffic flow," Tillman writes. CalTrans District Manager Rick Knapp wrote a paper about the project that influenced the policies of other states. Is your state one of them? If not, should it be? (Read more)