SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

Chapter 4: Understanding Roads

Key Quotes

“With the left hand, the city’s economic development and zoning approaches encourage more building out on the periphery. With the right hand, the city’s public works department must now spend money on low-priority, negative-returning infrastructure because warrants have been met.”

“When a licensed engineer references Level of Service for a local street, especially one at the very core of their community, it is a tell. It is an indication of a broad misunderstanding of the difference between a road and street, of deep confusion over what it means to build a place and how that is at odds with a driver’s level of comfort. We would expect such professionals, if they are intellectually consistent, to live in a home built almost exclusively of hallways.

“...by focusing on enforcement and education as the proper response, the engineer fails to confront the role that design plays in speeding.” — Click to Tweet

More about the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)

View the MUTCD

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

How the MUTCD Puts Communities At Risk Via Dangerous Crosswalks

How the MUTCD Creates Unsafe Conditions for People Trying to Access Food

The “Notorious” MUTCD - Why Fixing a Federal Manual is Critical to Safety, Equity and Climate

Engineer to City: Crosswalk and Traffic Signal Not Feasible

In response to ongoing safety concerns, some elected official in Springfield, MA requested that a signalized crosswalk be installed in front of the Central Library. This letter is the response from the city’s public works director Christopher Cignoli.