You’ll have to forgive me for my late digest of last week’s Lake City town hall with the mayor. There are some good moments, though you will have to get used to the poor audio and choppy video.
My favorite moment has to be SDOT head Peter Hahn around minute 37:30.
“Learning from 27 other example is applicable. It’s like saying 100 million other people got healthier ’cause they lost weight, but I have to wait until you are studied? No I don’t.”
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All-in-all, the mayor did pretty well in defending the project and SDOT’s methodology and research related to the project. Unfortunately, people are clearly scared of this project. I wonder if the fear is, at least in part, a matter of SDOT’s budget.
I was at the Mercer West open house yesterday evening, and they had big glossy images and videos to present the project, which is not even set to be finished until 2015. Clearly, the difference is that the Mercer project has a much larger budget than a project like 125th.
Imagine if SDOT had the budget to make a video demonstrating simulations of 125th traffic flow before and after the proposed project. People could see it in action on their own streets (or, at least a simulation of it) and their fears may be eased. Right now, however, all SDOT (and project supporters) has are big numbers (for example, 125th carries around 16,000 cars per day, while this three-lane configuration can hold 20,000). I wish SDOT could display that in an easier, more assuring way.
Anyone know how to make traffic simulation videos? Email me.
Comments
2 responses to “Lake City town hall digest (a little late)”
I thought I had heard this kind of configuration could accommodate 25,000, not 20,000
It depends on the road. They’ve been saying 20,000 to 25,000. 20,000 seems to be the safe, low estimate. Above that and there could be some small delays or increases to side street traffic. At 25,000 those may be significant enough to cause some issues. But, again, it depends on factors unique to each project.