The Art of Bad Design
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 14 January 2009 — 2 comments below »
Two out of three certainly ain’t bad.
The latest Redevelopment Agency newsletter — currently unavailable online — boasts about the City’s efforts to calm traffic concerns with the installation of three radar-activated speed limit signs. Two of them are in strategic positions, including one in the Waterfront along Sycamore Avenue adjacent to the “temporary” municipal yard. The third one, however, should be considered a failure, and is indicative of poor design.
The sign on Sycamore Avenue works — drivers at least know they are excessively speeding at 38, 40 or 42 miles per hour (in a 25 mph zone). The sign heading south on San Pablo Avenue from Rodeo (as the road trends downward in elevation) is also effective. It is the third one — heading north on San Pablo from Pinole — that is a complete mystery. It is as if the lie of the land was not even considered in its placement.
The red dot below marks the approximate location of the radar sign…
That location immediately follows a long, steady incline as you head north from Pinole. There is also a stoplight at the intersection of Hercules Avenue only yards beyond the sign (not to mention an awkward stoplight at the intersection at the base of the incline). For those not entirely familiar with that drive, this is what the incline looks like heading north…
It is not easy to speed up that incline. In fact, it is entirely possible to start at the base from rest (stopped at that pesky light) and end at the top of the incline at rest (at the Hercules Avenue traffic light). In my opinion, the sign should have been placed north of the Hercules Avenue intersection, where San Pablo Avenue slopes downward and lends itself to be a very fast stretch of road heading towards Sycamore Avenue (especially if you “make” the light at Hercules Avenue).
The sign should have been installed at the approximate location of the green dot below…
Images: Google Maps
That would be a location much more effective to display vehicle speeds. How much would it cost to move the sign?
UPDATE: The RDA newsletter is now available.
Focusing just on the Willet & Sycamore sign, I think it’s a great addition to our community. It’s precisely what our end of the Sycamore Speedway needs.
I agree with you about moving the speed indicator sign from its current location on San Pablo Avenue to the one you proposed. I was exiting from the parkinig lot (Starbucks) onto San Pablo and was hit by a van going faster than the posted speed limit. My car was totaled (fortunatly I wasn’t injured). Had the driver been going the posted speed, I’m sure my car wouldn’t have been damaged so badly.
In regards to speed bumps or the slowing of cars, I too have witnessed cars traveling in excess of the posted 25 mile speed limit along Sycamore Avenue. The city is losing a steady stream of revenue along this street by not enforcing the speed limit laws. It’s also true of Herciules Avenue. People drive on these two streets as if they are still on the freeway. I don’t care what the cops or emergency vehicle drivers say about not wanting the speed limiters on Sycamore Avenue. They are obviously not living in this area. Speed limiters actually do limit speeding vehicles and will reduce the amount of damage done to the area by cars out of control.