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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Except that's not how it works. [b]Slow Streets just push a lot more traffic onto neighboring streets[/b], regardless of whether they were built for that. There's no free lunch here. The people who benefit from Slow Streets do it by making life worse for everyone else. [/quote]

Do you have any data to support this assertion?[/quote]

It's what happened in our neighborhood. Do you think Slow Streets just magically made traffic disappear?[/quote]

That's anecdote, not data.

And in general, yes, the model is that traffic expands to fill the space available. [b]There is less traffic when there is less space available,[/b] because people choose to postpone their trips, or combine trips, or use a different non-car transportation mode for trips. That's why, for example, "Carmageddon" didn't happen in Los Angeles[/quote]

And that's aphorism, not data. You think Slow Streets is going to make people give up driving? I mean, that's 100 percent nuts. That's like saying if DC raises taxes on the rich by one dollar, rich people will move away. [/quote]

No, there are actually a lot of data to support that model. Slow Streets is not going to make people give up all driving forevermore, but it might cause them to make different travel choices.This actually happens all the time. Assuming that Slow Streets actually did produce slow streets, and people didn't just ignore them. Either Slow Streets were enough to make people change their driving habits - which is what you (or whoever) was saying when you said there was more traffic on your (or whoever's) street - or they weren't.[/quote]

Basically Slow Streets was intended a forcing mechanism so that non-local street traffic (i.e, through traffic or vehicles  going to destinations other than the local street or immediately off of it) should take arterial and collector streets.  That's the intent of the federal street classification systems, which DC follows.  Local streets should carry basically only destination traffic, and can be a haven for walking, biking and other activity that benefits from vehicle volume and speed reduction on the street.[/quote]
This is correct. The idea that it would reduce overall traffic volumes is bizarre. [/quote]

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