INC NEWS - Column: Go for the big fish to stop a sea of traffic problems (Durham News)

[John Schelp]

Column: Go for the big fish to stop a sea of traffic
problems 
By Frank Hyman, Durham News, 20 Jan 2007

My neighborhood is split in two by what we call "The
Ocean." You know it better as North Roxboro Street.
It's only 50 feet across, as much as a wide stream,
but one that contains two lanes of cars and trucks
that roar through our neighborhood like a linear tidal
wave. If you want to cross it on foot or with a
stroller, it might as well be an ocean.

And thanks to an organization that could be called the
North Carolina Department of Fast Cars and Poor
Hearing -- but that you probably know as the N.C.
Department of Transportation or NCDOT -- that Ocean
has become harder to cross. Many wade across The Ocean
at the Knox Street intersection to get to Duke Park,
an island of tall oaks with a popular play structure
that possesses the bold colors and grand scale of a
Calder sculpture.

NCDOT has widened The Ocean here by adding a turn
lane, not to access the nearby I-85 overpass, but to
access the neighborhood. Dismissing the neighbors'
argument that this lane is unnecessary, the NCDOT made
the crossing 10 feet wider without adding
pedestrian-friendly features sought by neighbors, such
as a pedestrian-activated crossing light or a raised
median for a halfway point for the crossing.

While city staff and council members are sympathetic,
they have no leeway. Why? Roxboro is not a city
street. It is owned by the state and so the buck stops
there.

My neighborhood isn't the only one feeling the
turbulence of NCDOT policies. They are going ahead
with plans to widen Alston Avenue despite local
consensus that building the East End Connector outside
of town would be a better way to reduce congestion
from Research Triangle Park commuters.

Opposition to the widening of Alston is building. Gary
Kueber of www.endangereddurham.blogspot.com describes
problems such as intersections that will be six lanes
wide, unmarked bike lanes, narrow sidewalks and
features that will accelerate traffic to speeds that
will endanger pedestrians and bikers. Again, local
officials are listening, but they can't do much. Why?
Alston Avenue is a state road.

Just last week a female pedestrian was killed in a
hit-and-run on Duke Street. Again, a state-owned road
in the center city. Again, the NCDOT has not listened
to local requests for simple steps that would cut
accidents and noise.

So if local officials can't force improvements on
these state-owned streets -- Roxboro, Alston, Duke
(and their associated one-way pairings: Mangum and
Gregson) -- what can citizens do?

Years ago when the Durham DOT didn't respond to
worries about cut-through traffic on Carolina Avenue,
the neighbors invited city council members to a
continental breakfast there. A table full of coffee
and pastries waited on one side of the street. Plates,
napkins, sugar and cream were across the street. And
rush hour had just begun. Casualties were few that
day, but quicker than you could butter a croissant,
the council made Carolina [at Hillsborough Rd] a
cul-de-sac. (That's French for "dead-end street.")

Another story.

A few years later, when the NCDOT wouldn't put a sound
wall where I-85 brushed against Club Boulevard School,
our former state senator, Wib Gulley, threatened to
introduce legislation requiring NCDOT to install sound
walls for all schools. Suddenly, NCDOT developed a
sense of hearing and built a sound wall for the
school. Gulley dropped the proposal.

My advice is to stop spending time mucking about with
the NCDOT staff -- they are transportation engineers
doing what transportation engineers are paid to do:
move cars fast.

Once you learn their lingo and realize they won't help
you, go over their heads. Department head Lyndo
Tippett -- he of the unrepaired median cables that
have cost lives on our highways -- would be a first
stop.

But if you're not getting satisfaction here (don't
expect much) go over his head to our representative on
the state Board of Transportation, attorney Ken
Spaulding. Spaulding is also a former Durham
legislator and knows how the game is played. And when
it comes to the NCDOT, the game is called hardball.
With a velvet catcher's mitt.

If Spaulding can't find leverage to calm traffic on
our state streets, then let the governor know. Part of
the unspoken deal -- so expect them to deny it -- when
a governor hires department heads and makes board
appointments is that these folks will keep the Guv
from having to meet with unhappy local folks. A good
rule of citizen action is that if you're not happy
about the state of things, make sure that the people
who can get you what you want are not happy either.
Then you'll see change.

And maybe Gov. Easley, Ken Spaulding and Lyndo Tippett
need to be invited to try to cross The Ocean with some
neighbors one day. While pushing strollers.


Frank Hyman is a former member of the Durham City
Council.