National Preservation Partners proposes 'Quiet Traffic Zone'

Concept for space shared by cars and pedestrians in order to create a mall-like shopping environment

 
Example of a ‘quiet traffic zone’. Vehicles must yield to pedestrians and may not go faster than pedestrians’ walking speed. Blue signs indicate beginning and end of the zone.

    

This allows for a combination of traffic flow and pedestrian zone or mall. Thru traffic is discouraged (by the slow traffic flow) from entering the street while shops can still be accessed by vehicle from the street front.

A street with two lanes in each direction, like Broadway, may be converted into one traffic lane and one into curbside or angle parking.

A popular means of providing parking for residents in residential / commercial mixed-use areas is a numbered parking pass, which is issued by the local administration for a nominal fee each year. Residents displaying the pass in their cars have exclusive parking rights in designated zones either 24/7 or for certain periods of time, say 7pm – 7am. The latter solution allows for business traffic during daytime hours (while residents are off to work) and secured resident parking at night.

A great improvement going along with the quiet traffic zone would be a reduction in noise that emits from passing vehicles, foremost buses. This should add to a pleasant shopping environment.
How to use the quiet traffic zone

See drawings I - IV

I.Current condition of Broadway, needing improvement

II.Wide sidewalk with middle ‘island’ and parallel parking.

1. Use of quiet traffic zone suggested.
2. The widened sidewalk would allow for cafes and restaurants having chairs on the sidewalk, or street artists to perform.
3. Even though the traffic must not go faster than pedestrian speed, the overall traffic flow should stay the same, if not improve, considering that there will be no traffic light in the middle of each block anymore.
4. There would be trees in the middle island. Main function of the island is to give pedestrians crossing the street a position to wait and let traffic pass, if necessary. It could also have additional landscaping and benches for pedestrians to rest, if the width permits.

III.Wide sidewalk and parallel parking

1. Widen pedestrian walkway as much as possible.
2. Traffic flows on one lane each way.
3. Provide parallel parking (e.g. 3-4 cars, one planter w/ tree alternating)
4. Quiet traffic zone suggested but not necessarily needed b/c parking cars may slow down traffic.

IV.Wide sidewalk and wide middle island

1. Very wide, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks (cafes, restaurants, etc)
2. Well landscaped middle island with large trees and furniture

V.X-type crosswalk

1. One big contributor to the ill-flowing traffic is the lack of right turn lanes. That is, a car intending to turn right must wait for the pedestrians to cross the street, before it can proceed. As a result, all cars behind the waiting vehicle will stop as well, and only one car, two at most, will be able to turn per green period. There is also an increased risk for car/pedestrian accidents.
2. All the above proposals would worsen this situation, if they wore implemented without the X-type crosswalk where streets intersect. Here, two green phases for cars (one for each direction) would be followed by a green phase for pedestrians, during which they were free to cross the intersection in any direction.

Display cases in the pedestrian zone in Munich, Germany 

Christmas Market in Munich, Germany 

Temporary street closure on weekends in Bad Münstereifel, Germany    

Ingolstadt, Germany: Sign indicating parking facilities around the old town; Old town shopping zone 

Bus moving through pedestrian zone at pedestrian speed; Street map w/ sights and attractions