unique useful innovative transportation

Seaside is an 80-acre community development along the Florida coast heralded as the first, and to date most successful, example of New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND).  This influential movement among architects and urban planners encourages the return of nineteenth-century town-planning principles as an antidote to urban sprawl. From Smart Communities Network

The shore is disappearing so sand needs to be imported from elsewhere, only white sand allowed.

These bioswales filter storm water by seeping through the plants and dirt so they don't go directly into the river. This reduces the amount of pollution from streets entering the river.

This is the north entrance to the Eastside Esplanade, that goes around the river. You can kind of see the part of the path that floats on the water, straight ahead. Notice the top where the freeway lane just drops off, that was a freeway extension planned in 1970's which was fought by residents and never installed.

"Bicycle boulevards are low-traffic neighborhood streets that have been optimized for bicycling. They provide direct, attractive routes for bikes. On bicycle boulevards, stop signs are turned outwards to keep cyclists moving, and traffic lights and curb extensions help cyclists cross busy streets. Traffic calming slows cars down, and drivers are discouraged from using them for cut-throughs." From the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) a wonderful bike advocacy group.

The BTA found that cyclists would bike more if there was less traffic, so now the future of Portland bike infrastructure is going to be concentrated on creating more bike boulevards.


SE Clinton and 39th - This is on the Clinton bike boulevard. The bike box gives cyclists a head start and also provides more visibility so the cyclist is not in the motorist's blind spot, preventing a very common error of turning right into the cyclist (right hook). In my opinion, every signalized intersection should have a bike box.

A tragic crash occurred in Downtown Portland October  11, 2007. A 19 year old woman was run over by a cement truck who did not see her as it was turning right. This probably would have been prevented if the intersection had a bike box.

More about traffic diverters below.


High-intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK) Signal provides a safe and convenient crossing.

After the cyclist/pedestrian pushes the button, the overhead signal for cross traffic begins flashing yellow, then solid yellow, then red. Then the cute little bike symbol turns green (see video).

The first time I used it, it only took about 3 seconds to turn green, immediate activation. Then I tried again right after and it took twice a long. So it automatically knows to decrease wait for cross traffic if cyclists come one after another. This reduces the chances of increased congestion.

Typical bike boulevard with traffic circle to slow cars. Notice the bike circle marking and the green sign on the right.

These signs were installed in 2006 and give cyclists direction to notable areas of the city. They show how far it is and how long it will take to get there. It is good for tourists and people who just move to Portland. One critique is the font is too small. I think it would be useful for motorists if they could read it, I think they would be surprised how little time it actually takes to get around by bike



Since turning stop signs to cross traffic creates a nice quick and direct road for motorists to use, bike boulevards must make extra engineering efforts to reduce through traffic. This is the purpose of the traffic diverter. The above is a right turn only for motorists while cyclists can sneak through the small opening straight ahead.

This signal is part of the scramble signal above. It gives cyclists their own time to cross diagonally instead of having to go across the street twice. It is activated by positioning the bike tire on the line in above pic.

Alta Planning found this symbol to be an effective alternative to bike lanes, when bike lanes can not be installed due to narrow streets. I noticed them all over and more cyclists, compared to the last time I had visited a year ago. This is on Polk Street.

"The bike-and-chevron marking had a stronger impact  on motorist positioning and in reducing wrong-way  riding and is preferred by cyclists surveyed.

SF's Shared Lane Pavement Markings

This is a new multi-space parking meter, several different types starting to show up around SF. Parking rates downtown for cars is $3 per hour and 25 cents per hour for motorcycles. I believe this is a Reino Digital Parking Meter: "A digital, ticketless multibay meter, powered by an environmentally friendly green cell battery."






Former industrial district to spawn 2,220 new housing units, including 266 to 377 new affordable units (17%), along with shops to create a mixed-use neighborhood. "The Plan was the first neighborhood plan adopted by the Planning Commission in more than 10  years."  -planning dept.

"The Rincon Hill area is south of the Financial District and north of the South Beach neighborhood. The area is bounded by Folsom Street, The Embarcadero, Bryant Street, Beale Street, the Bay Bridge approach, and the Transbay Terminal ramps."

This pic is at Folsom and Beale St.
Graphic of future neighborhood

"Plans call for retail shops and neighborhood services along Folsom Boulevard, and  transforming Main, Beale, and Spear Streets into traffic-calmed, landscaped residential streets lined  with townhouses and front doors." Yeay!
Planning Dept. Description

Unfortunately I did not find anything about whether the buildings will be LEED Certified. This reminds me of the Pearl District in Portland, OR, that was developed in late 1990s, which has many LEED certified buildings and a requirement of 30% affordable housing. Some criticize that Rincon Hill will be a neighborhood of the rich, who may possibly be part-time residents leading to less of a cohesive neighborhood.


One Rincon is the tallest residential building in SF. Changing the SF skyline some say for the better some say for the worse. SF Gate Article.

In the foreground is construction of a new approach to the Oakland Bay Bridge to strengthen the freeway overpasses and ramps.

Interestingly, in the 1860's when SF was just starting to develop, Rincon Hill was home to the wealthiest residents because of the proximity to downtown (around Montgomery and Clay) and the weather was more favorable. Check out these great historical pictures and descriptions on the SPUR site.











These terrible one-way streets with wide lanes and ped crossings only every 5 blocks or so are all over SOMA. I believe this is Bryant and 3rd. They are engineered to get cars to the surrounding freeways as quickly as possible leading to fast cars who cut pedestrians off to make right and left hand turns (it has happened to me several times). SF really needs to work on this, especially around the Caltrain area where commuters walk into downtown from the trains. Fortunately looks like the Rincon area will benefit from traffic calming.

I spent my birthday in Grenoble, a beautiful city in south eastern France, population about 160,000. The city is surrounded by snow topped mountains, with lots of bike infrastructure, a light rail tram and a University. We biked around just outside the central city as well as inside the historical center.




It was easier to bike outside the city because there are tons of bike lanes on the sidewalks which are larger and more direct than the lanes in the center. In the center, there is less space which means the streets are narrower as well as the bike lanes. However, this made the cars drive slower than on the outside.


There were several of these lanes with the lane in between the parked cars and the sidewalk. One of the most beneficial aspects I can see is the avoidance of dooring, as the motorist exiting can see the cyclist coming their way. The parked cars also protect the cyclist from street traffic.





Since the lanes outside the city are on the sidewalks, a green stripe is painted in the crosswalk for the bicyclist. I have seen this in Tokyo as well, although there it wasn't used as much. It works very well here, and there are very few conflicts with peds.

We weren't sure how these work. They are fully equipped with lights, a rack and even a bell (although someone took the top of this one). This was the only community bike we saw. Notice it has a number.










This parking takes up a car space and is located right in front of a grocery store. There was plenty of bike parking everywhere we went. There are also blue signs indicating bike parking, which is useful as you travel down the street and can't see the parking behind the parked cars.

Notice in the background the green painted bike lane. At nearly every intersection the bike lane is painted to warn motorists of cyclists passing.




Nearly all the speed bumps are like this throughout the city. Although there is a separate bike way here, sometimes there is not, and the space allows bikes through without having to go over the bump.

Almost all the one-way streets with bike lanes go opposite directions, like the one in this picture. I am not sure if this is more effective in preventing accidents. It seems more logical because the driver is closer to the cyclist - the driver side is next to the bike lane. Also, this prevents one very common bike accident of drivers making right turns hitting bicyclists going straight.










Watch for bikes when turning right. At intersections where the cyclist is traveling the same direction as the motorist, I saw these signs, warning motorists not to turn right into the cyclists.











This sign says Priority Pedestrians and it flashes bright yellow. I don't know if it is the case here, but I have seen signals in France that turn green for the pedestrian a few moments before the light for the motorists. This is an excellent way to prevent motorists from turning into pedestrians.

On the left is a bus/bicycle lane leading to a bike box. The bike box gives bicyclists a head start when the light turns, it also gives bicyclists more visibility, preventing a common accident of motorists turning right into cyclists going straight.


The large expanse of sidewalk makes this an ideal place for the sidewalk bike lane.





You know when a city cares about its pedestrians and cyclists when you see a bridge just for them.