The Jogging Jeweler

|The Old Croton Aqueduct Usage - Part 3.1 |

First  - to address the participation in this survey, you all were outstanding! THANK YOU! Supporting the cause and driving education of our community is the first step into developing enhancements that we all benefit from. 224 of you demonstrated working together on this survey, that makes this Jogging Jeweler brimming with sunshine in pride for our Rivertowns!

Second - the devil is in the details, we're taking it slow and breaking the survey into two blogs. All of the information is important and to keep from losing people on the survey results of questions three and four, they'll be posted in a blog tomorrow.

So - read on, share, talk about how many people use the OCA & of course, stay tuned!

Question #1 - How often do you use the OCA?

Takeaways...

• The leading group (55 Votes) - 17 times or more/month. In a four-week month, that is four visits to the OCA per week. 
• The Second leading group (54 votes)  - 2-4 times/month, one visit per week in a four-week month. 
• Third Leading group (50 votes) - 5-10 times/month, 2-3 visits per week in a four-week month. 

Does usage of the OCA directly impact the residents of our villages on a regular basis? - Yes.

Why? - Of the top three groups of users - 159 people use the OCA weekly. Include the fifth group, which was not a majority, however uses the OCA frequently (11-16 times/month) - 187 people use the OCA weekly. That's 83% of the people that took the survey using the OCA at minimum once per week, but typically more. 

Question #2 - Where do you enter the OCA?

Takeaways...

Going to break it down village by village, adding details where due as again - the devil is in the details. 

• Hastings - 81 Votes - Sharing is caring. Boy did HOH turn out! The survey was shared more by the residents of HOH, so more than likely their skew of higher numbers is a result of that. 
• Irvington - 52 Votes - Irvington welcomed our family to the Rivertowns. My experiences there do not surprise me that this village turned out the votes, when Irvington gets behind something, they go after it & are a force I admire. 
• Dobbs Ferry - 50 Votes - My hometown, the village I was concerned would skew the results because of knowing a larger portion of the audience did not in fact skew to being higher. Take what meaning you will from that...
• Tarrytown - 39 Votes - Tarrytown surprised me, they're just far enough north that I wasn't sure our survey would reach or relate, but 39 votes!
• Yonkers - 2 Votes - Not shocked, Yonkers was the only town I could not find a community group for on Facebok, unless I'm missing it? (I'm sure if there's one a kind and smart person will point it out for me :-)

Did one village demonstrate more usage over another? Hastings-on-Hudson clearly rocked the survey, however as mentioned above it did benefit from sharing within the community. HOWEVER - let this be an excellent demonstration why sharing is caring! If you want something addressed, you need people - lots of people - people talking about the lack of crosswalks, asking questions about where you run, pointing out flaws in your survey, and sharing the desire to create safe roads, sidewalks, and trails. 

Now that we're buried beneath snow and ice, my recent run on an atypically warm March day seems like ages ago - ice ages! Sun warming my face, I passed more pedestrians that day than recently and that got me wondering - How many people use the OCA and why do they use it? And so - began the tally of pedestrians and the types of pedestrians encountered. 

The Jogging Jeweler

| Survey: The Old Croton Aqueduct Usage |

Always researching and seeking data to enhance pedestrian safety, I have created an online poll about local usage of the Old Croton Aqueduct. On a recent run during one of these last warm days, (video/blog to be posted soon) I wondered how many of our local residents use the OCA on a semi-regular basis. I certainly see an uptick in other pedestrians on the warmer, sunny days than the not-so nice days. 

Help me, help you - take the quiz and share via Facebook! The more we know the better we can face the facts and present our case to the local BOT's that the OCA needs attention in the form of signage, crosswalks, and more!

(Blog Photo Credit - Nadia Fante)

The Jogging Jeweler

| Broadway Sidewalk, Irvington #2 - The One & Only |

The above video documents the only, severely narrow sidewalk along Broadway in Irvington that services pedestrians coming to and from Dows Lane.

Problem: The only sidewalk available for pedestrians to use along this portion of Broadway is so severely narrow that even passing drivers feel too close and merge into the next lane to give pedestrians their much needed elbow room.

Solution: This one is a bit of a toughy with that stone and iron fence along edging the length of this narrow sidewalk. According to the Highway Design Manual the relationship between walkway width and pedestrian volume at the bare minimum of 20 people/minute/meter should be 1.525 meters in width. 

This is not a Manhattan sidewalk, it is not heavily populated, however it leads into an elementary school and should feel easily accessible, safe, and wide enough for a parent holding their child's hand to walk side-by-side which is possible at 1.525 meters (approximately 60 inches). There were numerous comments on a previous Facebook post about this section of sidewalk, they ranged from running groups needing to run single file with elbows tucked in to moms walking their kids to school a couple times, and then giving up because they felt it was too dangerous.

SO - Jogging Jeweler - what could be done? Well - let's look at Broadway, how wide are the lanes? Our friends over at Planetizen indicate that there is a sweet spot for lane widths, measuring in at 10-10.5 feet.

If the lanes along Broadway are wider than necessary perhaps the State of New York could spare the inches needed to make this sidewalk better, wider, safer, and more useful to our community.

Did you know?

Walking one mile to and from school each day is two-thirds of the recommended sixty minutes of physical activity a day. Plus, children who walk to school have higher levels of physical activity throughout the day.

- Safe Routes

 

Oh Broadway & Clinton/Oak Street in Dobbs Ferry - always a willing participant to provide documentation for this quest to make our streets safer.

Problem(s): This intersection is a doozie! So, based on the above experience I want to review some of the issues at this particular intersection and then apply some suggested solutions.

The Jogging Jeweler

| The OCA, Dobbs Ferry |

The Old Croton Aqueduct, running smack through the middle of Hastings, Dobbs, and Irvington and onwards, it is a New York State Park and has National Historic Landmark Status.

Problem: As seen in the video above, the OCA practically vanishes as it passes through Dobbs Ferry. There are no signs to suggest which way it may continue, as a pedestrian one assumes to continue onward traversing streets, through a parking lot, and an alley. There are NO crosswalks throughout downtown Dobbs Ferry to suggest that this trail, State Park technically speaking, is passing through and/or is a heavily used passage by dog-walkers, moms pushing strollers, runners, bikers, and local students.

Solution: There are several solutions for this issue. However I am going to identify two that can be easily tackled by the village to better identify the OCA as it crosses five of our downtown streets:

1. Place signage on Cedar Street that reads - Pedestrian Zone. This is will identify to the drivers of vehicles that pedestrians have the right of way, that they as drivers are to expected to drive slowly and use caution.
2. 5 Crosswalks on Cedar, Oak, Elm, Chestnust, & Walnut. In the exact spots that the OCA crosses our village roads. While the village has no ability to change the OCA (it is owned by NY state) it is completely within our village's rights and abilities to properly label, and create safe passages on our streets for pedestrians. 

Did you know?

1. The cost of striped crosswalks range from approximately $100 to 2,100 each, or on average approximately $7 per square foot. A high visibility crosswalk can range from $600 to $5,700 each, or around $2,500 on average.

- Pedestrian & Bicycle Info Center

 

The Jogging Jeweler

| 1st Hastings-On-Hudson Edition |

Running along Broadway, to Hastings-On-Hudson went better than other runs thus far. Our route had sidewalks, crosswalks, good sight lines for seeing traffic which means few blind spots. This route was chosen as warmer weather melted the snow and the OCA was too muddy for this stroller pushing momma. However - the run was not necessarily smoother.

Problem: Hastings-On-Hudson has curbs... lots of curbs. The photo demonstrates at least six, including ones coming in and out of the local high school - what happened to being handicap accessible? I caught seven in my footage, however knowing what the Old Croton Aqueduct is like through Hastings [think bigger curbs] I speculate there may be more curbs that were not captured in this footage. 

Solution: According to Complete Streets -

Streets that are truly “complete” provide all of us with a choice of mobility options. They allow everyone to travel to and from work, school, and other destinations with the same level of safety and convenience, whether or not they have mobility, vision, or cognitive disabilities.

Complete Streets also help people who are coping with temporary disabilities as well as those pushing strollers, pulling wheeled luggage, or managing large packages. Complete Streets policies provide flexibility to transportation professionals and give them room to be creative in developing solutions that promote accessible travel. Operating under a policy can prompt a deeper analysis and encourage them to work with community members with disabilities.

In roadway design, Complete Streets means attention to details at intersections, such as installing curb ramps, audible or tactile signals for blind pedestrians, and/or providing longer crossing times; along pedestrian routes by providing smooth sidewalks free of obstacles...

 

In this series of videos, we capture Broadway for what it is to pedestrians  - an obstacle course - one that requires weaving in and out of large trees, holes, telephone poles, with curb-less sidewalks so narrow that a stroller does not fit. Not to mention the portion of sidewalk in such dis-repair that the curb looks like crumbling cookie and has begun to eat away at the sidewalk itself.