a report from Vice Mayor Jan Devereux, Chair of the Transportation & Public Utilities Committee, for a public hearing held on September 20, 2018 to discuss reducing the speed limit to 20 MPH on residential streets citywide and the creation of 20 MPH safety zones on certain other streets

ATTACWMENTA September 2018 ZERO VISION CAMBRIDGE 20 MPH Safety Zones

Higher speeds = the driver reacts. • Higher likelihood of a crash • Increased distance needed to stop. • Increased severity of crashes, particularly for • Increased distance a vehicle travels from the increase) the impact energy increases by 56%. time a driver detects an emergency to the time vulnerable users such as cyclists and pedestrians. why is speed so important? MPH 20 TRAVELING AT: 9 out of 10 pedestrians survive HIT BY A VEHICLE XXXXXXXXX† MPH 30 TRAVELING AT: 5 out of 10 pedestrians survive HIT BY A VEHICLE • Exponentially higher crash energy: When impact speed increases from 20 to 25 mph, a 25% xiiiiit MPH 40 TRAVELING AT: HIT BY A VEHICLE Only 1 out of 10 pedestrians survives

twenty (20) miles per hour. 2016, Chapter 218 of the Acts of 2016. Legal Authority to Lower Speed Limits "thickly settled or business districts" to twenty-five (25) miles per hour. • The City Council adopted these provisions of the Act on November 7, 2016 would establish designated "safety zones" which would have a speed limit of Section 193 of the Act authorizes the Director to promulgate a traffic regulation • Section 194 of the Act authorizes the Director to promulgate a traffic regulation that that would reduce the speed limit on all ways other than state highways that are in • "An Act Modernizing Municipal Finance and Government" was enacted on August 9,

Safety Zones zones shall be posted as having a speed limit of 20 miles per hour. contrary, the city council, the transportation commissioner of the city of Boston, the board of selectmen, park commissioners, a traffic commission or traffic director of a safety zones on, at or near any way in the city or town which is not a state highway, and with the approval of the department if the same is a state highway. Such safety Section 18B. (a) Notwithstanding section 18 or any other general or special law to the city or town that accepts this section in the manner provided in section 4 of chapter 4 may, in the interests of public safety and without further authority, establish designated

guidance Approx. 40 Signs 25 MPH Default Speed Limit Citywide unless otherwise posted Signs posted at city limits per MassDOT Safety Lone 20 MPH Safety Zone Specific segment of road Default Speed Limit vs. Satety Lone more safety zones established. Approx. 30 signs posted for existing Signs must be posted for each specific Safety Zones; additional signs needed as

• Education • Enforcement • Install signage • Publish regulation changes • Determine the limits of the safety zone How to establish a satety zone? ZONE SAFETY LIMIT SPEED 20 END ZONE SPEED

Safer Squares • 20 MPH Safety Zone in Central, Harvard, Inman, March 2018: Slow Down for Kendall, and Porter Squares Current Satety Lones

• Transit hubs the Squares. • Busy, complex areas cause navigate at a slower speeds why the squares? • Well-defined limits to the area distraction for all users; easier to supports the liveliness and vitality of • Requests from business associations- • High pedestrian and bicycle volumes LIMIT SPEED 20 FOR ZERO VISION CAMBRIDGE SLOW DOWN SAFER SQUARES

thus far • Vision Zero Working Group • Interdepartmental meetings • Vision Zero Advisory Committee Expanding Safety Zones- Discussions where and how we can expand the safety zone program. City staff have had numerous brainstorming sessions to try to determine

Goals: • Equity • Set realistic expectations • Make evidence-based decision expanding Satety Lones • Be responsive to residents concerns

Concate Issues residents still feel unsafe and uncomfortable. and safe we feel with the speed of cars on any given street. In many instances, we find 85th percentile speeds are below the 25 mph speed limit, but • Perception of speed: Factors like street width, parking, and land use impact how comfortable

Tools • Chicanes • Crossing Islands • Raised intersections • Raised side street treatments • CDD Traffic calming program Traffic Calming infrastructure must support slower speeds. Horizontal Devices: make the road less straight Vertical devices: make vehicles go over something • Speed limits alone do not solve speed problems; • Add Parking Narrow the road • Curb Extensions • Visual Narrowing by Adding Trees • Pavement Markings (eg. bike lane)

schools, youth centers rates and decrease harm when crashes do occur. Potential Ways to Frame the Issue Itself to clear divisions between major roadways and quiet residential street. High crash locations: lowering speeds at high crash locations can both lower crash Priority locations: elderly facilities, hospitals and health centers, libraries, playgrounds, Residential Streets: speeding is of great concern on residential streets across Cambridge. Most Streets in Cambridge could be considered residential. The geography of Cambridge does not lend

included in Safer Squares • Evidence-based decision-making Many high crash locations already • Does not address residential areas. High Crash Locations Priority Locations for 20mph Safety Zones Current Safety Zones 20mph in the Squares

Priority locations Priority Locations for 20mph Safety Zones School Library Playground Youth Center Elderly Facility Safety Zone Priority Sites * Open Stree Map contributors. and the GiS user community Hospital/Health Center

safety zones compliance. priority location would not be included. • Overabundance of signage Satety Lones would cover 3.8 • Locations of safety zones can • 1/8th mile buffer around each Some heavily residential areas feel random to drivers, lowering would likely lead to sign fatigue Priority locations square miles or 53% of city streets and decrease effectiveness of all N Priority Locations for 20mph Safety Zones School • Library Playground • Youth Center Elderly Facility Safety Zone Priority Sites • Hospital/Health Center me Mapmyinda Open Street/ap contrbutors, and the GiS user comm Priority Sites: 1/8th Mile Buffer

zones. Squares. significant crash history local, residential streets. • Identified areas with a high • Does not address concerns on density of priority locations and decrease effectiveness of Safer included in Safer Squares safety • Long, corridor based zones may Many of these locations already Mile Priority locations and Crash History Current Safety Zones 20mph in the Squares Crashes per Sq Mi (Contour) Priority Sites per Sq Mi (Contours) 2000 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 utors, and the GiS user commun 4000

The Dilemma select How to streets? residential Data street Crash ignores But that residential Major Corridors

DISCUSSION

AMACHMENT B My name is Louisa Gag. I am the Public Policy and Operations Manager for LivableStreets Alliance, Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment today. We appreciate that the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee is discussing this issue. Reducing the speed limit is an important - and effective - way to reduce vehicle speeds and increase safety on our streets, especially when paired with changes to the built environment such as traffic calming measures. Reducing the speed limit is one tool to reduce vehicle speeds. A recent study done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that when Boston's default speed limit was reduced from 30 mph to 25 mph in 2017, it resulted in statistically significant reductions in the odds of vehicles exceeding the speed limit. Most notably, it reduced the odds of cars going taster than 35 mph by over 29%. This indicates that lowering the speed limit in urban areas is an effective countermeasure to reduce speeds and improve safety for all road users. While the reduction from a 25 mph speed limit to 20 mph might seem minor, it makes a huge difference in safety. The faster a car is going when it hits you, the more likely you are to be killed. Consider this: if you are struck by a vehicle traveling 25 mph, the average fatality rate is 12%. Compare this to being hit by a vehicle going 20 mph -- your chance of dying has plummeted to 7%. Just a 5 mph reduction in speed has almost halved your likelihood of dying. We know that children and older adults are more likely to be injured or killed in a serious crashes -- and we want people of all ages and abilities to feel safe and comfortable on city streets. Speed limit reductions should be paired with traffic calming measures that physically and visually slow cars down, such as raised crosswalks, speed humps, and protected bike lanes that visually narrow travel lanes for people driving while also creating a space where people with various abilities feel safe to bike. When implementing Vision Zero changes on our streets, enforcement is never the first choice -- and so concerns about how to enforce a lower speed limit should not be a barrier for moving forward. Changing the physical design of our streets is a better way to encourage compliance with the speed limit, and we know from the IIHS study that I mentioned earlier that just changing the speed limit does, in fact, slow people down.

Lopez, Donna AMTACHMENT C [email removed] From: Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2018 1:31 PM To: Devereux, Jan Lopez, Donna; [email removed] Subject: Speed limits and speed signs Dear Jan, We strongly support a proposal to lower the speed limit to 20 MPH throughout Cambridge. In addition, we hope that our block of Larch Road between Fresh Pond Parkway and Brattle Street could not only be lowered to 20 MPH but also could be specifically labeled with speed limit signs reminding motorists of that speed limit when they turn onto Larch Road, both from the Parkway and from Brattle Street. Unfortunately the dual availability of short cuts off the Parkway and Brattle in an attempt to avoid traffic lights have recently made our street exceedingly unpleasant and often dangerous, especially during commuter times. The increasing amount of speeding traffic that hurries down our block between Brattle Street and Fresh Pond Parkway, including noisy commercial trucks and drivers looking for shortcuts to avoid the lights at Brattle and the Parkway presents a danger to pedestrians and residents and destroys the prior quiet neighborhood character of the street. Very truly yours, Ivers Bever and Reed Witherby 37 Larch Road.