Creating bikeable, \"permeable\" urban street grids
As just a few minor examples of the changing realities which are now affecting New Haven, national firefighters\' groups used to be opposed to narrower, slower-speed streets, but they now recognize that many more lives can be saved with them -- even if response times are slightly prolonged or emergency responders need some re-training. Public health organizations used to focus mostly on nutrition, health care and education policies, but have now identified transportation and walkable neighborhoods as arguably the most critical issue to promoting community health. Economic development officials increasingly focus on walkability, transit, livability, connectivity and the number of intersections per square mile, rather than on the volume of traffic or number of parking spaces within a certain radius. Transportation planners used to project rising traffic counts; the latest 2009 data has shown an approximately 30% decrease in congestion just over the past year alone. Cycling advocacy groups used to focus mostly on greenways, rail-trails, rural touring routes and bike lanes, but now increasingly focus on creating bikeable, \"permeable\" urban street grids where traffic speeds max out at around 20 MPH, with a variety of facilities contemplated to serve different user types. Even ConnDOT has been designing streets in new ways. Cities that have adopted these new viewpoints have been witnessing very dramatic changes in short periods of time. <a href="http://www.designnewhaven.com/2009/04/route-34-west-mdp-plan-reaches-critical.html">http://www.designnewhaven.com/2009/04/route-34-west-mdp-plan-reaches-critical.html</a>;
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