"Woonerf," Royal Dutch Tour~ng Club, Environmental Comment, October 1978, $25/year, from: • ULl-the Urban Land In~titute 1200 18th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 The Dutch have been conducting experiments and studies for the last five years to resolve the problem of pedestrians, bicycles and cars all using the same narrow streets for transportation. 1he solution was the woonerf, a street design which integrates the mixed uses, but still emphasizes the residential January 1979 RAIN Page 15_ A wci&NERFUL IDEA! function over traffic. A special set of design standards and new traffic regulations are combined to reduce vehicle speeds. Some of the design standards for the woonerven are summarized as follows. ' • • It must be primarily a residential area. It can also contain shops, schools, offices, c'hurches ~nd community centers as long as ·these are not major traffic generators. • Through traffic should be excluded; only vehicles whose origin or destination is within the woonerf are permitted. • There should be no division of the street into separate areas for pedestrians and vehicles. • Breaks should occur in features at intervals of approximately 25 yards clearly indicating to motorists that the road is used like a sidewalk. • Features must be designed to restrict severely the s·peed of vehicles. ~ Pedestrians always have the right of way. l The conversion of an existing street to a woonerf costs one and a half times that for simple reconstruction of the roadway. However, the cost of a new woonerf need not be any higher than that of a: conventional street. In both cases access for emergency and urban service vehicles must be provided. The advantages that have resulted for ihe inhabi- .tants of the woonerven areas in the form of bikeways and improved residential safety suggest that this is appropriate traffic planning for some city neighborhoods. A good model for our densely populated eastern cities. Once again our feet ~ and the bicycle can become competitive modes of transpor- - tation, thereby conserving our fossil fuels and preserving our ~ sanity. -PC r:,J F3 -----------------------"~~------'-- IG WHEELING ABOUT WHEELING l\.BOUT WHEEL The Clean Air Act amended in 1977 calls for states to revise their state implementation plans for areas which·do not meet national ambient air .quality standards. These revisions were to be submitted to EPA by January 1, 1979. Bicycle planning neecis to be incorporated into these revisions as part of the transportation/air quality planning and program. For further details on . strategies for bibycle planning and implementation on a state and local level, write EPA, Office ~f Transportation and • Land Use Policy, Washington, DC ' 20460, for Bicycle Strategies to Reduce Air Pollution (Doc. EPA 400/9-78-008 June 1978) and also request more recent documents they've published this f~ll on the subject. -LS Following is a list of regional EPA Bicycle coordinators to contact regarding incorporating bicycle programs and strategies into the transportation component of the state implementation plans: EPA Regional Bicycle Coordinators New England Barbara Ikalainen 617 /223-5630 EPA Region I Room 2303, J .F. Kennedy Building Boston, MA 02203 Northeast Lou Heckman 212/264-9800 EPA Region II Room 1005, 26 Federal Plaza New York, NY 10007 East Central Bill Belanger 215/597-8188 EPA Region Ill Sixth and Walnut Stree~s Philadelphia, PA 19106 Southeast Ron McHenry 404/881-3043 EPA Region IV 245 Courtland Street, N.E. Atlanta, GA 30308 Great Lakes Phyllis Kiierig 321/353-2205 EPA Region V '230 S. Dearborn Chicago, IL 60604 South Central Bill Taylor 214/767-2742 EPA Region VI 1201 Elm Street Dallas, TX 75270 Central Thomas D. Gillard 214/767-2742 . EPA Region VII Room 249, 1735 Baltimore Avenue Kansas City, MO 64108 Rockies ' Barry Levene 303/837-3711 EPA Region VIII, Suite 900 1860 Lincoln Street Denver, CO 80203 Southwest Steve Drew 415/556-6925 EPA Region IX 215 Fremont Street San Francisco, CA 94105 North~est Lori Smith 206/442-1226 EPA Region X 1200 6th Avenue Seattle, WA 98101
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