Snow = Nature's Street Calming Measure?

I grew up mainly in the Midwest and have had my fill of snow to last for two lifetimes.

However, in some misguided form of wanderlust I booked myself a ticket from sunny (warm!) Los Angeles where I live now to Chicago for my birthday. In February. Where the Blizzard of 2011 hit. A day before I flew in. Yes, I am that kind of smart.

My travel plans made complete and total sense back when I booked my ticket in October. I'd completely forgotten about that fluffy white stuff that rains down from the heavens. And sticks together and collects. And collects. And collects. Until there are piles of snow as high as the top of a car's tires.

However, one thing that snow does provide is traffic calming. Traffic calming is exactly what it sounds like- design features built into the built environment to slow down traffic. There is a range of ideas from speed bumps to narrowed streets to changes in texture in paving. But sometimes Nature lends a helping hand and create what traffic engineers call "bulb-outs" or extensions of the curb. These rounded and extended curb corners force drivers to slow down as they round a curve as the street extends into the road.

The author in the video calls them neck-downs. Neck-down, bulb-out, whatever. It works. If only we could drive this safely all year long.

http://www.streetfilms.org/snowy-neckdowns-redux-winter-traffic-calming/