{"id":2650,"date":"2014-02-11T15:31:21","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T20:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roadtrafficsigns.com\/blog\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2025-02-21T07:10:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T12:10:06","slug":"sneckdowns-snowstorms-plan-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roadtrafficsigns.com/blog\/sneckdowns-snowstorms-plan-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Sneckdowns: Should snowstorms plan your streets?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sneckdown<\/a>

What could Philly build in the snow triangle? A tiny park? An island to make it safer and easier to cross the road? Sneckdown brought to you by the superb blog This Old City.<\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout urban areas hit hard by wintry weather this season, Mother Nature is making her own traffic planning suggestions known. Piles of snow known as \u201csneckdowns\u201d — more on the origin of that word later — are drifting into areas that, upon reflection, are ideal for road diets and sidewalk extensions. As Streetsblog reports<\/a>, \u201call that snow piling up at intersections shows us the excess road space that could be reclaimed permanently to calm traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rolls-right-off-your-tongue term \u201csneckdown\u201d is a \u201cportmanteau of \u2018snow\u2019 and \u2018neckdown,\u2019\u201d <\/span>reports<\/a> the DC area blog, Greater Greater Washington, \u201cthe latter being another term for sidewalk curb extensions. So it literally means a sidewalk extension created by snow.\u201d After being hit with multiple snowstorms this season, vehicles are on the road — and using much less space than they would otherwise.<\/span>
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\nThough a hashtag search for \u201csneckdowns\u201d will today elicit <\/span>hundreds of tweets<\/a> and photos, the term first came into popularity back in 2006, when <\/span>Streetfilms<\/a>\u2019 Clarence Eckerson, Jr. — who was frustrated by slow governmental response to traffic calming techniques in Brooklyn published a video revealing how neckdowns (sidewalk curb extensions) are created during snowstorms when plows push snow to the curb and cars are forced to use only the space necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

After snowplows clear sections of streets following each snowstorm, cars are forced to make do with much less space, and sneckdowns show exactly where space might be budgeted, re-imagined, and re-purposed with new sidewalks or median — changes that can clearly be made without negatively affecting drivers. “The snow is almost like nature’s tracing paper,” Eckerson told the <\/span>BBC<\/a>. “When you dump some snow on this giant grid of streets, now you can see, visually, how people can better use the streets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Take East Passyunk Avenue, in South Philadelphia. The street is replete with triangular patches of snow, such as one that could potentially accommodate a “parklet,” as well as multiple areas ripe for sidewalk extension potential, reports local <\/span>blog<\/a>, This Old City. Then there\u2019s Brooklyn\u2019s Fourth Avenue, captured in this <\/span>photo<\/a>, and another example, in DC, seen <\/span>here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of snow as a traffic-calming tool itself isn\u2019t new; it can be found in a 2001 <\/span>Transportation Alternatives\u2019 magazine<\/a> article: \u201cThe areas where snow remains untouched on the sides of streets shows where neckdowns could and should be installed. The remaining street space is all that cars and trucks need to negotiate the intersection.\u201d And, as The Atlantic <\/span>reports<\/a>, director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, Dan Burden, has been advocating snow traffic patterns as an engineering tool since the 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a useful insight, but is anyone actually, well, using it? As Burden told The Atlantic, some Australian engineers have used cake flour and oil stains to discover similar information about traffic patterns. After the initial research, traffic cones would be placed where the flour\/oil\/snow lines were documented, in order to “see how motorists handle that.” Following analysis of those changes, urban planners would be able to institute long-lasting changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in the U.S., according to Burden, roads are often created based on existing protocol, not on analysis of how roads are actually used. \u201cThey don\u2019t observe. They open their books,” Burden said of road designers. “And because they\u2019re not observing, they become very bad designers.\u201d Plus, after a road has been completed, there is little follow-up to determine how it might evolve based on changing pedestrian and driver needs over time. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the saddest things,\u201d Burden said. \u201cWhat if a doctor just kept doing operations and never followed up to see if the patient survives? I don\u2019t think you\u2019d want to go to that doctor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s hope that the concept will take off this season. At least one governmental transportation office, in Raleigh, NC, has <\/span>voiced interest<\/a>, tweeting out a call for photos of wasted intersection space throughout the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

Find more sneckdown photos online, including: <\/span>child-friendly corners<\/a>, <\/span>wasted space<\/a>, <\/span>pedestrian park safety<\/a>, and <\/span>potential pedestrian crossings<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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