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Hanover Bike Walk supports increased safety and access for people walking and biking around the Green.
COLLEGE STREET is being redesigned Summer 2024 to include a raised midblock crosswalk and pedestrian detection system which activates pedestrian flashing lights.
How can the roads around the Green be made more safe, accessible and inviting for people to walk and bike?
GPI consultancy has drafted three proposals, all of which include RAISED CROSSINGS, RAISED INTERSECTIONS, and SEPARATED BIKE LANES! Recently the Director of Public Works in Hanover has also proposed to the Selectboard deploying PEDESTRIAN DETECTORS that trigger PEDESTRIAN FLASHERS. Unlike other pedestrian activated flashers in town, instead of pedestrians needing to push a button to activated the flashers, these flashers would be triggered by pedestrians walking past detectors en route to a crosswalk.
Read more about these proposals and see Treatments for Consideration below!
NEX_2020044_Hanover_Design II_2021_07_06.pdfPhase 2 Plans_060321.pdfEast Wheelock Street is a two-lane, two-way street with exclusive left turn lanes at Main Street and College Street. There is a mobility hub which accommodates local, regional and intercity bus transit along the southerly side of the street. There are heavy pedestrian crossings between the Dartmouth Green and the Hopkins Center and South Main Street. The primary issues on East Wheelock Street include pedestrian safety and bicycle accommodation at the College Street/East Wheelock intersection. In addition, the concrete sidewalk along the Green is deteriorating and the light fixtures on this block do not match the fixtures around the Green nor downtown and are not ideal for lighting the pedestrian environment.
Replacement of the sidewalk along the Green and the street lighting to match the downtown streets is recommended in each alternative. “Super Sharrows” (see Treatments for Consideration starting on page 9) for bicycle accommodation are shown in both directions along East Wheelock Street. Although traffic volumes are higher than would be recommended for a shared bicycle/ vehicle treatment on East Wheelock Street, traffic is generally very slow on this block and the right-of-way (ROW) is constrained by the existing pedestrian refuge island, the mobility hub, and the Hanover Inn porte cochere leaving few options for separate bicycle accommodations. Super Sharrows would not result in a high-comfort bicycle accommodation appropriate for all ages and abilities but the option of riding through the Green is available for less confident cyclists.
College St./ East Wheelock St. Intersection. Due to high pedestrian volumes and desire lines between the Green, the downtown and surrounding college activity centers, all of the intersections around the Green (Main/Wheelock, College/East Wheelock, College/Wentworth and Wentworth/North Main) are shown as raised intersections to improve accessibility and calm vehicle speeds, the geometry tightened (pavement width reduced) to slow turning vehicles and shorten pedestrian crossing distances as possible. Curb extensions are shown adjacent to parking lanes to improve pedestrian visibility and safety. Pavers in place of asphalt would slow traffic and visually differentiate the crossing space from the street providing a visual cue to drivers regarding mixing of pedestrians and vehicles. A couple of example photos of raised intersections follow. The first example is in Cambridge, MA and the second example is in Newmarket, NH – both examples utilize concrete unit pavers. Raised intersections are gradual and are traversable by all vehicles and set off by pavement markings to warn drivers of the change in street context.
College Street is one-way in the northbound direction. The existing pavement width is approximately 34-feet. The east side of the street is used for parking at off-peak times (parking is prohibited from 7 am to 6 pm except Sundays). In the existing condition there are two-closely spaced mid-block crossings in front of Dartmouth Hall. The College is currently renovating Dartmouth Hall and the pedestrian walkways are being reconfigured to eliminate one of the mid-block crossings, thereby directing pedestrians to a crossing aligned with the center of the Green and another aligned with the College Street/Wentworth Street intersection. The primary design issues on College Street include the width of the street which is excessive for a one lane street with parking on one side, pedestrian safety, bicycle accommodation, and the parking arrangement on the easterly side of the street. All alternatives narrow the pavement width -- the wide street coupled with the number of crossing pedestrians is a safety concern. The mid-block crossing is recommended to be raised and will improve pedestrian visibility, accessibility and safety. Curb extensions are added to improve pedestrian safety.
Wentworth Street is one-way in the westbound direction. The existing pavement width is approximately 26-feet and is a single travel lane that transitions to exclusive left and right turn lanes at North Main Street. The northerly side of the street is improved with a sidewalk, vertical granite curbing and a tree lawn. There is an Advance Transit bus stop on the northerly side of the street. The primary issues on Wentworth Street include bicycle accommodation and pedestrian safety at the intersections which currently have wide curb radii.
Wentworth Street is the only street that does not have a parallel sidewalk along the Green – which eliminates the feasibility of formal mid-block pedestrian crossings. With the width of the street, its potential to operate as two lanes, and the number of pedestrians crossing to the Green, pedestrians would be better served by defining a single travel lane on Wentworth Street. The approach to Wentworth Street is to rebalance the existing paved area between bikes and vehicles. Striped buffered bike lanes in the westbound and contra-flow (eastbound) directions are shown. A shared bus/bike condition would be allowed in the westbound direction to accommodate the relatively low frequency of buses stopping on Wentworth Street. The edge of the Green would remain uncurbed to accommodate drainage. The intersection would be narrowed to a single lane as well which would be safer for pedestrians crossing at the intersection.
North Main Street is one-way in the southbound direction, generally one travel lane that expands to three lanes (exclusive left, through, and exclusive right turn lanes) at the East/West Wheelock Street intersection. A two-lane configuration consisting of a shared through-left and an exclusive right turn lane are shown. Dropping a travel lane shortens the crosswalk length for pedestrians and provides space for other users. Other advantages include reducing confusion regarding the one-way southbound flow of Main Street and making the left turn onto East Wheelock Street easier for larger vehicles (like Dartmouth Coach). The primary design issues on North Main Street include safer pedestrian crossings and bicycle accommodations.
For all three options, a cycle track in the contra-flow (northbound) direction and “Super Sharrows” for shared lane treatment in the southbound direction are shown. The 6.5-foot wide cycle track has a minimum 3-foot buffer to the street and a 3-foot buffer between the cycle track and sidewalk. A raised mid-block crossing of North Main Street, consistent with the other streets around the Green, is shown. The curb radii at North Main Street and Wentworth Street are recommended to be reduced (as possible) for pedestrian safety. There is an Advance Transit bus stop on the north side of the northerly pedestrian crossing at North Main Street/Wentworth Street (there is an existing sign at this location). This stop should be improved with a concrete pad in the tree lawn to meet current ADA requirements. The intersection at Wheelock Street/Main Street is raised and treated with pavers as discussed previously.
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