Short radial streets – running from mid-city boulevard G to the outermost street L – were introduced in 2011. Members of the planning committee representing our Gate raised an issue with these extra new streets: participant Exodus traffic traveling along the back street are now subject to twice as many intersection delays than in previous designs. This especially impacted travel from the zones near 2:00 and 10:00, furthest from our Gate.
Rather than eliminating these new streets, which were added to ease bicycle and foot traffic during the event, the Gate proposed further study of the problem in 2012, and then implemented a new, dedicated Exodus traffic lane to serve those camped in the outer-most zones. The duration of Exodus departure times was reduced, perhaps in part because of this new feature.
Annular streets A, B, and C run in densely populated areas of our city, so an increased street width can mitigate temporary encroachments caused by popular attractions. This year we added B and C streets to the group of 40-foot wide streets.
The design and city footprint held our increased peak population of 56,000 quite well, with ample space still available at the outer blocks throughout the event. As always we were prepared with auxiliary streets, pre-surveyed.
Submitted by,
Terry Schoop