The street I live on is a two way street with one parking lane, and it is only 22 ft wide. It is common on many other streets for driving lanes to be 12 ft wide, and parking lanes to be 7 ft wide, which would result in a 31 ft wide street. My street is so narrow that for cars to pass one another in opposite directions, one car needs to move into the parking lane for there to be space for the other to pass. As a result, streets this narrow are frequently called yield streets.
It might seem like it would be dangerous to make streets this narrow, but in fact yield streets are the safest type of street to live on. First, drivers travel more slowly on yield streets. Second, because there is potential for conflict with other motorists, drivers are more attentive.
In order to realize the safety benefits of a yield street, cars must drive more slowly than on a wider street. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh’s speed limits on yield streets are too high. This is largely due to Pennsylvania state law, which sets the speed limit at 25 mph for residential streets.
Most drivers travel slower than the speed limit on these streets, however some drivers will be encouraged by the excessive speed limit to drive at an unsafe speed. The 25 mph speed limit prevents enforcement of safe driving speeds on these streets. An additional problem is that most traffic calming programs, including Pittsburgh’s, require documentation of speeding for a street to be eligible for traffic calming infrastructure.
Pittsburgh should reduce its speed limit on all streets where the driving lanes are less than 10 ft to 15 mph. Pennsylvania should amend its state law to make this the default speed limit for narrow streets as well. Until this change is implemented, the department of mobility and infrastructure should evaluate car speeds relative to 15 mph when determining eligibility for traffic calming.
