Planting trees, telegraph poles, bicycles and private cars parked randomly...
The narrowing of the sidewalk makes it difficult for pedestrians
Beijing’s local standard, which will be implemented in April next year-"Pedestrian and Bicycle Traffic Environmental Planning and Design Standard", proposes that if there are no space difficulties, the sidewalk width should not be less than 2 meters.
Prior to this, the regulations issued by Beijing also required that sidewalks must be left at least 2 meters wide for pedestrians.
However, citizens often encounter such a situation: the sidewalk becomes narrower and narrower, and finally can only accommodate the width of one person, and as a last resort, they can only walk on the non-motorized vehicle lane; motor vehicles and bicycles parked on the sidewalk randomly and can only "shuttle" in the meantime Walking... In recent years, the sidewalks in many sections of Beijing have become narrower due to various reasons, and many citizens are worried about hidden traffic hazards.
What is the actual situation?
A reporter from the Beijing News recently conducted an on-site visit.
Exploring 1 Xinfeng North Street
The sidewalk on one side is less than 1 meter wide and the elderly pushes on the motorway
On the morning of November 5, in Xinfeng North Street, Xicheng District, a reporter from the Beijing News observed that the sidewalks on both sides of the road were really "a bit narrow."
There are two motorized lanes in the middle of this road, one of which is planned for parking. The reporter saw that the lane is almost full of cars; the road is not planned for non-motorized lanes, and citizens riding electric vehicles or bicycles can only share the same lane with motor vehicles. .
The reporter used a tape measure to measure multiple locations, excluding special locations such as turns. The sidewalk on the east side of the road is less than 1 meter, and the sidewalk on the west side of the road is less than 1.8 meters. In addition, telephone poles, parking posts, and various sign poles set up on the sidewalk are available for citizens The width of the walking sidewalk is actually narrower.
Since Xinfeng North Street is connected to the North Third Ring Road, there are relatively many vehicles. There are also public places such as Shuangxiu Park, Beijing Yuxiang Primary School, and Beijing Sanfan Middle School near this road. There are relatively more elderly people and students passing through. Narrow sidewalks pose a certain risk.
During the reporter's visit, it was discovered that some elderly people pushing trolleys could only go down the motor vehicle lanes.
A resident living nearby told reporters that this sidewalk has been criticized by surrounding residents for a long time. “The narrowest place may be only one foot wide, and there are often elderly people and children passing by. Every time cars, bicycles and people are crowded. Being together is very dangerous, and it feels like something will happen sooner or later."
In response to these questions, the reporter consulted the Desheng Sub-district Office of the sub-district under the jurisdiction of the road. A staff member said that he was not sure which department was responsible for such problems and could not give answers.
Exploring 2 The auxiliary road on the west side of South East Third Ring Road
There is a drop of nearly half a meter between the pedestrian walkway and the bus stop
"Isn't it? It's too difficult to walk. The pedestrian walkway is less than half a meter, and it is mixed with the bus stop, where we can go." Some citizens reported that the design of a pedestrian walkway in the Shuangjing area of Chaoyang District was unreasonable.
On the afternoon of November 5th, south of Shuangjing Road, and north of the auxiliary road on the west side of East Third Ring Road, the reporter found this pedestrian walkway, which is about a hundred meters long in front of the China Art Publishing Corporation.
The reporter found after field experience that this section of the road is very difficult to walk, because the trail is only about 50 cm wide, and it crosses the bus stop.
When there are a lot of people, pedestrians can only walk on non-motorized lanes. Be careful to avoid electric bicycles that come quickly behind you. There will be electric bicycles coming in retrograde on the face, which is simply "dangerous."
Compared with the cramped pedestrian walkway, the next section of the road is obviously flatter and more spacious, but this section of the road is nearly 50 cm higher than the road surface, and the huge height difference discourages many pedestrians.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon on November 5, citizen Ms. Li picked up her grandson from a nearby kindergarten home from school, struggling to hug the child on a high platform nearly half a metre above the ground, and she pulled the trolley for grocery shopping with a bicycle on the side. Dao walked carefully, turning his head to look at the side of the little grandson from time to time, for fear of danger.
"There is really no way. Children like to run and jump when they walk. I can't get to the road there, so I can only let him walk on it. We watched from the side." Ms. Li told reporters that her family moved to a few years ago. At this time, the road here is like this. Every time she picks up the grandson from school, she needs to hug and hug her, "Why can't we make this road high on one side?"
Continue to go south along the auxiliary road of East Third Ring South Road, and the reporter encountered another road that was also "unfriendly" to pedestrians.
The pedestrian walkway on the side road of the East Third Ring South Road was nearly two meters wide, and there were barrier-free facilities such as blind tracks, but when passing through an overpass, these changed. The ramp of the overpass directly took up more than half of the pedestrian walk. , The blind path is nowhere to look.
Only between the bridge and the walls of the nearby merchants is a narrow aisle that is only slightly wider than an adult's shoulder, which can accommodate one person.
On the afternoon of November 5th, Mr. Sun, a citizen, just came out of the bakery on the side of the road, and a few pedestrians approached him. They all squeezed sideways and abdomen in the same place.
"This is still a good day. As soon as it rains and snows, the upstairs is dripping with water. The tiled pavement on the ground will still accumulate water and freeze. It is very dangerous. I fell here the year before. Get up." Mr. Sun said.
Visit 3 Taipingqiao Road
Pedestrians and motor vehicles mixed in the morning and evening peak safety hazards prominent
On the afternoon of November 5th, on Taipingqiao Road in Fengtai District, the reporter found that the sidewalk on the east side of the road was relatively narrow. The width of the sidewalk was less than 1.3 meters as measured by a tape measure. Because the sidewalk is still planted with trees and telegraph poles, some road sections It is only 50 cm wide and can only accommodate one person.
The reporter observed on the spot that most pedestrians passing through this section would choose to take the non-motorized vehicle lane. Since the road leads to Guang'an Road in the north and is close to Beijing West Railway Station, the traffic volume is relatively large. In addition, there are Taiping Bridge No. 2 Primary School and Beijing Electric Power in the surrounding area. In places with high population density such as hospitals, a large number of pedestrians walk on non-motorized vehicle lanes during the morning and evening peaks and during the period when students go to and from school. The potential safety hazards are more prominent.
In this regard, a staff member of the Urban Management Office of the Taipingqiao Sub-district Office said that he has understood the relevant information and will report it to the department leaders and further negotiate solutions.
After on-site visits in multiple locations, the reporter observed that, in addition to planning issues, there are also shared bicycles, private cars, and scooters, businesses, illegal construction, and unreasonable location of tree piers and telephone poles. Many other problems have seriously encroached on sidewalks that were not wide.
■ Related laws and regulations
Beijing has repeatedly issued regulations requiring the sidewalk width to be no less than 2 meters
On October 13 this year, Beijing issued the local standard "Pedestrian and Bicycle Traffic Environmental Planning and Design Standard", which will be implemented on April 1 next year.
The standard proposes that sidewalks should be installed on both sides of urban roads at all levels, and the sidewalks shall not be interrupted; and there shall be no facilities that hinder the passage of pedestrians.
Large-scale commercial areas should be set up pedestrian streets or pedestrian streets divided into time periods, and the width of the pedestrian streets should meet the pedestrian flow requirements.
Sidewalks are not allowed to be crowded. Existing roads are not allowed to expand motor vehicle lanes by crowding sidewalks and non-motorized vehicle lanes. The crowded roads should be restored.
The standard also clearly defines the width of the sidewalk: the width of the sidewalk should be the recommended value, and the minimum value can be used only when the space is difficult. Among them, the auxiliary road and the main road are recommended to be greater than or equal to 4 meters, and the minimum is 3. Meters; the minimum value of secondary trunk roads is 2.5 meters; the minimum value of branch roads is 2 meters; the minimum value of concentrated road sections in public places such as schools and hospitals is 4 meters.
In other words, if there is no space difficulty, the sidewalk width cannot be less than 2 meters.
There are also some situations that are listed separately. For example, the sidewalk width should not be less than 1.5 meters if the side of the road is a section with sparse pedestrian traffic such as railways; roads such as alleys and neighborhood roads below urban roads are available for motor vehicles. The width of pedestrian passage should not be less than 1.5 meters; the width of urban greenway sidewalk should not be less than 2 meters.
This is not the first time that Beijing has regulated the width of sidewalks.
In 2016, the "Urban Road Public Service Facilities Installation and Management Code" formulated by the original Beijing Municipal City Appearance Management Committee required that even the sidewalk with the smallest remaining width of the branch road should not be less than 2 meters in width.
■ Expert advice
Traffic planning should be "pedestrian friendly" sidewalk width standards should be clearer
"The problem of narrow sidewalks in Beijing should be said to be more serious." Li Dihua, an associate professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Peking University, believes that the main reason is a conceptual problem.
“Our city’s leading traffic ideology has always been motor-oriented and motor-vehicle priority. When confronted with conflicts between people and vehicles, in order to solve the problem of motor vehicle congestion, we often “sacrifice” pedestrian rights as soon as possible. If the lifestyle of motor vehicles does not change, the problem of sidewalks being squeezed will definitely continue."
On the other hand, the city's excessive emphasis on green space is also a factor that causes sidewalks to be squeezed. Green space is indeed important, but it should not compete for space with human comfort, safety and convenience.
"When there is a conflict between motor vehicles, green space, and pedestrians, we can sacrifice the rights of pedestrians, but we cannot occupy the green space. This is actually a misconception."
Lou Wei, director of the Research Office of Resources and Environmental Economics of the Institute of Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also said that the importance of urban transportation planning on motorways has indirectly led to the neglect of sidewalks.
"Compared to motor vehicles, pedestrians are a disadvantaged group, and they have not received enough attention. In the past, urban road planning has given more consideration to how to solve the problem of motor vehicle traffic congestion, and the safety and comfortable travel needs of pedestrians have been weakened."
This problem is also related to the history of urban development, because the city is gradually developing. Many old areas have high housing and residents density, and there is little space reserved for sidewalks.
Lou Wei suggested that the construction of sidewalks should refer to the height of ecological civilization construction, green development and high-quality development; in urban and transportation planning, "Pedestrian-friendly" should be taken as an important planning principle, and new technologies such as smart technology should be used. Method, accurate implementation of road reconstruction in different regions.
In addition, the current standards for sidewalks are too low and the standards are not clear enough.
"For example, it is stipulated that some roads should be greater than or equal to 4 meters. This 4-meter rule is actually rather vague. Does it require clear width (that is, exclude obstacles such as trees and municipal facilities) or include other facilities? If it includes For other facilities, even if the width of the sidewalk is 4 meters, the width that people can walk on is actually not enough. From the perspective of human experience, the net width of the sidewalk must be at least 4 meters, and the experience will be more comfortable." Li Dihua Say.
Correspondingly, Li Dihua said that the change of people's life concept is also very important. In a large city like Beijing, public transportation, non-motorized vehicles, and walking should become the mainstream mode of travel instead of driving.
"It is impossible for us to create space, but we can change the traffic structure by changing lifestyles and traffic concepts, and finally achieve the goal of more comfortable and convenient walking."
Beijing News reporter Xu Meihui Pei Jianfei