Streetsblog New York City

 
From Streetfilms' animation division comes the third installment of traffic-calming shorts from Elizabeth Press. First she brought you chicanes, then the raised crosswalk. Now comes the diverter, which Elizabeth explains like so:

Diagonal diverters, half closures, entrance barriers, median barriers, semi-diverters; traffic calming techniques come in all shapes and sizes. They can help create more livable communities. As demonstrated in this short animation, once the diverters are in place, traffic decreases on the side street. Cars on the side street must turn left, but cyclists can continue straight. This makes the side street safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson, Jr., shows how the alternate side dance can slow traffic.

On alternate side of the street parking days, many communities in Brooklyn have worked out a deal so car owners are allowed to double park without impunity so the streets can get their weekly brushing. (Okay, let’s not touch that argument today.) During the interim switchover when drivers are relocating their cars - usually lasting about 15 to 20 minutes - chicanes are temporarily created, which delightfully slow car speeds to more human levels.

In the shortest, sweetest Streetfilm ever, a 24-second stop-motion animation, Elizabeth Press perfectly illustrates a chicane which is a sequence of bump-outs that force drivers to slow down and drive a more circuitous route along a straight, wide street. An added side benefit, chicanes also create more sidewalk space to be used for benches, tables, plantings and street furniture.

The word chicane comes from the German word schikane, meaning harassment.

Project for Public Spaces has more on chicanes and various other traffic calming techniques.