Navigation Apps Are Turning Quiet Neighborhoods Into Traffic Nightmares

[cpzilliacus]

N.Y. Times: Navigation Apps Are Turning Quiet Neighborhoods Into Traffic Nightmares

LEONIA, N.J. – It is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see, the kind of soul-sucking traffic jam that afflicts highways the way bad food afflicts rest stops.

Suddenly, a path to hope presents itself: An alternate route, your smartphone suggests, can save time. Next thing you know, you're headed down an exit ramp, blithely following directions into the residential streets of some unsuspecting town, along with a slew of other frustrated motorists.

Scenes like this are playing out across the country, not just in traffic-choked regions of the Northeast. But one town has had enough.

With services like Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps suggesting shortcuts for commuters through the narrow, hilly streets of Leonia, N.J., the borough has decided to fight back against congestion that its leaders say has reached crisis proportions.

In mid-January, the borough's police force will close 60 streets to all drivers aside from residents and people employed in the borough during the morning and afternoon rush periods, effectively taking most of the town out of circulation for the popular traffic apps – and for everyone else, for that matter.

[dgolub]

Wow!  I suppose that they can't prohibit Waze from giving such directions without running into free speech issues, so I guess this is about all they can do to stop it.

[kalvado]

and many previous examples:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18094.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=14246.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18139.0

I wonder what happened with previous similar attempts....

[jeffandnicole]

NJ.com originally ran the story how Leonia was going to basically block people from their town's streets.  As has been the view of many on here, most commenting wondered what kind of lawsuits will be brought against the town for prohibiting people from driving on public streets. 

In that story, someone mentioned how it takes 'hours' to leave their driveway.  I wonder why reporters manage to find these people.  Do they yell out "Hey, who's the dumbest of the dumbest', and someone sticks their head out the door..."ME!!! ME!!!". 

[JREwing78]

I bet you many of these same folks get angry whenever talk of raising the gas tax to fund highway expansion happens.

SM-G950U

[Mergingtraffic]

Isn't Leonia the reason why I-80/I-95 does the big curve around anyway?  they didnt want the highway through their town.

Btw, if I want to take Leonia streets to get to my destination rather than the highway I should be able to.  Yeah it's not the most direct route, but it's my right.

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

[US 89]

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

Just to play devils advocate here, do you have a right to shunpike the California agriculture inspections?

[Alps]

Isn't Leonia the reason why I-80/I-95 does the big curve around anyway?  they didnt want the highway through their town.

Btw, if I want to take Leonia streets to get to my destination rather than the highway I should be able to.  Yeah it's not the most direct route, but it's my right.

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

Unless those roads are restricted, which is the towns' right to do. If it says "no through traffic" and you drive straight through, you can be ticketed.

[Alps]

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

Just to play devils advocate here, do you have a right to shunpike the California agriculture inspections?

Yes. You can take any roads you want that are open to the public. Unless those roads are closed to through traffic.

[Brandon]

Isn't Leonia the reason why I-80/I-95 does the big curve around anyway?  they didnt want the highway through their town.

Btw, if I want to take Leonia streets to get to my destination rather than the highway I should be able to.  Yeah it's not the most direct route, but it's my right.

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

Unless those roads are restricted, which is the towns' right to do. If it says "no through traffic" and you drive straight through, you can be ticketed.

Which is technically unenforceable.  There is no way in a court of law to prove the driver wasn't going to a destination within the neighborhood.

[froggie]

There is no way in a court of law to prove the driver wasn't going to a destination within the neighborhood.

There is for trucks, who are required by law to have origin and destination on their manifest.

[Brandon]

There is no way in a court of law to prove the driver wasn't going to a destination within the neighborhood.

There is for trucks, who are required by law to have origin and destination on their manifest.

I'm not discussing trucks.  I'm discussing commuters in cars.

[Alps]

Isn't Leonia the reason why I-80/I-95 does the big curve around anyway?  they didnt want the highway through their town.

Btw, if I want to take Leonia streets to get to my destination rather than the highway I should be able to.  Yeah it's not the most direct route, but it's my right.

Just like if I want to shunpike the DE I-95 tolls, it's my right to do that.

Unless those roads are restricted, which is the towns' right to do. If it says "no through traffic" and you drive straight through, you can be ticketed.

Which is technically unenforceable.  There is no way in a court of law to prove the driver wasn't going to a destination within the neighborhood.

There is if a police officer tracks you going from one end to the other without stopping. Which they could always do if so inclined.

[NE2]

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/no_through_traffic_signs_in_ne.html

The signs are installed as a deterrent, but the police have no authority to enforce it, Roberts said. It boils down to a matter of the public's constitutional rights to travel on public roads, he said.

[Alps]

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/no_through_traffic_signs_in_ne.html

The signs are installed as a deterrent, but the police have no authority to enforce it, Roberts said. It boils down to a matter of the public's constitutional rights to travel on public roads, he said.

If it's black on white, it's regulatory and can be enforced. So in this case, the municipality should have used black on yellow signs.

[empirestate]

Wait, what did the people of Leonia think was going to happen?

[storm2k]

Hoboken tried this back in the early aughts. They wanted to concoct some permit scheme where drivers could not go on their main throfares on their way to the Lincoln Tunnel. That went to court and got shot down, which is exactly what will happen to Leonia here. Such is life, and it will inevitably continue.

[jwolfer]

Reminds me of people who live in shore towns and get all butt-hurt about people parking on public streets in front of their house to use the beach

Z981

[sparker]

A town affected by this phenomenon might want to just do what West Seattle did on a lot of their secondary through streets back in the '80's and install small-diameter roundabouts every couple of blocks; when through traffic has to drop to 5-10 mph repeatedly just to navigate them, the deterrent factor will quickly ensue. 

[cpzilliacus]

Unless those roads are restricted, which is the towns' right to do. If it says "no through traffic" and you drive straight through, you can be ticketed.

I suspect that such signs are not enforceable.  A small (but wealthy) municipality here in Maryland was quietly and politely told that their NO THRU TRAFFIC signs were not enforceable under state law and for that reason had to be removed (and they were taken down).

[cpzilliacus]

There is if a police officer tracks you going from one end to the other without stopping. Which they could always do if so inclined.

Only  instance I am aware of where law enforcement has been able to do that and make the charges stick is at Dulles Airport in Virginia, where drivers (illegally) use the dedicated Dulles Airport Access Road to shunpike the tolls on VA-267 (and until recently HOV restrictions on I-66 inside the Capital Beltway). But that's because the Airport Access Road was built to connect places to the airport only (and it is signed that way as well).

So they follow drivers through the airport in unmarked vehicles and radio to a marked car to stop drivers that passed through without  stopping on the airport property for "airport business."  Stopping at the Sunoco station on the airport property is apparently enough to make the trip count as "airport business."

[Hurricane Rex]

In Sherwood, one Neighborhood used to get no traffic but with one of the streets being badly congested due to design, it is now used as a bypass. The area is not enforced by police and is one of the worst spots in town for traffic violations. It can be used by Google maps and waze occasionally but since I don't travel at peak times and I'm in school, I've never seen it happen.

Edit: I realize this is in the Northeast however I thought it could be useful to know. If it isn't I understand.

[cpzilliacus]

A town affected by this phenomenon might want to just do what West Seattle did on a lot of their secondary through streets back in the '80's and install small-diameter roundabouts every couple of blocks; when through traffic has to drop to 5-10 mph repeatedly just to navigate them, the deterrent factor will quickly ensue.

IMO, nothing wrong with that approach.  The District of Columbia uses (unwarranted) STOP signs to do same thing on many streets - never mind that the MUTCD says that STOP signs are not about  "traffic calming."

[kphoger]

Driving through quiet neighborhoods is the only way to get around in Branson (MO) without going crazy.  It used to be that nobody but locals knew the shortcut streets.  Now a lot of people do, and some of them are even labeled on tourist maps.

[cpzilliacus]

Driving through quiet neighborhoods is the only way to get around in Branson (MO) without going crazy.  It used to be that nobody but locals knew the shortcut streets.  Now a lot of people do, and some of them are even labeled on tourist maps.

WAZE and the others are giving these communities that suffer from spillover traffic an opportunity to do what is right - and advocate for more and bigger freeways, even if the freeway is in  their backyard.