Crossing Main Street
The Longleaf Trace is so integral to our goal of reinvigorating the North Main area that we put it in our name. And no part of the Longleaf Trace is as important as where it crosses Main Street. Unfortunately, that also happens to be the worst trail crossing in Hattiesburg.
East of Highway 49, the Longleaf Trace has 15 road crossings. Excluding the Main Street crossing, widths range from 15’-24’ with an average of less than 20’. Main Street’s crossing is 34’ inclusive of the “bike lane”. The bike line in this instance being a little faded white paint. Speed limits are mostly 25 mph on crossing streets, but Main Street is 35 mph. Main Street is also the only crossing with a signalized intersection to the south – the others have either a four or two way stop that slows traffic from that direction.
Traffic engineers use a concept referred to as the 85th percentile speed –the speed at or below which 85% of drivers will drive on a street under normal conditions. Straighter streets with wider lanes, lack of hard curbs or trees close to the street, and broad shoulders lead to people driving faster. What about speed limits you may ask? Most studies show they impact driving speeds very little; most people tend to drive as fast as it intuitively feels “safe”. The intersection of Main Street and the Longleaf Trace is designed, intentionally or not, for people to drive fast. People routinely cross this point at speeds well exceeding 35 mph.
Why does this matter? First, it is an obvious safety issue. For people outside a vehicle, the average risk of severe bodily injury (AIS-4) from being hit with a vehicle jumps from 50% at just 31 miles per hour to 75% at 39 miles per hour.[1] At the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour for Main Street’s crossing on the Long Leaf Trace, there is a 63% chance of severe bodily injury if a vehicle hits a pedestrian. Crossing Main Street’s 34’ takes about 7 seconds for the normal adult and more like 9 seconds for a kindergartener. That is a long time to be exposed to that kind of risk.
Beyond safety though, the speed at which vehicles drive through this area has a pernicious effect on the neighborhood. We all intuitively feel that there is a safety risk here – perhaps we spend less time outside exercising or building community with our neighbors because of that. And the general noise and dust of multiple vehicles going 35+ mph makes it unpleasant to walk or live on Main Street. Ever met someone who wanted to live adjacent to an interstate or highway? The North Main neighborhood is one of the few spots in our entire city that can truly benefit from the numerous benefits of a being a “walkable” neighborhood due to its existing sidewalk infrastructure and proximity to Downtown, which is probably why our 2015 Pathways Master Plan labels this area as a priority corridor for pedestrians and cyclists.
A huge thank you to the Administration for agreeing to put in a crosswalk mural at this intersection to help calm traffic. We can’t wait! We shouldn’t let just that mural be our end goal though - let’s also implement planters and other immediate road narrowing options to improve safety and slow traffic while we wait for future street improvements like hard curbs. Plus, the time is always NOW to work on repairing and maintaining the sidewalk infrastructure and expanding it where possible.
[1] https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2011PedestrianRiskVsSpeedReport.pdf