During any of the several late catastrophic blizzards that have draped the country with snow , you might have seen people tagging their photos # sneckdown . No , it ’s not a protective garment you endure to keep your neck opening snow - free ( although that could also come up in ready to hand ! ) . It ’s a word coined by transportation oddball .
“ Neckdown ” is a somewhat wonky terminus used by traffic engineers for the extended walker areas you ’ll see at crosswalks , say Clarence Eckerson ofStreetsfilm . “ The more vulgar term is kerb extension phone or bulb - outs , ” he tell Gizmodo . “ These are a proven mannequin of dealings calming that narrows the roadway so pedestrian have a shorter distance to cross at crossing . They also stimulate wrench cars to slow down and be more measured making their act . ”
Neckdowns are often assure as part ofroad dieting — where one or more lane of a street is gift back to pedestrians , bikes , or theodolite .
When it snows ( a lot ) , it essentially turns an intact city into a data - tracking organization — which can record the agency citizenry move through it . Slowly , way of life are carved through the snow by car , plows , and walker , with the most heavily go road finally revealing the pavement below .
Cars , plows , and mass cut up paths in fallen snow
What you start to notice is that car drive in a very narrow area compared to the breadth of the roadway , revealing untasted mound of snow around the quoin of the streets and intersections . The snow temporarily show where neckdowns might be potential by instance the place that ’s rarely used by machine .
In 2011 , Eckerson madethis videoof the phenomenon , call the impermanent American Stock Exchange extensions “ Snowy Neckdowns . ” In 2014 , the # sneckdown hashtag really caught on , and that time of year ’s wave of storms spawn article atStreetsblog NYCandBBC News .
While it ’s fun to imagine the possibility of a big walker plaza or dealings island in the middle of a wide street , the bully thing about sneckdowns is that they be absolutely nothing . deportation contriver spend lots of money funding dealings studies to empathise how hoi polloi and vehicles utilise street , and this is essentially a detached way to test out their theories . If you look at some of the changes enforce in New York City to improve the walker experience , they look an awful lot like a sneckdown .
Since so many states presently have C on the ground , you ’ll in all likelihood be able to spot sneckdowns in action right on now in a metropolis near you . It ’s a prissy activity to perish the fourth dimension as you wait for the snowfall to melt sometime in May .
Top figure byDoug Gordon / Brooklyn Spoke ; sneckdown montage by Instagram user @UrbanCincy ; New York street by NYC Streets
This article was originally issue on February 7th , 2014 .
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