Pressure Project 1 – Yujie
Posted: January 27, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »When I see the key words “traffic” and “congestion” in pressure project instruction, the first thing come to my mind is the intersections on the street. Because English is my second language and my learning experience of those two words when I was young restrict me from thinking broadly and metaphorically. Though I realized that I limit myself to the narrow concept of traffic and congestion, the pressure time frame stops me from trying to do the process again. So I decide to follow what I have already chosen, which is an intersection on the High Street. One thing I’ve got from this experience is that we should always think twice about the descriptive language itself and be aware of any cultural or experiential bias we might have around it.
Here is a top-down diagram I have drown:
I’m using AEIOU framework from the week 1 readings to organize information I observed in a high traffic congestion on the intersection of the N High St. and E Hubbard Ave. at night in the weekend. AEIOU stands for Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects, and Users.
Activities: pedestrians passing across E Hubbard Ave; vehicles moving from E Hubbard Ave. into N High St. and vise versa.
Environments: the intersection located in busy venues of bar and restaurant on Short North. During the weekend after about 10pm, partygoers are packed on the high street. There is a high traffic congestion on E Hubbard Ave where cars try to turn right of left into High St.
Interactions: Drivers coming from E Hubbard Ave encounter the traffic lights, avoid pedestrians walking across the street, and yield drivers on the High Street; drivers on high street move on normal speed; pedestrians encounter traffic light.
Objects: there is a traffic lights for pedestrians to cross the street; another traffic light is for vehicles coming from E Hubbard Street.
Users: drivers on the E Hubbard Street who experience congestion during the traffic peak hour at night on the weekend.
Problem: drivers coming from E Hubbard Street experience congestion because they have to wait for pedestrians to cross and have to yield drivers on the high street coming from both directions. The left turn traffic light only turn to green circle instead of greet arrow, so drivers have to wait for a long time until both direction are clear. This might not a problem during non-peak time, say weekdays or daytime.
Intervention: I suggest building a congestion senser on the right side of E Hubbard Street to track the congestion. The senser can be something like the kinetic senser which is sensitive to the movement of vehicles. If there is a stop of vehicle movement and it last for about more than 1 minutes, the senser will trigger the traffic light on High Street to turn to green arrow instead of green circle. The senser can be only turned on during the weekend at 10pm-1am.
See the photo below:
