Snow is the ultimate tactical urbanist. It is the most effective traffic calming device. And it can be an advocate’s best friend when it comes to showcasing the excess space given to motorists on our streets.

The West Asheville intersection highlighted in the video below is offset intersections with split phases. It confuses motorists and pedestrians like. In the absence of pedestrian signals or a dedicated pedestrian phase at this popular node, a curb extension would reduce pedestrian crossing distance and make them more visible to motorists at a confusing intersection. The snow designed a solution for us.

The intersection of Lexington and College is a pretty typical design for downtown Asheville. This sneckdown illustrates how a curb extension would reduce pedestrian crossing distance by one-third. I watched several vehicles make the left turn onto this street. They avoided the snow heap altogether.