Julie Kaschub stood on a Grandin Village street corner recently, holding her nearly 2-year-old son, Henry, on her hip, when something unusual happened - traffic stopped and drivers politely waited for her to cross.

"Before, it was a free-for-all," she said, "but it seems much safer now."

To the delight of some and dismay of others, Roanoke plans to expand controversial measures to slow traffic on several busy streets despite ongoing concern by some motorists, emergency workers and neighborhood residents.

Traffic calming, as the measures are known, affects tens of thousands of people every day, whether they live in Roanoke, work here or just pass through. Most people have a strong opinion on the go-slow tactics, which either make them feel safer in their own neighborhoods or make them boiling mad on their daily commute.

"It's ridiculous," said Ben Burch, of Roanoke. "The city claims it's safer, but it's actually not."

Neighborhood speeding isn't a new problem in Roanoke. Lead-footers have long angered homeowners, whether they live along a shortcut or a major artery.

But now, Roanoke officials are taking a more aggressive approach in balancing transportation and quality of life needs in a city that's trying to rejuvenate its economy while preserving its historic character. City officials say they have anticipated a barrage of complaints from motorists, but that in the end, neighborhood safety is more important than commuter satisfaction.

More than $1 million has been spent - and at least another $1 million earmarked - to narrow streets, widen sidewalks, extend curbs and plant trees in an effort to make some of the city's roads more pedestrian-friendly and attractive.

Roanoke defends the slowdown

Traffic-calming opponents say speed traps would be more effective and cheaper than constricted streets, which they consider dangerous obstacle courses. They point to tire-scuffed curbs and plowed-over saplings as proof.

Others disagree, saying early signs show that motorists are slowing down - whether they like it or not - in four busy thoroughfares and one park.

Similar measures are being considered for at least two more sites. The two most prominent projects so far are the Bullitt-Jamison corridor in Southeast, where speeders plowing into yards and houses isn't uncommon, and the Grandin Village part of Grandin Road in Southwest, where shoppers, schoolchildren and moviegoers worry about crossing the street. An elderly man was struck and killed by a school bus there in 2001.

"People who don't want to go 25 mph will hit the curbs," City Manager Darlene Burcham said. "They say you can't drive a decent speed, but you can. And we're not elongating their drive by minutes, it's seconds. It's not like you're going to be late for dinner. If you're late for dinner, you left late."

An early blitz of complaints has lessened. Roanoke officials take that as a sign the public is starting to understand the benefits of driving slowly.

Mark Jamison, the city's traffic engineer, said his crews are documenting average speeds, accident rates, travel times and safety conditions before and after the traffic-calming measures were installed. He said they are confident they will be proved right when the final numbers are crunched this summer.

"I don't have any sympathy," Jamison said of speeders whose tires and front-end alignments are damaged by the widened curbs. "People drive as fast as they're comfortable and we want you to be comfortable driving slow."

Critics air their complaints

Irate residents in the Netherlands first fought cut-through traffic in the 1960s. About the same time in the United States, traffic calming started in Seattle, Berkeley, Calif., and Eugene, Ore., and became more prevalent in the late 1990s.

Nationwide, traffic calming has become more controversial in recent years, spawning lawsuits, furious debate and hundreds of Web sites by motorists, neighborhood residents and others as the slow-down measures spread.

Supporters such as the Public Technology Institute and the Institute of Transportation Engineers say the measures help to reclaim once-quiet urban neighborhood streets that have become speedways. They say the measures reduce vehicle speeds, reduce crash severity, promote walking and bike riding, and make for more pleasant neighborhoods.

Opponents such as the National Motorists Association say their studies show the measures endanger drivers and substantially delay fire trucks and ambulances. They also say the measures squeeze traffic onto adjacent streets; increase exhaust emissions from extra braking and acceleration; hurt people with disabilities who are jostled in their vehicles; and harm businesses by putting obstacles in their customers' way.

Traffic-calming detractors readily admit they don't want to slow down. They want wider streets, higher speed limits, synchronized traffic lights and fewer stop signs to better clear the way for motorized America. They also say traffic calming is part of a New Urbanism conspiracy to force Americans to live in high-density, mixed-use city neighborhoods where they will walk, ride bikes and use mass transit rather than living in the suburbs and relying on their cars.

"Traffic calming really says people aren't smart enough - they have to be forced," said Burch, who's president of the Airlee Court Neighborhood Association in Roanoke. "I don't think we need social engineering through traffic calming."

'It's definitely working'

In 2001, Roanoke started considering traffic calming after realizing many drivers weren't getting the slow-down message from speed limit signs, radar enforcement zones, street restriping and traffic education efforts.

Roanoke police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said patrol officers habitually watch for speeders and set up weekly radar enforcement zones wherever residents call in the most complaints. But police can't set up permanent speed traps in trouble spots, she said. Even during traffic-calming construction, when the streets were filled with orange cones and orange-vested workers, many drivers kept the pedal to the floor. From March 2004 to March 2005, police issued 104 speeding tickets on Bullitt Avenue and 94 on Jamison Avenue.

Speeding is so common on some streets that many residents no longer bother to call in complaints.

City officials said traffic calming is part of Roanoke's comprehensive plan - which guides the city's development - and the strategy to revitalize its neighborhoods. But the go-slow measures are only being used in places where they are appropriate for both drivers and pedestrians, they said.

"We understand this approach isn't the thing to do on every street, but I'm hearing from people we should stay the course," said Bob Bengtson, the city's director of public works.

It's too soon to tell what the final verdict will be in Roanoke. Some cities, such as Portland, Ore., are expanding their traffic calming. Others, such as Honolulu, have declared moratoriums to study whether their current measures are effective. Others like Menlo Park, Calif., are tearing them out because of complaints.

"It's definitely working" in the Grandin Village, said Patrick Beale, produce manager at Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op. "People used to drive 40, 45 mph through here [in a 25 mph zone]. Now, people feel a lot more comfortable crossing the street."

Still, many motorists are angry.

"Traffic calming is an euphemism for traffic obstruction," Burch said.

Henry Brown, who lives near the Bullitt-Jamison corridor, said: "They should be widening the street, not beautifying it. Most people think it's a bunch of nonsense. They should have used traffic lights and more police" radar zones.

Businesses feel the effects

Critics say Roanoke, the surrounding counties and the Virginia Department of Transportation should have planned a more efficient road system long ago. But Jamison said transportation officials are working hard to come up with solutions, including proposals to extend 13th Street Southeast to Orange Avenue and to improve the Interstate 581/U.S. 220 corridor through Roanoke.

Burcham said she expects that drivers' complaints will diminish just as they did several months after Campbell Avenue was changed from one-way traffic to two-way last year.

"It's a delicate balance" between traffic flow and pedestrian safety, she said. City "council wants to do both."

Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris, who also is pastor of Virginia Heights Baptist Church in Grandin Village, said the go-slow approach is working so far.

"One thing we all bear in mind is that traffic-calming measures are not necessarily permanent," he said. "We can always go back and reconfigure the flow, albeit at a cost. Only time will tell if the strategies prove to be the right ones."

Kyle Femrite, head chef at Surf N Turf restaurant on Grandin Road, said many customers stayed away during heavy construction but that business has picked up lately. The restaurant may offer outdoor dining on the widened sidewalks this spring.

"People seem to like it, but we're just glad it's almost over," he said.

Bobby and Judy Moore, who like many Bullitt-Jamison corridor residents have had cars smash into their yard, fence and house over the years, said more needs to be done.

"I'm scared to death to let my granddaughter in the front yard," Judy Moore said.

"This traffic calming stuff's just created an obstacle course for people who won't slow down," Bobby Moore said. "The police should just ticket the hell out of them. Let them know you're not going to put up with them anymore."

Emergency crews offer views

Officer David Lovell, who works in the Southeast police substation on Jamison Avenue, said patrol officers operate radar zones nearly every day in the Bullitt-Jamison corridor. He said average speeds seem to have dropped about 5 mph, which he attributed to the lower speed limit, the traffic-calming devices and more police officers being assigned to Southeast. He also said the police substation, which opened in 2003, probably prompts motorists to ease off the gas, too.

"It's absolutely safer," Lovell said.

John Singer, captain of the Moneta Rescue Squad, and Micki Singer, a squad member, say the Bullitt-Jamison work hinders emergency vehicles.

"The construction and realigning of these roads has increased our transport time and made the trip more painful for patients and more difficult for emergency providers," the Singers wrote in a recent commentary in The Roanoke Times.

Ralph Tartaglia, Roanoke's assistant fire chief, said the Bullitt-Jamison work has not been in place long enough to tell whether it has slowed his firefighters' response times. The Fire-EMS Department won't analyze response times unless firefighters consider it a big problem, he said.

"Any time traffic slows down, it has the potential to slow us down," he said. "It's made it a little more challenging for our trucks, but they go on through there. They're professional drivers."

The Rev. David Walton, pastor at Belmont Christian Church on Jamison Avenue, said drivers who go 25 mph have no problem.

"I'm very appreciative of the vast majority of people who now follow the speed limit," said Walton, chairman of Southeast By Design, the Bullitt-Jamison revitalization program that included traffic calming. "For those who don't, well, if you don't want speeders and 18-wheelers squealing through your neighborhood, neither do these people who live here. It's not just a concrete highway. It's a neighborhood street and people live there."

Barry Farmer, whose elderly mother lives near the Bullitt-Jamison corridor, said the street measures protect the many children and older people living in the neighborhood.

"I drive through there all the time and have no problem," he said. "Who's going to argue it's not safer?"

Melvin Crewson, owner of the Minnow Pond, a fishing tackle and bait store on Bullitt Avenue, said many people worry that drivers - whether drunken, distracted or road-raged - will crash into the wider curbs.

"I appreciate what the city's trying to do, but I mean everybody is very negative," he said. "I don't think people are slowing down at all."