• curb extensions at midblock or intersection corners that narrow a street by extending the sidewalk or widening the planting strip
• can leave the cross section with two narrow lanes or with a single lane
• at midblock, sometimes called parallel chokers, angled chokers, twisted chokers, angle points, pinch points, or midblock narrowings
• at intersections, sometimes called neckdowns, bulbouts, knuckles, or corner bulges
• if marked as a crosswalk, they are also called safe crosses

Applications:

• local and collector streets
• pedestrian crossings
• main roads through small communities
• work well with speed humps, speed tables, raised intersections, textured crosswalks, curb radius reductions, and raised median islands

Design/Installation Issues: some applications use an island which allows drainage and bicyclists to continue between the choker and the original curb line typically designed to narrow road to 20 feet for two-way traffic; typically avoid the use of widths between 13 and 17 feet adequate drainage is a key consideration provides opportunity for landscaping vertical delineators, bollards or object markers are often used to make visible to snowplow operators

Potential Impacts:

• can impact parking and driveway access
• reduces pedestrian crossing width and increases visibility of pedestrian
• speeds have typically been reduced on average by 4 percent for two-lane chokers and 14 percent for one lane chokers
• minor decrease in traffic for two-lane and 20 percent reduction for one-lane chokers
• collision data not available
• bicyclists prefer not to have the travelway narrowed into path of motor vehicles

Emergency Response Issues:

• preferred by many fire department/emergency response agencies to most other traffic calming measures

Other/Special Considerations:

• one-lane chokers rely on regulatory signs and driver courtesy to work

Typical Cost:

• approximately $7,000 to $10,000 (1997 dollars)

1627 I ("Eye") Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC
20006 USA
Phone: 202-785-0060
Fax: 202-785-0609
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SPEED HUMP | SPEED TABLE | RAISED INTERSECTION | CLOSURE | NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC CIRCLE | CHICANE | CHOKER | CENTER ISLAND NARROWING