Planning efforts over the last 30 years or so have concentrated on reducing the number of intersections and curb cuts onto arterial roads. Anyone familiar with US 1 north of Boston knows why.
At the same time, alleyways have been planned out of existence.
These two things, working from opposite directions, have resulted in arterial roads which are scaled to be more like interstate highways than local roads — both in content and their nodes (intersections). The distortion of a what was once a neighborly, pedestrian scale is felt all the way down to the front drives of many — little human scale interaction is achieved in many approaches to the typical american suburban home. Our cars have become in some instances literal extensions of our homes, as we dock them into garages which open directly into our living spaces.
I digress. To the issue of scale and movement is linked an important point I have made before. In a distributed grid, it would be wrong to have a driveway — a curb cut, in effect a mini-intersection — for each lot. Shepherdstown does not allow driveways along street frontage for a reason. This is where the alley becomes important.
Alleys enable traffic flow in the distributed grid to occur with the same efficient distribution of intersections as arterial roads. The constriction of individual vehicles/ways is restricted to the alley where flow is not important.
But we do need coagulation
While increased arterial flow is good, we don’t want to bleed to death — or have such traffic flow that impedes or even prevents the sensible maintenance of other systems. For both our blood and traffic flow, we need something to keep things in check. Our blood coagulates so we do not bleed to death and pressure is kept in check for good health. We must do the same for traffic. If you’ve heard some discuss traffic calming this is its essence. Accidents, especially serious accidents, are kept in check as speed is kept in check and alertness is raised.
Roads can be designed to calm traffic and enhance alertness. Anyone who has found themselves at the end of an “unfair” speeding ticket might already have sensed that something else aside revenue seeking municipalities at work — the road itself might have contributed to the excess speed. It was designed for it.
One of my favorite traffic calming efforts I’ve seen is the tree planted in the center of a road in Denmark. Speed bumps are a favorite of the DC metro area. One of the easiest and with an additional benefit? On street parking.
