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But what if most streets are through streets? That would reduce the traffic significantly. You don't see a fast, steady line of cars driving down the small residential through-streets in New Orleans or Chicago. For a "newer" city, Salt Lake City has many residential through-streets and it works there too. A small amount of cars use them as through streets and it takes the load off the main road.
In 'tract housing' you are usually talking about an area that was bought and developed as an entity (In our region usually one or more farms) When these are developed they are laid out so that only a minimum amount of the streets connect out to the original property lines so that they can be connected into the regional grid. This is done because it is known that those streets will become arterial streets that will have traffic on them that feeds into the next tract or subdivision or eventually to a major road. people do not like buying on those major streets. They prefer ones that will not get through traffic. So the developers try to minimize the number of through streets.
Do you all have the same definition of cul-de-sac that I do? Here in our area a cul-de-sac usually has fewer than 10 house on a little blip-street that goes nowhere. Only the homeowners on that street or their friends or service peope ever drive on that street. It is often widest at the far end so that three wedge shaped lots are spread in an arch. Frequently one of the families has small children who ride their toys in the middle, or older kids who set up an impromptu hockey game right in the middle of the pavement. People driving in are forced to wait until the way is clear a large part of the time. Everyone is hyper aware of these 'pedestrians'.
I think Eschaton and I are both referring to the same thing: the layout of cul-de-sac neighborhoods, with branches off important, if not through, streets.
IMO, because the streets between the boundary arterial and the destination home are winding/circuitous and wide, they encourage fast driving.
I think those who hate tract housing are looking at Levittown, one of the worst examples. Levitt was able to buy large tracts of land, which had been held off the market in the 20's, and use military style building techniques to produce thousands of very similar homes. While the buyers didn't seem to mind, everyone complained of the monotony.
It's hard to say for certain. But a properly designed urban residential street can discourage speeds of greater than 15 miles per hour (which is key if you want to avoid pedestrian fatalities) while retaining solid connectivity. You just need to do things like make the street narrow, the buildings have minimal setback, have sight lines interrupted, etc.
But pretty lousy for people that mostly get around by driving to get somewhere going 15 mph with a stop sign on every block. Since most people in this country get around by driving, there's not all that much interest in that kind of built environment. Where I live, there's a little downtown area that is developed that way but outside of it not so much.
I think those who hate tract housing are looking at Levittown, one of the worst examples. Levitt was able to buy large tracts of land, which had been held off the market in the 20's, and use military style building techniques to produce thousands of very similar homes. While the buyers didn't seem to mind, everyone complained of the monotony.
But you have to look at the time and the reason Levittown was built. There was a HUGE pent-up demand for new housing. Between the demand from families who had lived in very tight spaces because of the depression you had the demand of all the returning servicemen and their new families. So the idea was to build it as fast as possible so standard designs that could be built in an assembly line method. And there was almost a waiting line for the houses to be completed.
But pretty lousy for people that mostly get around by driving to get somewhere going 15 mph with a stop sign on every block. Since most people in this country get around by driving, there's not all that much interest in that kind of built environment. Where I live, there's a little downtown area that is developed that way but outside of it not so much.
Actually, my understanding from cities in Europe is they've found you can eliminate stop signs from small residental streets, which increases average speed while not decreasing top speed (people don't rev up between blocks). The result is smoother traffic flow on neighborhood streets, and a very low level of pedestrian-related accidents/fatalities.
Actually, my understanding from cities in Europe is they've found you can eliminate stop signs from small residental streets, which increases average speed while not decreasing top speed (people don't rev up between blocks). The result is smoother traffic flow on neighborhood streets, and a very low level of pedestrian-related accidents/fatalities.
It would be nice to see some documentation of that.
But pretty lousy for people that mostly get around by driving to get somewhere going 15 mph with a stop sign on every block. Since most people in this country get around by driving, there's not all that much interest in that kind of built environment. Where I live, there's a little downtown area that is developed that way but outside of it not so much.
I think you're assuming the conclusion a bit here. If we build neighborhoods so that people don't have to drive everywhere, this is much less of a problem. Plus people get the benefit of exercise, etc.
I don't know what other places are like, but around here neighborhoods with street grids are almost unaffordably in-demand.
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