Tuesday
Aug212012
Stroads to Boulevards
Posted on 
August 21, 2012 | ∞
August 21, 2012 | ∞ Speaking of stroads, there is a great tumblr page advocating for boulevards instead of stroads. From the About section:
A stroad is a street-road hybrid that frustrates everybody who uses it. Roads connect clusters of destinations, streets are the spaces between those local destinations. Roads are fast, wide and straight; streets have intersections, crosswalks, parking, cyclists and sidewalks.Stroads are commonly called Arterials in North America. They are an anachronism, surviving only by inertia from 1960s traffic engineering guidebooks.
The multi-way boulevard is the time-tested squaring of the stroad circle: a road with a tree-separated narrow one way street either side.
With great Rights of Way come great possibilities.
It is possible to combine the functions of a street and a road into one right of way. It just has to be done in a way that doesn’t compromise the nature of either part too much. A boulevard works very well for both as ample examples throughout the world can attest.
Reader Comments (2)
Arterials have their place though. Everything in context. If you preclude the arterial from existing at all it will systematically spring up on its own accord typically within areas that it shouldn't be. This is the reason for good regional planning. Let the bad, ugly arterials be on the outskirts so that the more controlled better designed tfares can connect within. Multi-way boulevards are appropriate in some cases but not everywhere and are useful mechanisms to treat arterials that have been located inappropriately.
I agree - everything in its place. I think it's important to identify the goals of the public way and tailor the design to fit the goals. Arterials have a place - just not the way we typically see them.