danbrotherston

danbrotherston , 9 days ago

@notjustbikes @MrLee

I think fixing stroads is possible, in most cases. Not an overnight thing, but there's lots of right of way, and they're unlikely to be nice, but they can be better, and slowly get nice:

https://thecutstack.substack.com/p/stroads-but-good

https://thecutstack.substack.com/p/stroads-but-good-6c4

https://thecutstack.substack.com/p/stroads-but-good-ff9

danbrotherston , 9 days ago

@notjustbikes @MrLee

Eventually these roads come up for reconstruction...I think that is an opportunity for a repairative reconstruction design than simply reconstructing the same or wider bad design. There's at least two stroads in KW facing this situation in the next 10 years for example.

In any case, I wanted to challenge the idea that to fix these things we have to raze these entire corridors to the ground and rebuilt--we don't--they can be fixed in place.

The key is to create new designs (and publish them as engineering guidelines as you point out is another key strategy) that separate the roadway and street uses within the corridor. A fast roadway in the middle that is separated from more urban service roads on either side to provide access to the existing businesses and homes.

FWIW even CityBeautiful did a talk on this topic, and I think missed that key point--he simply mentioned the option of road diets and more active transportation elements, which, IMO, do very little to change the actual context of the street.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V679pkDl6k