It is time to talk about something all drivers intuitively cannot stand, yet see every day in our commutes and drives. Something we see in towns all over America. The Stroad. It is a blend between a street and a road and it is one of the most inefficient, expensive, and dangerous elements of urban design we interact with every day.
First, we have to define some terminology and understand the difference between a street and a road. A road is an often higher speed connection between two places. They are in between two destinations. Because of this they have safety features such as wide lanes, gentle curves, and obstacle free run off areas. Streets, on the other hand, are destinations. Places where life happens. They are where businesses, sidewalks, crosswalks, and other places where people can exist in the city. These are shared spaces and they are designed for human activity and pedestrians.
Consider Main Street in Moscow, for example. There are two lanes going in each direction with street parking, sidewalks, businesses, and public areas on either side of the street. Because of this, the area is not built for high speed traffic.
The issue comes up when you blend these two concepts of high speed and efficient travel with an area that has several places of interest and destinations. But when you do, you get neither efficient travel nor a good place for pedestrians to exist. It is simply the worst of both worlds.
One example of a stroad is Highway 95 across the Palouse and Coeur d’Alene. Across the Palouse, there are 95 switches between speed limits of 60-65 across the prairie to speeds of 35 through the towns and even 25 through Plummer. There are rarely indicators on the road that tell drivers to slow down except for the speed limit signs.
Every town that has a main road that abruptly slows down like this complains of people speeding down their roads. In addition to this you also have cars merging on and off of the road from a complete stop and winding roads that don’t have much space if at all for passing which is one of many reasons the stroad is so dangerous.
Another form of a stroad is something like 95 in Coeur d’Alene towards Athol. This is another extremely familiar form to many drivers because the road features a 45 mph speed limit, but has cars merging on and off, changing lanes, and driving at various speeds to get to different destinations. Stroads like this are not a pleasant experience to drive on because of the awkward, stop-start and variable nature of traffic in these areas. As for pedestrians it is even worse. They often feature unprotected walkways with no barriers between them and the cars.
There is nothing between the space supposedly designed for people and the hostile space overrun with traffic. The hostile, unprotected areas with wind and debris from the road are not designed for people, though they may be designed with walkways. They are awkward places where no one wants to be. Whether their errands take them to a business there, or they have no choice but to go through the area, people are there because they have to be.
Minimizing the construction of these stroads and pushing our city governments to update them with more people-friendly designs is just one small step we can take to give our towns and cities back to the people. Give the people back the spaces that cars have taken from them.
Craig Thomas can be reached at [email protected]