Petitioning U.S. DOT to Recognize That City Streets Should Prioritize Walking
The Federal Highway Administration classifies roads as either "rural" or "urbanized." But the "urbanized" label is deceptive, because it applies suburban street design standards to any street that isn't rural. So if you live in, say, downtown St. Louis, the FHWA applies the same standards to your streets as to the streets in Orlando's most distant suburbs. This contributes to a horrendous mismatch: Many city streets where walking should take precedence are in fact designed for moving massive amounts of traffic.
Now there's a petition drive underway to change that. John Massengale, Victor Dover, and Richard Hall -- a team of planners and architects that are involved with the Congress for New Urbanism -- are circulating asking U.S. DOT to develop more city-friendly standards.
The trio recommends establishing separate standards for urban and suburban streets, introducing new priorities that place pedestrians first on city streets. From their letter to U.S. DOT:
The new standards for Urban Areas would be fundamentally different than the current Urbanized standards. Two-way streets, narrow traffic lanes, bicycle sharrows, and a prohibition on slip lanes and turn lanes would be the norm. In large cities, faster urban routes might be limited to broad boulevards and parkways. Small-town residential streets and Main Streets would be similarly transformed, according to their context.
The team calls their proposal a "simple but powerful idea could transform America's streets and make our neighborhoods, cities and towns more walkable." As of this afternoon, the petition needs only about 60 signatures to reach the goal of 500 supporters.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
How Car-Centric Cities Make Carrying For Families Stressful — Particularly For Women
Women do a disproportionate share of the care-related travel their households rely on — and car-focused planning isn't making matters easier.
Wednesday’s Headlines Build Green
A new bill dubbed "Build Green" would replace many of the climate-friendly elements Sen. Joe Manchin insisted on stripping from the Inflation Reduction Act.
E-Bikes and Creating Financially Sustainable Bike Share Programs
The number of customers using bike share in the U.S. and Canada is now at an all-time high thanks to e-bikes.
Tuesday’s Headlines Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit
Greg Shill argues that if a transformative road redesign isn't possible, it's time to talk about second-best strategies.
How to Fight a Texas-Sized Freeway Battle
A new book explores how Texas advocates are fighting back against destructive highway expansions. But what happened to those projects since it was sent to the printer?
