An equally
important characteristic of building community involves the way
neighborhoods and communities are knit together via the
transportation network. As businesses have moved to the suburbs,
commute patterns have become hopelessly complex, with work to
non-work patterns becoming increasingly problematic. We often
respond to traffic congestion by widening existing roads or building
new ones. But when land is used for roads, it cannot be used for
housing, business and open space. Moreover, the public cost of
providing and maintaining infrastructure to handle new development
is huge. Funding and the space needed for coping with increased
travel demand by expanding roads simply is not available. More roads
are not always the answer to congestion. They are just a means of
moving more cars toward a given destination. That is because more
roads tend to encourage more people to drive. Soon, there are just
more places where congestion is a problem.
Pedestrian travel is the basic building block for developing a
balanced transportation system. In the Southeast Plan area, streets
will provide direct connections to local destinations, such as
neighborhood and village centers, without requiring every trip to go
onto the arterial network or the freeway system. The mix of uses at
commercial centers will encourage "trip-linking" so that
several errands can be accomplished with one stop. In addition,
travel within neighborhoods will be distributed among several
"connector streets" that lead to local parks, schools, and
commercial centers. A goal of the planning effort is to create an
area with no arterials larger than four lanes, and an interconnected
local and connector street system will help to achieve this goal.
Pedestrian and bicycle access will be provided between neighborhoods
and communities, and between all of the developments in the
Southeast Plan area, providing both north-south and east-west
connections. Neighborhood streets of varying types will be designed
to provide for pedestrian comfort and safety, and for efficient
automobile movement. Slowing the automobile and increasing
pedestrian activity encourages the casual meetings that form the
bonds of community. A fully coordinated system of pedestrian and
bikeways will be provided. Important destinations such as commercial
areas, transit stops, employment centers, parks, open spaces,
schools, and other community facilities, will be linked by these
routes. In addition, these routes will be designed in such a way
that people feel comfortable and safe. CPTED principles will be
utilized wherever possible in the design and development of
pedestrian and bikeway systems.
Transit will also be integrated into the Plan area. Placing transit
stations at the center of mixed-use commercial and residential
neighborhoods will increase ridership as it allows people to combine
errands on foot. Trunk line systems will be designed to allow
"walk-and-ride" or "bike-and-ride" rather than
just "park-and-ride" facilities as the central means of
access. When developing these new neighborhoods and communities,
access to transit will be carefully considered, especially in
relation to roadway design.
Finally, cars will be kept in perspective. Land use patterns, street
layouts and densities will make walking, bicycling and public
transit viable alternatives to driving, especially for routine,
everyday trips. Streets will be safe, interesting and comfortable
for pedestrians. Improving traffic flows will be only one of many
considerations in platting streets and designing neighborhoods.
<Back Next>
