Stroad
A stroad is a type of thoroughfare that is a cross between a street and a road.[1][2][3] Reportedly, the term was first coined by American civil engineer and urban planner Charles Marohn in 2011, as a commentary about paved traffic structures in the United States.[4][3]
According to Marohn, a stroad is a bad combination of two types of vehicular pathways: it is part street—which he describes as a "complex environment where life in the city happens", with pedestrians, cars, buildings close to the sidewalk for easy accessibility, with many entrances and exits to and from the street, and with spaces for temporary parking and delivery vehicles—and part road, which he describes as a "high-speed connection between two places" with wide lanes, limited entrances and exits, and which are generally straight or have gentle curves. So Marohn defines a stroad as a high-speed road with many turnoffs and which lacks safety features.[5] In the commentary, Marohn states that stroads do not function well as either a street or a road.[6]
In a video titled "The Ugly, Dangerous, and Inefficient Stroads found all over the US & Canada [ST05]" Canadian-Dutch YouTuber Not Just Bikes argues that stroads are known to be slow and inefficient at moving traffic and compares them to road design in the Netherlands, garnering attention to the concept.[7][2] Marohn and him say that stroads are common in the United States and Canada, and much less common in countries such as the Netherlands. Not Just Bikes criticized stroads as "dangerous, expensive, and ineffective".
References
- ^ Cunningham, Ron (July 23, 2021). "Stretch of Northwest Eighth Avenue severs two vital neighborhoods". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
...A stroad being a car corridor that isn't smart enough to be a street nor efficient enough to be a road. ...
- ^ a b Clarke, Nicole (October 28, 2020). "Lancaster Avenue: The 'Stroad' Responsible for Holding Bryn Mawr Back from Success". The Villanovan. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
...A stroad is the worst kind of transportation investment yet, they plague much of the American landscape. ...
- ^ a b Nesmith, Bruce & Kaplan, Ben (June 9, 2021). "'Stroads,' hybrid of streets and roads, make Linn County less safe: Local governments should observe and redesign roads before implementing traffic cameras". The Gazette. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
...The worst-designed roads in America are our stroads, a term coined by engineer Charles Marohn of Strong Towns to denote trafficways that try to be both roads (moving traffic quickly from one destination to another) and streets (centers of productive human activity). ...
- ^ Goodyear, Sarah (January 7, 2014). "Defining the Worst Type of Street Design". CityLab. Bloomberg News.
- ^ Orlove, Raphael (May 21, 2021). "The Stroad To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions". Jalopnik.
- ^ Brasuell, James (October 31, 2017). "What's a Stroad and Why Do Stroads Matter?". Planetizen.
- ^ Not Just Bikes (April 26, 2021). The Ugly, Dangerous, and Inefficient Stroads found all over the US & Canada [ST05]. Not Just Bikes. Retrieved September 8, 2021 – via YouTube.