Back to Search
Start Over
Understanding Livable Streets in the Context of the Arterials that Surround Them
- Source :
- Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2605:1-17
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Not long after the advent of cars, a conflict between traffic and residential livability arose. The typical response pushed traffic off residential streets and onto nearby major roads. This line of thinking evolved into a hierarchical approach to the street networks and arterial roads designed to carry the majority of vehicle traffic. With many researchers identifying traffic on residential streets to be an underlying issue behind poor livability, this solution makes sense. However, is the relationship between residential livability and traffic moderated by the character of the nearby arterial road? By use of a residential study in Denver, Colorado, 10 arterials were partitioned along two dimensions: high and low traffic and high and low design quality. Comparable residential roads within the surrounding neighborhoods were selected to fit descriptions of heavy, moderate, and light traffic, and 723 residents were surveyed. The results suggest that the surrounding street network—in particular, the character of the nearby arterial road—influences the livability of residential areas on the adjacent streets according to a number of livability measures. When income was controlled for, both high levels of traffic and low levels of urban design on the arterial were found to detract from livability in the surrounding neighborhoods, sometimes more so than the residential street traffic itself. This finding should not be taken as a call to shift traffic onto residential streets. Rather, planners and engineers need to take a broader perspective and consider the whole network to understand livability. Livable residential streets can be only part of the solution; more livable arterials are also needed.
- Subjects :
- 050210 logistics & transportation
Engineering
Injury control
business.industry
Accident prevention
Mechanical Engineering
05 social sciences
0211 other engineering and technologies
Urban design
Poison control
021107 urban & regional planning
Context (language use)
02 engineering and technology
Transport engineering
Traffic volume
0502 economics and business
business
Civil and Structural Engineering
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 21694052 and 03611981
- Volume :
- 2605
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........d19ab1bddd091e6a4c31f02c84f6ed7b
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3141/2605-01