A little more than a month ago, in a blog from the CCAPA conference, I wrote about a panel that discussed the design of streets from a planner's perspective. I promised to follow-up with some links that presenters offered, and I have finally gotten around to posting those links. These are great resources for planners, engineers, developers and anyone interested in how their neighborhood might function better.
First up is a study from the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley on street trees and intersection safety. The lengthy study attempts to debunk the belief that trees hinder motorists' views and, therefore, must be set back from intersections. The study finds that things such as parked cars do more to hinder sight lines than do street trees. The study is available at http://www-iurd.ced.berkeley.edu/pub/abstract_wp200611.htm.
The Institute of Transportation Engineers offers an extensive website on context sensitive solutions, or CSS in transportation-speak. Put together by the ITE, the Federal Highway Administration, the EPA and the Congress for New Urbanism, the website provides white papers, fact sheets, design recommendations and more. You'll find it at http://www.ite.org./css/.
Two years ago, the Journal of the American Planning Association published a report by Eric Dumbaugh that found pedestrian-friendly streets are actually safer for motorists than wide, high-speed thoroughfares are. You can read that report, "Safe Streets, Livable Streets," at http://www.planning.org/japa/pdf/JAPADumbaugh05.pdf.
Finally, the UC Transportation Center website offers more research on every aspect of transportation than all but the wonkiest wonk could ever hope to digest. Have at it at http://www.uctc.net/.
- Paul Shigley
