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| SHARING THE ROAD: LAND USE & STREET PATTERNS
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Success
Stories
• Several cities
in the Twin Cities region—including Burnsville,
New Brighton, Chaska, Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Lino Lakes
and St. Louis Park—are retrofitting their communities
with traditional town centers that are more compact
and pedestrian-oriented. Some suburbs are experimenting with
pockets of compact, mixed-use or pedestrian-friendly development.
Many of these initiatives received incentive grants from the
Metropolitan Council. In greater Minnesota, some cities have
renovated historic districts, such as Duluth’s Canal Park
and Red Wing’s downtown area. Here, bicycling and walking
are especially pleasant.
• Portland,
Oregon is consistently named one of the best cities
for walking and bicycling in the country. It’s also known
for its high quality transit system that includes bus, light
rail, streetcars and good intercity rail connections. A key factor
in Portland’s success is the region’s integration
of land use and transportation planning. Growth management
mandated by the state and aggressively pursued by the region
has kept development relatively compact. The region’s 40-year
growth plan sets a goal to increase the travel mode share for
walking and biking to 10 percent of all trips and to reduce off-street
parking. The Portland region was the first in the United States
to adopt street classifications and design standards that balance
multiple modes of travel with an aim of encouraging more walking,
biking, and transit use.
 Downtown
Redwing, Minnesota. Redwing has made investments to make the
city an appealing place to walk and bike.
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Land use and street patterns have a huge impact on our preferred
mode of travel because they affect how fast, safe, or pleasant our trip
will be. Compact, mixed-use development patterns with well-connected streets
are more conducive to bicycling and walking. Less dense development, with
winding streets and cul-de-sacs, can make cars the only viable means of
transportation.
The kind of development that supports walking and bicycling is characterized
by:
- A
mix of residential, commercial and office uses in one area, rather
than in separate, distant zones. This reduces the distances between
destinations and makes it possible to walk or bike between home, work
and shopping.
- Varied housing options within neighborhoods that include townhomes or
condominiums, apartments and single-family homes. This makes
it possible for more people to live near work.
- Off-street
vehicle parking located at the side or rear of buildings and
secure parking for bicycles.
- Commercial
and civic buildings with interesting architecture, windows
at street level, and
sidewalk cafes to make walking interesting.
- Sidewalks,
on-street bike lanes, trails and paths with pedestrian-scale
lighting
and public benches throughout residential,
commercial, recreational and most industrial areas.
- Street
patterns which are logical and well-connected with short blocks
and many collector
streets, so no one street becomes too large
or overburdened by traffic.
Park
Commons, Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, 2003. Saint Louis Park
is developing a higher-density, mixed-use town center with
amenities that encourage walking and biking.
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A
study of neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon found that “households
in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods make more than three times as
many transit trips and nearly four times as many walk and bicycle trips
as
households in neighborhoods with poor pedestrian environment” (1)
Another study found that in typical single-use office parks,
only 3 to 8 percent of midday lunch or errand trips were made
on foot, but
in pedestrian-accessible,
mixed-use areas, 20-30 percent of such trips were made on foot
(2).
Recommendations
Design communities where walking and bicycling are safe, convenient,
appealing modes of transportation.
- Local governments should integrate land use and transportation planning.
They should adopt ordinances that encourage compact, mixed-use development,
minimize the need for off-street parking, and require well-connected
streets, sidewalks, and trails.
- The Metropolitan Council and local communities should implement
a land use plan that encourages
development
in mixed use centers along public transit
corridors with a focus
on walking, biking and transit
use.
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- Congress for New Urbanism. An organisation promoting new
urbanist design, including architects, developers, planners
and others. The CNU website has many examples of compact,
mixed-use development, walkable neighborhoods and attractive,
accommodating civic spaces.
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| Footnotes
1 Portland Metro, Main Street Handbook (Portland, OR: March
1996), 1 and Dr. John Holtzclaw,. Community Characteristics Promoting
Transit and Walking. National Resources Defense Council, June 1994,
accessed from http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/articles/characteristics.asp.
2 Dr. John Holtzclaw.
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