06-15-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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'the Traffic By its nature, suburban strip development is served primarily if not exclu- sively by the automobile and occurs where traffic is greatest. Consequently, every strip must balance a certain tension between accommodating through- trips and providing access to the activities and services of the strip itself. Traffic is, of course, the lifeblood of these activities since automobiles typically provide the only way to get to the strip or to get around. But too much traffic, or poorly planned traffic, can strangle the strip, and congestion and inconven- ience will cause shoppers to avoid it and shop somewhere else. When traffic counts reach 20,000 to 30,000 or more per day, visibility of the stores will be high and merchants will be happy, but access becomes increasingly difficult, and the strip is at risk. This is the situation that many suburban strips now face. To ensure continued mobility, traffic planning and design must • resolve the inherent conflict between through-traffic and traffic • whose destination is the strip itself. In other words, traffic must be tamed and managed so that the goose that laid the golden egg • is not killed. But this means different things in different places. ■ Decide whether the main arterial road should be a seam or an edge. A seam allows speeds ranging from 30 to 35 miles per hour and has up to six lanes with a median. As the term implies, a seam has the potential to knit the community together across the arterial. An 1/2 edge, on the other hand, has eight or more lanes and speeds ranging from 45 to 55 miles per hour. It divides the community in ways that should be respected. While traffic can be tamed, within limits, along • a seam, the community should in most cases accept an edge as an edge and not try to connect or integrate land uses, urban design, or community activities on both sides of the arterial. • Do not destroy the commercial vitality of the strip by taking too much traffic off it. Whatever solutions are chosen, they must ensure continuing ease of access to the commercial developments along the strip or they will wither and die. Transportation solutions must be scaled to the specific nature of the strip and balanced to serve multiple needs and multiple markets. • Plan for traffic volume and capacity to accommodate the needs of both through- and destination traffic; neither is going to go away. Where too much • traffic and resulting conflict exist, the community must look for alternatives. Some options that might be appropriate would be separating traffic through the use of parallel local streets or frontage roads; limiting access points to commer- 12