NEIGHBORHOOD STREET DESIGN GUIDELINES

An Oregon Guide for Reducing Street Widths
Prepared by the Neighborhood Streets Project Stakeholders
November 2000

Why Narrow Streets?
Streets are key determinants of neighborhood livability.
Streets provide access to homes and neighborhood destinations for:

• Pedestrians
• A variety of vehicle types, from bicycles and passenger cars to moving vans and fire apparatus.
• Streets provide a place for human interaction:
• A place where children play
• Neighbors meet
• Residents go for walks and bicycle rides

 The design of residential streets, together with the amount and speed of traffic they carry, contributes significantly to a sense of community, neighborhood feeling, and perceptions of safety and comfort.

 

 The fact that these may be intangible values makes them no less real, and this is often reflected in property values.

  

• The width of streets also affects other aspects of livability
• Narrow streets are less costly to develop and maintain
• Narrow street present less impervious surface
• Narrow streets reduce runoff and water quality problems
• Narrow streets will reduce automobile speeds

Wide streets promote speed --- would you rather live on the wide street in this photo or.........

Live on a street where the design attention is on the homes and the families rather than emphasis on the street and vehicle movement?

As we move beyond the great recession, local governments would be well served to revisit their land development standards and reduce street widths and design criteria. Most jurisdictions used DOT Highway design standards for residential applications. It is time to change to more practical design approaches as outlined in the Oregon manual.