Brace "Trey" Godfrey’s Post

Planning begins with a vision on how to improve the quality of life for a community.

Wherever Charles Marohn travels in America, he finds a similar type of road, lined with strip malls, fast-food joints, gas stations, car dealers and dying malls. Marohn calls these arterial roads “stroads”—a mix of a neighborhood street, where people want to live and shop, and a road, which is designed to move traffic quickly between two places. Stroads are trying to do two things at once, he says, and failing at both. They repel pedestrians and bicyclists. But they also fail to move traffic quickly the way a road should, says Marohn, a civil engineer turned writer and speaker, and the founder of the nonprofit Strong Towns, which advocates for more livable and resilient urban development. Cars can rev up to 45 mph or so but frequently must brake for red lights, a frustrating and dangerous stop-and-go. He blames traffic engineers for ignoring the way roaring traffic tends to decrease the value of adjacent neighborhoods and commercial districts, making them less safe and attractive to people who want to reside, stroll, shop or dine in calmer surroundings. That, he says, destroys the economic value of land and wastes public funds spent on ill-conceived roads. WSJ: How do you sum up your message about how streets should be designed to improve towns and cities? MAROHN: A street is about building a place. And so the focus has to be on the place, not getting through the place. And a road is about moving vehicles, moving traffic quickly. So the focus for a road isn’t on the place, it’s on the movement. It’s a difference in emphasis. Are you emphasizing building a place? Or are you emphasizing getting somewhere? WSJ: Does that mean that ideally we would end up with things that are either streets, where cars are moving at a leisurely pace and pedestrians and bicycles are comfortable, or else freeways? MAROHN: There would be some nuance between the two, but, ideally, yes. You’re having the best function when you are one of those two bookends. If you’re moving in an automobile at 10 to 15 mph through a place, that place is going to be really great. You’re going to have a lot of stuff going on.  If you’re moving 60-plus mph, you’re on a great road. That is going to have a lot of financial return on our investment. That moves goods and services and people. When you get into that middle area, where you’re traveling 30 or 40 mph, you’re really not going anywhere at a speed that is meaningful, but you’re also not building a place that can actually function or sustain itself financially—a place that anyone really wants to be in. WSJ: But do we need at least a few of those medium-speed streets to connect up the two ideals? MAROHN: I don’t think we need them. Given where we are at today, we’re going to have them for a while, and it will take time if we dedicate ourselves to phasing them out.

If we want to take a stand against car-dependency, one of the first things to go should be the drive-thru restaurant. Nothing is more indicative of car dominance than building restaurants with the specific intention of not even inconveniencing drivers by making them get out of their cars. Drive-thru restaurants cause many issues to the local road network and can be particularly dangerous to active transportation users. Preventing this preferential treatment for motor vehicle users and making restaurants equal opportunity for all transportation modes. #activetransportation #urbandesign #sustainablecities #choicesmatter

It’s great to see Strong Towns cover the Government Street #roaddiet project. This is a comprehensive look at the goals of developing one of Baton Rouge’s main thoroughfares into a #CompleteStreet — and how Government Street was transformed in the process: Tax revenue for Government Street businesses exceeded the Baton Rouge sales tax growth rate by 26% Reported monthly traffic incidents have fallen by 50% New retail, restaurant, and social businesses have flocked to be a part of a more walkable, attractive, and safer corridor for customers It’s been incredibly exciting to see the progress thus far, and there are still things we can do to make the corridor even better. Removing more car access points would increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians even more. Increasing the number of trees will make the street experience more comfortable and beautiful, with the added benefits of improved air quality and stormwater retention. Government Street it’s a great case study in how a community can come together to help a street and neighborhood evolve and improve over time — by prioritizing people, safety, the environment, and livability. I could not be more proud of the role that the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) played in leading this effort to transform Government Street, and I’m thankful for the government leaders, businesses, and residents who saw the opportunity and made it possible. Their efforts and foresight have had a multiplier effect, attracting more private investment in response to quality-of-life building public investment in infrastructure. This is how we create great places!

If they can do it in Austin – one of the most car-centric cities in the country – we can do it here too. Every neighborhood starts with an intention. In Baton Rouge, and the majority of cities around the country, the intention has historically been to develop commercial corridors and car-dependent destinations – hence, stringent parking minimums that require developers to spend resources servicing cars over people. In order to plan for vibrant, pedestrian-safe neighborhoods, we have to do something about these outdated regulations. In implementing the Government Street road diet, we saw that by taking away some road and parking space, the corridor was actually able to welcome more customers, cyclists, walkers, and others who add to the bustling street life. Current zoning rules limit our ability to plan for the kind of places where people actually want to visit, live, and start businesses. City councils across the country are realizing this, and taking steps to enact zoning measures that get rid of parking minimums. I'm glad to see it! The next time the subject of parking comes up in your community, remember: if we want walkable places, we can’t over-prescribe for parking space.  #parking #walkability #urbandesign

There's no reason for parking minimums. Let developers and the market decide what they need instead of forcing arbitrary (and usually wasteful) numbers. For example, transit-oriented developments that are purposely built near light-rail stations and transit hubs are often required to still build parking. The same with neighborhoods that are served by LRT, multiple bus lines and even commuter rail. Parking can easily add 30-40% to the construction cost of a development, and uses up land that could be put to more productive uses. Housing, retail, green open spaces. More jobs and tax revenues too. #parkingreform #urbanplanning #urbandesign #urbanism #urbanmobility

With County plans and Ireland failing repeatedly on climate emissions, with 3m people being added in next generation, this is one way to reduce emissions; remove parking minimum's completely. From all plans. Local. County + National. Towns + Cities. Ireland's planners automatically add in cars to plans. It needs to explicitly set targets to remove them from towns and cities and newbuilds, given the damage to households wealth and the indirect damage to health, plus the damage to SDG's. Rural once off have to continue but we really need leadership and action on towns & cities, or we continue to fail forward on climate for this & next generation. https://lnkd.in/evdvpxky

There's no reason for parking minimums. Let developers and the market decide what they need instead of forcing arbitrary (and usually wasteful) numbers. For example, transit-oriented developments that are purposely built near light-rail stations and transit hubs are often required to still build parking. The same with neighborhoods that are served by LRT, multiple bus lines and even commuter rail. Parking can easily add 30-40% to the construction cost of a development, and uses up land that could be put to more productive uses. Housing, retail, green open spaces. Also more jobs and tax revenues. #transportation #parkingreform #urbanplanning #urbandesign #urbanism

Pedestrian Streets are economic engines for the neighborhoods they pass through. If 5th Avenue in New York City can be converted to Pedestrian Only, it can easily be accomplished in Fort Myers on Hendry Street. #economicdevelopment #urbandesign #smartinfrastructure

Great to see so many cities realizing that endless #parking is a detriment and not benefit to thriving #downtowns. However, this isn't a new concept. CMSC recognized the City of Hartford with an Award of Excellence in 2017 for their transformative ZoneHartford, a comprehensive overhaul of the City's #zoning language, which included (among many positive changes) an elimination of costly parking requirements that inhibited #mainstreet pedestrian orientation. #parkingsolutions https://lnkd.in/eqaSXRGZ