STROADing in the USA

A STROAD is a street/road hybrid and, unfortunately, is the default transportation setting for most communities in North America. While very expensive to build, a STROAD is a very low returning transportation investment, failing to move traffic quickly while simultaneously yielding only limited tax base. Productive cities convert their STROADs to streets or roads.

STROADing -- a photo of an individual reinhabiting the underused STROAD environment -- is an approach we have started to document for posterity the many STROADs that still remain. If you'd like to join us in this effort, we'd love to share your STROADing photos.

High marks for STROADing come from those photos taken during peak times of day that show the vast nature of the STROAD environment along with the correspondingly disproportionate lack of vehicles. The perfect photo captures all three (peak daylight hours, wide STROAD, no vehicles).

Here are some STROADing examples from my recent trip to North Carolina with my main STROADing partner, Joe Minicozzi.

Joe Minicozzi is doing the perfect STROADing pose here in downtown Greensboro following a Grasshopper's game. High points for the four lane, one way STROAD in the downtown environment. Low marks for time of day (roughly 10 PM) which is out of prime time for STROADing.

Another of Joe Minicozzi STROADing, this time in Lexington, NC. He may have actually fallen asleep on this one. High marks for this photo due largely to the sign (seriously?) and the time of day (rush hour). The STROAD itself is actually more on the street end of the functioning scale (not too STROADy), which is really the only thing keeping this from scoring higher.

Here is Joe STROADing on one of the seemingly thousands of miles of STROAD in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. This STROADing gets high marks for the sheer vastness of the STROAD environment; miles of center turn lane with nothing to turn to along with four highway-scaled lanes. Vintage STROAD. Low marks here though for the timidity of the photographer (me) who should have stepped out there to get a better angle for the pic. It is not like there were many vehicles (although, as per a STROAD, they were all traveling fast).

STROADing began in Kansas City, a city I currently have a unilateral truce with (although you can look through the archives here if you want the backstory).

We do this, of course, to point out the ridiculous nature of spending so much to get so little. Please share your photos, but please always be safe when STROADing.