Not Just Bikes: "The stroads to hell are paved with good intentions"

Remember that futon you bought—or were given…or picked up free from the side of the road—when you were 18? Let’s put it in the category of “Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time.” Because chances are, irresistible marketing notwithstanding, by trying to be two things at once (a sofa and a bed) that futon ended up being uncomfortably bad at both.

Back in 2013, Strong Towns coined a word (“stroad”) to describe the multilane thoroughfares that are dangerous and financially unproductive, yet somehow also ubiquitous in North America. The stroad is what you get when you try to combine a street with a road. Yes, there’s a difference. Streets are platforms for creating value and building wealth; with narrow streets and wide sidewalks, they’re designed for people. Roads are efficient connections designed to get you from one productive place to another; they’re designed to move cars fast. The stroad is something else altogether, a street-road hybrid. By trying to do two things at once, it does neither well, and Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn has described the stroad as “the futon of transportation”:

Where a futon is an uncomfortable couch that also serves as an uncomfortable bed, a stroad is an auto corridor that does not move cars efficiently while simultaneously providing little in the way of value capture. Anytime you are driving between 30 and 50 miles per hour, you are likely on a stroad, which has become the default option for American traffic corridors.

Our friend Jason Slaughter, creator of the popular Not Just Bikes channel on YouTube, is back with another Strong Towns-inspired video. This time, Jason takes on the stroad. He shows why stroads are less productive, less efficient, more expensive to maintain, and more dangerous than streets and roads. He also describes a program in the Netherlands, where Jason lives, that could inspire communities in the U.S. and Canada to fix all those stroads.

When you’re done with this video, make sure to watch the rest of the Strong Towns series and Jason’s other great videos. Then go deeper with the related content below.

Also, Chuck’s latest book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, is available now for pre-order. He has an entire chapter on stroads—why they squander wealth, why they’re so dangerous, and how they can be transformed into something better.

Not Just Bike’s Strong Towns Series

1. Introduction to Strong Towns & Financially Insolvent American Cities

2. How Suburban Development Makes American Cities Poorer

3. How America Bankrupted its Cities - The Growth Ponzi Scheme

4. How Bankrupt American Cities Stay Alive - Debt

5. The Ugly, Dangerous, and Inefficient Stroads found all over the US & Canada

Go Deeper with Related Strong Towns Content

• “What’s a STROAD and Why Does It Matter?” (Video)

• “How to Turn a Stroad into a Street (or a Road),” by Charles Marohn

• “The True Cost of a Stroad,” by Rachel Quednau

• “Here's What *Not* to Do to Your Small-Town Main Street,” by Daniel Herriges

• “Trying to help small businesses? Stop worrying about congestion.” by Michel Durand-Wood

• “How Zoning Codes Reinforce Car Dependency,” by Antonio Graña

• “Building for cars or building for people? 2 streets illustrate this distinct difference.” by Jen Kinney

• “The Impact of Stroads in a Suburban Immigrant Community,” by Sean Emerson

• “We Can Transform Stroads and Big Box Stores into More Productive Places,” by Cami Sanders

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