5 Telltale Signs You’re on the Stroad From Hell

You’ll find stroads everywhere in North American transportation. But since they don’t come with any labeling, this handy guide will help you identify when you’re on one. Before we get started, however, if you’re new to Strong Towns then you may be asking: What’s a stroad?

To understand what a stroad is, let’s first describe what it isn’t—that is, it isn’t a road or a street. A road is used to get between two places. A street, unlike a road, is a destination: a place to build wealth on a local level. Each of these can be created successfully with  longstanding design, planning, and engineering practices. But when the 20th-century Suburban Experiment took hold, many streets ceased to be used primarily for commerce and communal space, and roads took on functions stripped from those streets. The results have been devastating to public safety and local economies. 

Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn coined the word “stroad” in 2011. A stroad is neither a street nor a road, but a poor-functioning version of both (in this way, Marohn compares them to a futon: an uncomfortable couch which turns into an uncomfortable bed).

So, what are the tells of a classic stroad?

Every navigational choice on a stroad is intimidating, even for confident drivers.

1. It’s Scary To Drive

Want to turn left? You'll be crossing 3–4 lanes with broadside traffic coming at 50+ mph. Right turn? Look out for bikes, pedestrians, and cars coming out of the many strip malls and big box outlets. Plus, any driver turning onto the stroad must accelerate to near-highway speeds almost instantly, and you may be slowing to near zero to turn ahead of them. All of this mixing, of speeds and uses, is dangerous for all users. It’s also mitigated on a true road, where access points are minimized and managed. 

Would you feel comfortable riding a bike or walking in this landscape?

2. It’s Even Scarier Not To Drive

In the traditional development pattern, streets are built at human scale. This provides easy access to buildings and businesses, resulting in a landscape that encourages commerce and commingling. Most importantly, traffic is slowed in places where it’s most likely to interact with pedestrians, bikes, and other slow-speed conveyances. A stroad offers none of these attributes, with frightening consequences for anyone trying to walk, bike, or use public transportation.

There are sidewalks on both sides of this stroad, but no crosswalk and six lanes of 45 mph traffic between them.

3. You Can’t Get There From Here

You just stopped at the supermarket for a gallon of milk. You can see your favorite craft store just across the “street.” Perhaps you think you’ll leave your car in the same spot and stroll on over. Think again. There may be a crosswalk, there may even be a synchronized walk signal, but everything else in this landscape threatens your safety. Will the drivers on both sides stop for a red light? Will the cars turning onto the stroad, many desperate not to miss a traffic light that will take several minutes to cycle again, see and yield to you? You’re literally betting your life on those questions. And even if you decide to drive to another nearby store, it might still take a meandering route and require a high-speed u-turn.

Is this really the “highest, best use” for this space?

4. The Number One Land Use Is Surface Parking

Planning officials often use the term “highest, best use” to evaluate plans for a site or project. Surface parking is almost always the lowest, worst use. How bad is it? Even at the busiest times, acres and acres of surface parking along America’s stroads sit there, far from fully occupied. And when a mall or big box store fails, this neglected pavement contributes to urban heat islands, the impermeable surfaces add to toxic storm runoff, and worst of all, vast tracts of your town’s usable space sit unproductive and isolated.

Welcome to any stroad USA.

5. There’s No “There” There

America’s most beloved streets and neighborhoods are renowned for their sense of place: You could be air-dropped in from anywhere and know exactly where you were. Stroads are the antithesis of this time-honored practice, replicating largely indistinguishable landscapes across North America. On many of them, you’ll struggle to even find a street sign or address marker. Contrast this with some of America’s most iconic and best-branded streets—New York’s Great White Way (Broadway), Chicago’s Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue), or the Sunset Strip (Sunset Boulevard) in West Hollywood. No destination marketer will ever give a colorful name to an eight-lane labyrinth lined with strip malls.

What Can You Do?

Strong Towns seeks to change the planning and development practices that have led to the proliferation of dangerous, under-productive stroads across the North American continent. Our campaign to End Parking Mandates and Subsidies empowers developers and business owners to determine the appropriate parking plans for a project, rather than an arbitrary amount that never hits maximum capacity. Our Safe and Productive Streets campaign focuses on design practices that make humans safer and towns more prosperous. Join Strong Towns to help us amplify these messages, and get involved in your community when you see these adverse planning practices in place.

And to see some examples of how you can start changing the stroads in your community, check out these seven stroads that were successfully converted into streets!

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