Want Nice Streets? Start by Cutting Back on the Asphalt
Small triangular park surrounded by a sea of asphalt.
Most people have become so accustomed to their built environment that it is hard to imagine the places they live and work looking different. They have grown accustomed to the idea that communities are built to a finished state, frozen in time when the last shingle is laid or the last tree on the street planted. They accept the current conditions, so marginal improvements feel like giant advancements.
Thinking differently about a place is hard. It is even more difficult when it comes to, say, a sea of asphalt in the form of parking lots or overly wide roads. People generally accept that this asphalt was planned and installed with a purpose. The reality is that all North American communities have a lot of pavement, and much of it isn't needed.
I was recently introduced to the Northern Californian town of Nice. Nice is a beautiful little community located on the banks of Clear Lake, and it is a gateway to endless outdoor activities.
Nice has been the beneficiary of many roadway investments in recent years, such as repaving, striping, signage, crosswalks and even an improved bus stop. The Lake County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) are working on numerous plans to improve this section of roadway — but based on the most recent public and private investments in Nice, I fear these well-intentioned investments will only end up being detrimental to the town and its residents in the long run.
For example, a dollar store was recently built downtown. It is one of the first new developments in this community, and because it fronts onto California State Route 20, it was required to meet the county’s development standards and make various improvements to the street. The resulting design is a retail store in the center of the community that requires a car for every visit. Something as simple as continuing the sidewalk across the front of the site — eliminating extra asphalt for what appears to be a right-turn lane — could have provided a safer option for the entire community.
The four new pedestrian crosswalks on State Road 20 (installed by CalTrans) are another example. These crosswalks are needed in this community, but none of these crossings actually fulfill their purpose, as they end before reaching a safe place for pedestrians. These crosswalks direct pedestrians to places that pedestrians should not be, ranging from open parking lots to roadway shoulders that are used as unmarked turn lanes. To make things worse, several crosswalk paths are impeded with traffic signs.
A crosswalk on State Route 20 that ends at the edge of a parking lot instead of a safe location.
At Keeling Avenue, the roadway designer placed the crosswalk on the opposite side of the intersection from a sidewalk and bus stop, so a pedestrian is directed into a sea of asphalt with no safe route. This bus stop is the one spot that could've had the broadest impact on the community. It’s well-located at the center of town, in front of the town square. Every rider of the bus begins and ends as a walker, but the crosswalk wasn’t placed where it would most benefit them. This is a missed opportunity.
Keeling Avenue intersection. Crosswalk on far right and bus stop on far left.
How Can Nice Look at This Differently?
Nice is asphalt blind. There is so much asphalt on and around State Route 20 that the roadway designers have stopped considering anything other than throughput and roadway capacity. Being asphalt blind means the city is also blind to the extreme risk all users face in this charming community. Nice deserves a fresh look at what might be possible if safety was a priority — and it just might need a little less asphalt.
I was drawn to the triangular park just east of the town square. A couple of streets merge here, resulting in several ambiguous intersections. The triangular park is an island dwarfed by the sea of asphalt. The excessive asphalt creates confusion for drivers and leaves no room for pedestrians and cyclists.
The triangular park and ambiguous intersections.
Diagonal streets and flat iron blocks create a natural area of interest for urban designers. These are the complex puzzle pieces within historic towns where architects and planners can insert playful designs and create memorable places. With the current conditions, this is a diamond in the rough that I feel my pencil may be able to reveal.
Before working on a plan like this, I want to study and explore the existing conditions. State Route 20 smoothly curves through town with little resistance. The highway alignment undertakes several feats of gymnastics, with steep cross slopes to yield maximum throughput. The result is several streets that feel unresolved.
The first step in looking at something differently is asking different questions. The first question I would pose as an urban designer would be, “What if Nice just rightsized the asphalt to only include the two travel lanes as striped?” This is a very provocative question for a community that is asphalt blind, where roadway designers have paved to the very edges of the right-of-way.
Existing street section.
Three-quarters of the existing asphalt could be removed without impacting the two travel lanes. This would free up an enormous amount of land that could be reverted to a more productive use for the community. For example, the triangular park could more than double in size, or a wide sidewalk or multimodal path could be added to the corridor. By removing three-quarters of the existing asphalt along just one block, CalTrans could save millions of dollars in future construction costs and long-term maintenance — not to mention the resources it would save in manufacturing asphalt and treating stormwater runoff.
Street section shown with two lanes. The red illustrates the excessive amount of extra pavement.
The wide shoulders and dedicated turn lanes could be transformed into a variety of productive uses. A continuous sidewalk could be located at the property lines adjacent to buildings, providing a safe area for pedestrians. Where needed, on-street parking — parallel or head-out angled — could be added. Landscape buffers and stormwater management areas could also be located throughout Nice.
Example of an urban street section.
How Could the Diagonal Intersections Be Improved?
Today, Manzanita Drive creates numerous intersection conflicts through angles and misalignments. It is hard to visualize what these streets could look like based on the current conditions. It appears that, for years, the approach has been to add more asphalt. Using the power of a pencil, and with a design focus on safety, we can peel back the asphalt and explore a different approach.
The simple response is to remove the intersections that are causing the worst conflicts. We can start by taking a close look at the geometries and sight lines at the intersection of Manzanita Drive and State Route 20. All the conflicts at this intersection (and the majority of conflicts at two other intersections) could be eliminated by removing a portion of Manzanita Drive and adding a small traffic circle or square at Howard Avenue. Closing a portion of Manzanita Drive addresses immediate traffic safety concerns and creates additional public space. This idea could easily be tested today by adding temporary cones or bollards as a small bet to see how it works. Again, a simple sketch can shift the conversation from traffic to how the city can use this new public gathering space.
Closing a portion of Manzanita Drive addresses immediate traffic safety concerns while creating a new public gathering space.
The intersection conflicts created with the alignment of Manzanita Drive and the high speeds on State Route 20 could also be addressed with some bolder visions where the focus of the design is safety. Speed was a contributing factor in a crash that killed a pedestrian, and it continues to be an issue along all of State Route 20. The character of Nice should inspire people to think about this condition differently. The geometry of the streets and the wide right-of-way could accommodate an elongated roundabout. This type of intersection would naturally slow vehicles in the center of Nice to less lethal speeds and remove many of the existing intersection conflicts. This bolder vision would create a slow-speed, pedestrian-friendly town center through design.
An elongated roundabout in the heart of Nice.
You do not have to be an urban designer to look at your community differently. Each of you can discover the possibilities hiding in plain sight in your community, and each of you can have a conversation or take the initial steps to make your town stronger.
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Edward Erfurt is the Director of Community Action at Strong Towns. He is a trained architect and passionate urban designer with over 20 years of public- and private-sector experience focused on the management, design, and successful implementation of development and placemaking projects that enrich the tapestry of place. He believes in community-focused processes that are founded on diverse viewpoints, a concern for equity, and guided through time-tested, traditional town-planning principles and development patterns that result in sustainable growth with the community character embraced by the communities which he serves.