This Road Will Never End

Like Mike Waters (River Phoenix) in My Own Private Idaho, I am a connoisseur of roads. Whether on foot, by bike or on transit, I love to wander through neighborhoods, observing how the character of a city changes from street to street.

$roads i\'ve tasted$

I don’t mean to be daft, but the worst part of traveling on or around roads are the cars. One has to be vigilant to share the roads with traffic, but outside of personal safety there are environmental effects like the heat island effect, runoff and noise which shape the experience of a city-goer. More than perhaps we’re willing to acknowledge, cars have a tremendous impact on our enjoyment of city life. Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge these days can feel more like walking across the tarmac at SFO.

The automobile remains a dominant part of daily life for most in this country: for commuting, for errands, for travel. Some are rumored to even drive to the gym, get on a bike and spin. But with news that gas is – gasp! – officially expensive in this country (or rather, just not as cheap as it was) folks are finally searching for alternatives. What first appears as a crisis may prove to be the forefront of a momentous shift in thinking.

I attended a meeting last Tuesday of Fix Masonic which included a presentation of the City’s Better Streets Plan. Masonic Ave is a North-South thoroughfare which exemplifies both the failure of traditional urban street design and the great potential for its transformation with progressive vision. The Better Streets Plan is just such a vision for the future of the City’s pedestrian landscape: safer, slower streets with clear crossings, public parks and seating spaces, permeable landscape, and extensive greening.

Here’s an example of the way the Better Streets guidelines can improve a typical residential street:

a better street

If we can entice (even initially coerce) people out of their cars and into a pedestrian and bike-friendly environment that is vibrant, safe and inviting, maybe we can shift the concept of a street – and thus a neighborhood or even a city – away from a transit corridor and towards a healthier, more versatile, more livable public space.

It’s hard for me to imagine the double-decker embarcadero freeway where there’s now a great plaza, but I think the transformation illustrates what can happen when you develop streetscapes with people in mind and not automobiles. Octavia Boulevard is not, in my mind, an out-and-out success but it does demonstrate the kind of urban planning foresight this city needs to create better pedestrian environments.

Check out:

Plant*SF – permeable landscaping as sustainable urban infrastructural practice and beautification effort
Better Streets – add your comments to the draft at upcoming events

johnnycomelately

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