Residential streets aren’t generally intended for through traffic. They’re meant to provide access to the people who live there. These are areas where kids play and people go on walks and stuff, having a bunch of cars run through trying to get from point A to point B as fast as possible is not ideal. That’s why you get cul-de-sacs, intentionally designed with one way in or out, to prevent drivers from cutting through.
A lot of residential areas near here have a main street down the middle and a bunch of horseshoe shaped streets branching off. Makes it kind of worthless to go down the horseshoes unless you have a reason to since it doesn’t really go anywhere but back to where you were only slower.
There is one notable spot that comes to mind for me. There is a neighborhood near me that was originally supposed to have more houses but eventually got sold off and zoned commercial and they put in a Home Depot instead. The street goes through to the parking lot. The city actually put up big construction barriers to block off that access(at residents request) and turn it into a dead end street. Google even years later still routes you down that residential street instead of another block or so down the main road and then turning directly into the parking lot. Why?…it’s a few hundred feet shorter to go through the neighborhood. So a street that should only have like 2-3 cars on it an hour now has several dozen. Not to mention those people are most definitely speeding.
Aren’t streets… designed… to be passed through?
Residential streets aren’t generally intended for through traffic. They’re meant to provide access to the people who live there. These are areas where kids play and people go on walks and stuff, having a bunch of cars run through trying to get from point A to point B as fast as possible is not ideal. That’s why you get cul-de-sacs, intentionally designed with one way in or out, to prevent drivers from cutting through.
Oh, so that’s why its always quicker going through the back-streets but Google sends me through the clogged arteries like I’m Sheeple?
Makes sense, I guess. I’ll probably keep doing it even though it is a bit of a dick move
Oh I misunderstood OP’s message, thought they meant pedestrians as well. My apologies.
We have a real issue with the conflation of streets and roads in North America. Some people call these abominations stroads.
Proper urban planning makes a stark distinction between a street:
And a road:
…no…?
A lot of residential areas near here have a main street down the middle and a bunch of horseshoe shaped streets branching off. Makes it kind of worthless to go down the horseshoes unless you have a reason to since it doesn’t really go anywhere but back to where you were only slower.
There is one notable spot that comes to mind for me. There is a neighborhood near me that was originally supposed to have more houses but eventually got sold off and zoned commercial and they put in a Home Depot instead. The street goes through to the parking lot. The city actually put up big construction barriers to block off that access(at residents request) and turn it into a dead end street. Google even years later still routes you down that residential street instead of another block or so down the main road and then turning directly into the parking lot. Why?…it’s a few hundred feet shorter to go through the neighborhood. So a street that should only have like 2-3 cars on it an hour now has several dozen. Not to mention those people are most definitely speeding.