Georgia Bike Safety: Atlanta Street Design 2005

The philosophy of the street-sensitive-to-context-design method began in Europe, Canada, and Australia. The actual concept started in the U.S. with a Federal Highway Administration-sponsored study of the design philosophy.

In the streets-sensitive-to-context-design project development process, engineers include street safety improvements, environmental needs, current design criteria, and still involve the community to give them streets that fit their values and objectives, such as making them safer for cycling and walking, as well as safer for vehicular traffic.

How it works

Atlanta got involved early in U.S. studies.

First, agencies determined which areas in the region were best suited for streets-sensitive-to-context-design.

Town centers, activity centers (office, shopping, and residential complexes), transit station areas, and major bus corridors were the first to be considered.

Local collector and arterial streets and historic neighborhoods were added.

Several key design concepts were set out:

Mobility for all street uses.
Public transportation access.
Community and area participation in design planning.
Development patterns that include all types of street use.

Projected outcomes

Atlanta engineers projected several positive results from the use of the streets-sensitive-to-context-design method:

Safer places to bike and walk.
Increased use of biking, walking, and taking transit to work.
Decreased traffic noise.
A more sustainable community.
An improved community image.

Elements needed to achieve these goals included sidewalks (where they didn't exist), off-road paths and/or trails, curbs and curb ramps, improved traffic-control devices, pedestrian bridges and/or tunnels, mid-block crossings with appropriate signage, medians for pedestrian refuge, landscaped plazas or pocket parks, weather-protection features, street identification signs, and better identified crosswalks.

Specific measures

Connectivity is one needed key measure to use the streets-sensitive-to-context-design. A grid of interconnected streets, including sidewalks, should provide direct, multiple routes for use. Disconnected streets should be linked by the design.

Street travel should not dominate the area. Wide sidewalks, vegetation, curb extensions, and on-street parking can help.

Buffers between the community and the street include the curb, on-street parking, as well as trees and plants.

More and better-signed crossings reduce out-of-the-way travel.

Social spaces, such as benches and pocket parks, outdoor cafes, and low walls improve the area's quality of life.

Street lighting improvements should include short light poles, which humanize the lighting, and lighting that provides light for pedestrians as well as vehicle drivers.

Way-finding signs, information kiosks, maps and business directories, as well as community banners help pedestrians move around the area.

Bike paths or bike lanes, as well as multi-use paths, open areas to alternative uses.

When heavy-traffic-volume streets, creeks, wide streets, or other barriers discourage pedestrian and bike traffic, bridges or tunnels that make it easy to cross the barrier can be used.

Traffic management measures help, too. Traffic calming with street alignment changes or barriers can reduce traffic speed or cut-through volumes. In an historic St. Louis neighborhood, for example, a local street that was used by semi trucks and buses as a cut through went back to being a neighborhood throughway after large concrete planters blocked off one end of the street. Multiple exits on other local streets provided the residents with plenty of options for vehicular, walking, or biking access in and out of the neighborhood.

Beyond Atlanta

Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Utah, New Jersey, and Vermont were designated as pilot states for the streets-sensitive-to-context-design.

In Maryland, the East Main Street Reconstruction Project in Westminster incorporated streets-sensitive-to-context-design.

Street width was reduced to save trees along the road. In some areas, curbs were extended 6 feet into the parking lane to help reduce vehicular traffic speed.

Sidewalks were widened from their original 5 feet to 10-feet wide.

Concrete pavers that look like brick added variety.

Textured pedestrian crossings, trees, and low plantings gave the street a park-like look.

Staggered curbing, textured walkways, and pedestrian-friendly areas in the historic urban area increased demand for retail and office space in the neighborhood.

In New York City, the West Side Highway replacement design was a streets-sensitive-to-context-design.

The elevated, limited-access street was replaced with a design using tree-filled channels to separate vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Speed limits were reduced.

Existing small park areas were expanded in the design, and pedestrian crossings were improved.

Still to come

In Canada, the New Fraser River Crossing Project in British Columbia will implement the streets-sensitive-to-context-design principles.

Community-input workshops were held last year. Participants helped shape plans to integrate the bridge and roads leading to it with community goals.

The East-West Connector will use narrower lanes and small shoulders to reduce vehicular traffic speeds. Different road surfaces will delineate various uses - vehicular, pedestrian, bicycle. Landscaping and multiple pedestrian crossings were included.

The Southern Connector includes bike lanes, dense hedges and trees, a noise reflector at the bridgehead, banners and street lighting, park-and-ride connections, and overhead signs indicating specific business locations.

The Northern Connector uses low-noise pavement, staggered roadway to slow traffic, road-noise surfaces to slow vehicles, cycle lanes, trails, sidewalks, landscaping (including wildlife connections), commercial buildings built over and across the road, raised skywalks and sound fencing.

The Abernathy Connector includes a cycle path and a flat multi-use trail, extensive landscaping, no use of billboards, noise barriers, and a gateway to recreational areas.

Streets-sensitive-to-context-design elements for the bridge include a height as low as possible while still providing boat clearance, a colored surface, reflectors for night guidance, art on part of the sides of the bridge and pilings, emergency lanes, pedestrian and cycle lanes, a sheltered walkway, a park, trails, and a boat launch under the bridge.