Fixing the Notorious ‘Stroad’

Ever heard of a ‘stroad?’ This hybrid of street and road, a thoroughfare that attempts to serve both drivers and pedestrians, is becoming known among planners and transportation engineers as a ‘worst of both worlds’ approach to road design, explains Liam Davies in a piece for The Conversation.

Stroads have an inherent conflict between their role as a movement corridor and their role as a place. While they try to be everything to everyone, they become nothing to anyone.

Davies describes Australian roads, many of which qualify as stroads and were built decades ago. Now, some Australian states are looking to a ‘movement and place’ framework to identify what role roads should play. 

But, Davies writes, “To truly solve the stroad, we need to change the priority of the street. We need to remove some space given to cars (both driving and parking), and give that space to people and place.” Concepts like Complete Streets reimagine roadways with more space for people and public transit, while initiatives like parklets let residents envision alternate uses of public space.