Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares

That's the title of a new report from CNU and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) that attempts to right the wrongs of the car-centric street design of the past 75 years.

1 minute read

April 9, 2010, 8:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Noah Kazis at Streetsblog talks with Dan Burden, walkability guru. Burden participated in the report, and he says it represents a couple of significant breakthroughs:

BURDEN: "One where we struggled hard, but finally broke free, is setting a target speed for roads. Before, there was always the driving speed, which had to be higher than the posted speed to provide "forgiveness" to drivers. Of course, drivers totally figured that one out, and they'd drive faster than the posted speed. In these guidelines, they're supposed to design the road for the speed that we want to elicit from the driver. "

Thanks to Noah Kazis

Read the full story: Making Streets for Walking: Dan Burden on Reforming Design Standards

Thursday, April 8, 2010 in Streetsblog

Infrastructure Transportation New Hampshire Walking Walkability Aashto Streetsblog CNU DOT Dan Burden interview state government ITE View More

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.