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Urban Street Design Guide Index

Urban Street Design Guide
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Street Design Elements

Street Design Elements

The elements that make up city streets, from sidewalks to travel lanes to transit stops, all vie for space within a limited right-of-way. Transportation planners and engineers can use this toolbox to optimize the benefits the community receives from its streets.

Adapted from the Urban Street Design Guide, published by Island Press.

Subsections:

Lane Width

Lane Width

The width allocated to lanes for motorists, buses, trucks, bikes, and parked cars is a sensitive and crucial aspect of street design. Lane widths should be considered within the assemblage of a given street delineating space to serve all needs,

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Sidewalks

Sidewalks

Sidewalks play a vital role in city life. As conduits for pedestrian movement and access, they enhance connectivity and promote walking. As public spaces, sidewalks serve as the front steps to the city, activating streets socially and economically. Safe, accessible,

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Curb Extensions

Curb Extensions

Curb extensions visually and physically narrow the roadway, creating safer and shorter crossings for pedestrians while increasing the available space for street furniture, benches, plantings, and street trees. They may be implemented on downtown, neighborhood, and residential streets, large and

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Gateway

Gateway

Curb extensions are often applied at the mouth of an intersection. When installed at the entrance to a residential or low speed street, a curb extension is referred to as a “gateway” treatment and is intended to mark the transition

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Pinchpoint

Pinchpoint

Curb extensions may be applied at midblock to slow traffic speeds and add public space. When utilized as a traffic calming treatment, mid-block curb extensions are referred to as "pinchpoints" or "chokers".

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Chicane

Chicane

Offset curb extensions on residential or low volume downtown streets create a chicane effect that slows traffic speeds considerably. Chicanes increase the amount of public space available on a corridor and can be activated using benches, bicycle parking, and other

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Bus Bulbs

Bus Bulbs

Bus bulbs are curb extensions that align the bus stop with the parking lane, allowing buses to stop and board passengers without ever leaving the travel lane. Bus bulbs help buses move faster and more reliably by decreasing the amount

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Vertical Speed Control Elements

Vertical Speed Control Elements

Vertical speed control elements manage traffic speeds and reinforce pedestrian-friendly, safe speeds. These devices may be appropriate on a range of street types, but are most widely applied along neighborhood, residential, or low-speed streets where freight traffic is discouraged. They

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Speed Hump

Speed Hump

Speed humps are parabolic vertical traffic calming devices intended to slow traffic speeds on low volume, low speed roads. Speed humps are 3–4 inches high and 12–14 feet wide, with a ramp length of 3–6 feet, depending on target speed.

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Speed Table

Speed Table

Speed tables are midblock traffic calming devices that raise the entire wheelbase of a vehicle to reduce its traffic speed. Speed tables are longer than speed humps and flat-topped, with a height of 3–3.5 inches and a length of 22

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Speed Cushion

Speed Cushion

Speed cushions are either speed humps or speed tables that include wheel cutouts to allow large vehicles to pass unaffected, while reducing passenger car speeds. They can be offset to allow unimpeded passage by emergency vehicles and are typically used

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Transit Streets

Transit Streets

Dedicated transit lanes, appropriate base signal timings, and operational traffic improvements ensure that the transit vehicle experiences minimal wait time at intersections and can move freely regardless of traffic congestion, providing a passenger experience competitive with driving.

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Dedicated Curbside/Offset Bus Lanes

Dedicated Curbside/Offset Bus Lanes

Dedicated bus lanes are typically applied on major routes with frequent headways (10 minutes at peak) or where traffic congestion may significantly affect reliability. As on-time performance degrades, consider more aggressive treatments to speed transit service. Agencies may set ridership

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Dedicated Median Bus Lanes

Dedicated Median Bus Lanes

Dedicated median bus lanes are typically applied on major routes with frequent headways or where traffic congestion may significantly affect reliability. Median bus lanes are applied along the centerline of a multi-lane roadway and should be paired with accessible transit

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Contra-Flow Bus Lanes

Contra-flow bus lanes are typically applied to bus routes to create strategic, efficient connections rather than as a continuous application along a corridor. The ideal contra-flow bus lane is designed similar to a regular 2-way street, with non-transit vehicles barred

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Bus Stops

Bus Stops

Bus stop planning and design involves thinking about existing and new stops from both the macro framework of system design and the micro-level of conditions around the transit stop. Many cities and transit agencies have developed internal guidelines to determine

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Stormwater Management

Stormwater Management

Sustainable stormwater management treats and slows runoff from impervious roadways, sidewalks, and building surfaces. In urban areas, natural drainage patterns have changed over time due to the incremental increase of impervious surface areas. Hardscapes, such as concrete

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Bioswales

Bioswales

The elements that make up city streets, from sidewalks to travel lanes to transit stops, all vie for space within a limited right-of-way. Transportation planners and engineers can use this toolbox to optimize the benefits the community receives from its

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Flow-Through Planters

Flow-Through Planters

The elements that make up city streets, from sidewalks to travel lanes to transit stops, all vie for space within a limited right-of-way. Transportation planners and engineers can use this toolbox to optimize the benefits the community receives from its

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Pervious Strips

Pervious Strips

The elements that make up city streets, from sidewalks to travel lanes to transit stops, all vie for space within a limited right-of-way. Transportation planners and engineers can use this toolbox to optimize the benefits the community receives from its

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Pervious Pavement

Pervious Pavement

The elements that make up city streets, from sidewalks to travel lanes to transit stops, all vie for space within a limited right-of-way. Transportation planners and engineers can use this toolbox to optimize the benefits the community receives from its

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References

References for Street Design Elements: 126 found.