Alan B. Cohen, Architect AIA

NARROW STREETS DATABASE

This survey was assembled in 1997 by Alan B. Cohen under the auspices of the Transportation Task Force of the Congress for the New Urbanism. There are no plans at this time to keep the contact information current. For those desiring additional information it is recommended that you contact the cities/ counties directly.


This database includes communities that have recently adopted reduced width street standards. Prior to WWII, the traditional neighborhood street was in the range of 28'-30' wide with corner radius of 5'-10'. Since that time, the typical local street has grown to a width of 36' with a corner radius of 25'. The wider street was intended to move traffic more quickly and efficiently. It has. Unfortunately, faster traffic and increased amounts of asphalt have diminished the quality of our neighborhoods. Over the past ten years a grassroots effort has occurred across the country. Citizens are insisting on having a voice in the decision making process along with public works officials, traffic engineers and fire officials. They are demanding more livable street design that account for all constituents of the road system, not just cars and emergency vehicles. In many cases, this is resulting in new narrow street standards.
Below you will find a list of communities that have adopted narrow street standards with a brief description of the standard(s) and a contact person. Keep in mind the contact were made in 1997 and may no longer be valid, however a few phone calls should put you in touch with someone that can provide local details.

State	Jurisdiction	Contact	Phone#	Standard

Arizona	Phoenix, City of	Jim Slayer Transit Planner	602-262-6284	28' - prkg both sides

California	Santa Rosa, City of	Anthony Cabrera City Engineer.	707-543-3209	30' - prkg both sides, <1000ADT 26' - 28' - prkg one side 20' - no prkg 20' neck downs @ intersections

	Palmdale, City of	Tom Horne Traf/Trans. Eng.	805-267-5300	28' - prgk both sides

	San Jose, City of	David Tymn	408-277-4576	30' - prkg both sides, <21 DU, 415' 34' - prkg both sides, <121 DU

	Novato, City of			24' - prkg both sides, 2-4 DU 28' - prkg both sides, 5-15 DU

Colorado	Boulder, City of	John Hinkelman Transportation Plnr, Pub. Works	303-441-3240	32' - prkg both sides, 1000-2500 ADT 30' - prkg both sides, 500-1000 ADT and others

	Ft. Collins, City of	Mike Herzig Spec. Proj. Eng.	970-221-6605	30' - prkg both sides 24' Alley

Delaware	Delaware DOT	David DuPlessis	302-760-2266	Mobility friendly design guideline 200' - 500' blocks Rqd. network connectivity 21' - prkg on side, one trav., cueing for local subdiv. 22' - 29' - prkg one side, minor collector 12' alley in 20' row

Florida	Orlando, City of	Dan Gallagher Transportation Planner	407-246-2775	28' - prkg both sides, res.lots<55' wide 22' - prkg both sides, res.lots>55' wide many standards with bike lanes

Maine	Portland, City of	Sarah Hopkins Planner	207-874-8719	24' with prkg one side

Maryland	Howard County	Mike Mitchell	410-313-2420	24' - prkg unreg, <1000 ADT

	Charles County	Ham Mathur	301-645-0623	24' - prkg unregulated

Michigan	Birmingham, City of	Paul O'meara	248-644-3869 ext. 241	26' - prkg both sides 20' - prkg 1 side

Montana	Helena, City of	Paul Cartwright Dpt.of Env Quality	406-444-6761	33' - prkg both sides & traffic calming

	Missoula, City of	Steve King City Eng.	406-523-4623	26' - prkg both sides, 3-80 DU 32' - prkg both sides, 81-200 DU 12' Alley Others

New Mexico	Albuquerque	Tony Loyd Engineering	505-924-3994	28' - prkg 1 side 27' - prkg 1 side, roll curb

	Santa Fe, City of	Mark Books	505-984-6571	34' - prkg unregulated

Oregon	Eugene, City of	Jan Childs Planning Director	541-682-5208	verify adoption 12' - one way alley 16' - two way alley 20' - no parking 21' (7'/14') - prkg one side, <750 ADT 28' (7'/14'/7') - prkg both sides, <750 ADT 27' (7'/10'/10') - prkg one side, >750 ADT 34' (7'/10'/10'/7') - prkg both side, >750 ADT

	Forest Grove, City of	James Reitz Associate Planner	503-359-3227	32' - prkg both sides - unregulated 28' - prkg both sides if not >16 SFD or 20 multifam. if 2 access pnts., double. DU's. 24' - prkg one side

	Gresham, City of	Sandra Doubleday Transportation Planner	503-618-2816	20' - no prkg, <150' or <11 DU 26' - no prkg, <30' from the curb return, <400' long, queuing 14' - alley, residential 20' - alley, commercial

	McMinnville	Doug Montgomery Asst. Plng. Dir.	503-434-7311	26' w/prkg both sides

	Portland, City of	Terry Bray Transportation Planner	503-823-7058	26' w/prkg both sides 20' w/prkg one side

	Washington County	Click for Website

	Beaverton, City of	Daryl Steffen Dpt. of Trans.	503-526-2426	28' - prkg both sides, <600ADT <300

	Tigard	Brian Rager Dev. Review Eng.	503-684-7297	28' - prkg 1 side, <500 ADT 32' - Prkg both sides, <1500 ADT

	Tualatin	Engineering	503-692-2000	32' - prkg both sides

	Hillsboro, City of	Tina Baily Engineering	503-681-6146	28 - 30' prkg both sides

Tennessee	Johnson City, City of	Eric Thomas Iversen City Planner	423-434-6075	22' prkg not regulated, <240 ADT 24' - 28', prkg not regulated, 240-1500 ADT 28', prkg not regulated, >1500 ADT

Vermont	DOT			Rural - 22' w/ 3' shldrs

	Burlington, City of	Steve Goodkind City Eng.	802-863-9094	30' prkg both sides

Washington	Kirland, City of	Katy Coleman	425-828-1241	12' Alley 20' - prkg 1 side 24' - prkg both sides - low density only 28' - prkg both sides

W. Virginia	Morgantown	William Bechtel Dir. of Plng & Dev	304-284-7413	22' prkg 1 side

Wisconsin	Madison, City of			27' - prkg both sides, <3DU/AC 28' - prkg both sides, 3-10 DU/AC

Resources

The center for Livable Communities, a group within the Local Government Commission, a California based advisory group prepares excellent publications. Three are of specific relevance as follows:

" Street Design Guidelines for Healthy Neighborhoods", will help communities implement designs for streets that are safe, efficient and aesthetically pleasing for both cars and pedestrians.

" Emergency Response, Traffic Calming and Traditional Neighborhood Streets", addresses the concerns that fire departments and other emergency responders have about traffic calming.

" Walkable Streets and the Fire Department", (a video) includes interviews and demonstrations with fire departments from Portland, Oregon and Chico and Mountain View, California. This video can help you work with your fire department and find out what they really do, and don't need.

All of these publications and more are available from the Local Government Commission at http://www.lgc.org/community_design/street.html .

"Traditional Neighborhood Development Design Guildlines: Recommended Practice", Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), 1999, 44 pg. guide that explores the premises behind various forms of neighborhood & street design, includes sections on street space, connectivity, emergency access, parking, safety & geometric design. Available from ITE, 202-554-8050, ext. 130, http://www.ite.org

"Suburban Nation, the Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream", by Andres Duarry, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck. Chapter 5, "The American Transportation Mess", lucidly describes how our street system became dysfunctional. It compares the current model (conventional) with it's predecessor (traditional) and provides many good arguments for narrow streets. A must read.

Swift and Associates, Longmont, Colorado Street Study. This study correlates 20,000 accident reports over an eight year period to 13 variables associated with the street. They found the safest street was 24' wide. This report is available at http://www.fivepts.com/streetutah.htm

Citizens for Sensible Transportation www.cfst.org , A non profit group in Oregon offer the following publications: Civilized Streets - A Guide to Traffic Calming. Traffic Calming the Solution to Urban Traffic and A New Vision for Neighborhood Livability, and others.

Center for Sustainable Transport, Australia www.arrb.org.au. The web page has a very large database of transportation related papers.

"Take Back Your Streets", Conservation Law Foundation, Boston, MA, 617-350-0990. This booklet is an excellent primer for those wishing to take back control of their streets. It discusses some history of road design, legal aspects, and recommendations for engagement. If focuses on the New England area but is applicable across the country.

"Restoring the Rule of Law and Respect for Communities in Transportation", by Stephen H. Burrington, in the New York University "Environmental Law Journal", Vol. 5, Number3, 1996, available from the Conservation Law Foundation (see above). This booklet is an in-depth article on legal aspects of transportation issues and road design. Not an easy read, but interesting information and development of a strong analytical argument for citizen involvement in roadway design.

"Performance Streets", Bucks County (Pennsylvania) Planning Commission, (215) 345-3240. An early booklet on street designs that work without overkill.

"Residential Streets", ASCE, NAHB, ULI, Order#R07, 800-321-8050. A comprehensive street design guide published jointly by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Association of Home Builders and the Urban Land Institute.

"Progress", a monthly publication from Surface Transportation Policy Project, (202) 466-8636, www.transact.org or www.tea21.org. Lots of good transportation information, TEA-21 efforts, traffic calming, street design, etc.

"Reclaiming Our Streets", A Community Action Plan To Calm Neighborhood Traffic, prepared by the Reclaiming Our Streets Task Force, Portland, Oregon, available from Bureau of Traffic Management, Office of Transportation, 1120 SW 5th Ave., Ste. 730, Portland Oregon.

"Moving Toward More Community-Oriented Transportation Strategies for the San Francisco Bay Area", Metropolitan Transportation Commission, 101 Eighth St., Oakland, CA 94607. This booklet is a resource guide with: References, Implementation Guides, Model Codes, Case Studies, Design Guides, etc.

"Skinny Streets", City of Portland's Office of Transportation, (503) 823-7046. This pamphlet discusses the "Skinny Street" program in Portland.

Narrow Residential Streets, Do They Really Slow Down Speeds? A paper reporting results of a San Francisco survey which showed a correlation of traffic speed to street width. By James A. Daisa and John B. Peers, ITE 6th Annual Meeting Compendium of Technical Papers, 1997. James Daisa can be reached at mailto:jim.daisa@kimley-horn.com

The Relationship Between Residential Street Design and Pedestrian Safety. A paper which examines the influence of the streetscape on traffic speeds. By Joni L. Giese, Gary A. Davis and Robert D. Sykes. Presented at the ITE 6th Annual Meeting Compendium of Technical Papers, 1997. I have been unable to determine how to acquire this paper.

Walkable Communities, Inc. A Florida non-profit which helps communities become more walkable and pedestrian friendly. They have an inventory of publications, videos and slides and can assist communities with presentations. More info at http://www.walkable.org.