The Economic and Social Impact of One-Way Street Design and Performance on Neighborhood Livability
The livability of an inner-city neighborhood is greatly impacted by the design of the street. The movement toward ‘complete streets’ policies throughout the United States has allowed for more funding to flow toward bicycle and pedestrian projects: however, many streets continue to be unsafe. The authors hypothesize that unsafe road conditions result from multi-lane one-way streets. Such streets exist primarily in urban business districts and nearby historic neighborhoods, many occupied by poor and minority residents. To examine the effects of one-way streets on safety, they use three principle strategies: 1) a cross-sectional city-wide evaluation using descriptive and inferential statistics on all collisions occurring within a five-year period in a mid-size city; 2) a focused assessment of traffic collision data, crime data, counts of trees, housing valuation data, foreclosure and vacant and abandoned structures and lots on a 13-block street segment, with both one and two-way streets; and, 3) a qualitative broken windows assessment using photography to evaluate signs of visual distress on one-way vs. two way segments. The authors' results show that multi-lane, one-way streets have a higher incidence of collisions and injuries than their two-way counterparts for both motorists and bikes and pedestrians. Furthermore, neighborhoods with one-way multi-lane streets experience higher crime and abandonment, as well as a significant reduction in housing value. Their photographic assessment suggests that these street typologies contribute to degradation and erosion of community. This research provides support for expanded thinking about using one to two-way street conversion as a tool to improve safety, connectivity, community, and sustainability.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD10 Standing Committee on Transportation and Economic Development. Alternate title: Economic and Social Impact of One-Way Street Design and Performance on Neighborhood Livability.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Riggs, William
- Gilderbloom, John I
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
- Date: 2017
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 19p
- Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Economic impacts; Highway design; Neighborhoods; One way streets; Quality of life; Social impacts; Traffic safety
- Geographic Terms: United States
- Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01623366
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 17-06741
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Jan 24 2017 3:31PM