Functional Classification of Streets: So important that no one wants to talk about it

Functional Classification
So important that no one
wants to talk about it
Friday, July 26, 2013

Peter Norton
historian, professor, author
University of Virginia
norton@virginia.edu
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/fighting-traffic
Andy Boenau, AICP
plangineer, raconteur
Timmons Group
andy.boenau@timmons.com
http://www.urbanismspeakeasy.com

1
Not so boldContent Speaker Time
housekeeping APA 5 min
interpretation of streets is critical Andy 5 min
traditional American streets Peter 30 min
modernist American streets Andy 20 min
discussion Everyone 30 min
2
3

1
The way we interpret
(or classify) streets
is critical.

Street Interpretation
Or:
How I
learned
to stop
worrying about
folklore
engineering
and love
common sense

Land Use.
Transportation.
Land Use.

2 traditional American streets

Functional classification of what?

High-Speed Trains
Express Trains
Automobiles
Rail Rapid Transit
Bus Rapid Transit
Local Trains
Local Buses
Bicycles
Pedestrians

Functional classification for whom?

“Mobility” for what?
—for cars
for cars

—for cars
for cars
What is “higher mobility”?

—for cars
for cars
speed

—for cars
for cars
speed
function = fast access for cars

For the 1972 Highway Needs report, the
highway departments included as a “need”
road improvements sufficient to move all
projected traffic during the period 1970-1989
at a minimum speed of 35-40 miles per
hour. The total bill for achieving this goal
would be would be 592 billion dollars.
— Mashaw (1973), citing 1972 USDoT National Highway Need Report

What is mobility?
Do we really mean speed?

Austell Road, Marietta, Georgia
an urban arterial affording “higher mobility”

Austell Road, Marietta, Georgia
an urban arterial affording “higher mobility”?

Rochester 1904: no functional classification (?)

Is this low mobility? —or just low speed?

Boston 1906
No functional
classification?
Low mobility?
What about
access?

Functional classification was not invented by AASHO.

Objective research cannot tell us definitively which
functions are correct and which are incorrect.
.

Objective research cannot tell us which classifications
to choose.

Objective research cannot tell us which classifications
to choose.
History can open the black box to disclose alternatives.

Out of public funds made available by generous
contributions of street users themselves, [we can
build] adequate, safe, efficient, and modern traffic
facilities so that automobile users will will provide
their own transportation of a high character at
their own operating costs.
— Miller McClintock, 1930

In a city, what does “land access” for cars mean?
for Cars

AASSTO
American Association of
State Septic Tank Officials

AASSTO
Want the right septic tank for your setting?

AASSTO
Check the AASSTO Brown Book for
our Functional Classification Guide

AASSTO
Check the AASSTO Brown Book for
our Functional Classification Guide
You’ll find the right septic tank for your needs—
whether you’re in Manhattan, Kansas,
or Manhattan, New York.

surface septic fields
multistory septic structures

surface parking lots
parking garages

Parking
Parking(zeromobility)
for Cars

Land access for cars in Portland, Oregon (1962)

Google autocomplete test:
What will we get if we add a v?

Streets are for children to play in.
— “Mr. Aronson,” Newark, New Jersey,
1912

The streets were made for the public
in general, not specially for autoists.
— James O. Millar, Chicago pedestrian, 1915

Are streets for commercial
and pleasure traffic alone?
— Bessie Buckley, Milwaukee teacher, 1920

Speed must always give way to safety.
— Ralph Richards, 1912

Speed is identified in the public
mind—at least in the pedestrian
public mind—with accidents.
— Harold Stokes, November 25, 1924
Speed must always give way to safety.
— Ralph Richards, 1912

“If safety is not realized, there will come a time when the
public will demand drastic action—no matter how hard
it may hit the pocketbooks of automobile manufacturers,
dealers and owners.”
— Milwaukee Leader, 1920

“If safety is not realized, there will come a time when the
public will demand drastic action—no matter how hard
it may hit the pocketbooks of automobile manufacturers,
dealers and owners.”
— Milwaukee Leader, 1920
“This dreadful slaughter must be stopped. If necessary,
regulations severe and searching enough to do it must be
adopted and enforced. … If reasonable safety of life
and limb can only be had by impairing the motor car’s
efficiency the motor car will have to pay that price.”
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1923

The causes of accidents … are
men and not machines.
— Cincinnati Enquirer, 1923

The causes of accidents … are
men and not machines.
— Cincinnati Enquirer, 1923
The reckless driver … is the
main cause of accidents.
— Alfred Reeves, General Manager,
National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, 1923.

Are streets for commercial and
pleasure traffic alone?

The streets were made
for vehicles to run upon.
— Charles Hayes, president, Chicago Motor Club, 1920
Are streets for commercial and
pleasure traffic alone?

Pedestrians must be
educated to know that
automobiles have rights.
— George M. Graham, auto manufacturer, 1924

The ridicule of their fellow citizens is far more
effective than any other means which might be
adopted [to control pedestrians].

The ridicule of their fellow citizens is far more
effective than any other means which might be
adopted [to control pedestrians].
We have recognized that in controlling traffic
we must take into consideration the study of
human psychology, rather than approach it
solely as an engineering problem.
— E.B. Lefferts, Automobile Club of Southern California, 1927

Jaywalker (n): One who crosses a
street without observing the traffic
regulations for pedestrians.
—The Practical Standard Dictionary of the
English Language (New York, 1924), p. 620.

We hear the
shameful
complaint of
jay walkers,
to console
jay drivers.
—George
Davies, St. Louis
pedestrian, 1922

The day of the
emotional sob
sister campaign
has passed.
— Charles M. Hayes, president,
Chicago Motor Club, 1926

“Streets are public property—not to be
abused but to be used with convenience
for the good of the greatest number.”
— George H. Herrold, city planning engineer, 1927

“Scientific organization of traffic could
cut traffic congestion at once by half.”
— J. Rowland Bibbins, traffic engineer, 1924
“Streets are public property—not to be
abused but to be used with convenience
for the good of the greatest number.”
— George H. Herrold, city planning engineer, 1927

The obvious solution … lies only in
a radical revision of our conception
of what a city street is for.
— Engineering News-Record, 1922

“Americans’ ancestors came to this country
for the sake of freedom and adventure. The
automobile satisfies these instincts.”
— Roy Chapin, Hudson Motor Car Company, 1924

“Americans’ ancestors came to this country
for the sake of freedom and adventure. The
automobile satisfies these instincts.”
— Roy Chapin, Hudson Motor Car Company, 1924
“Street traffic congestion is a problem of
unbalanced supply and demand.”
— Miller McClintock, traffic expert, 1930

The motor car was invented so
that man could go faster. …
the major inherent quality of
the automobile is speed.
— Ray W. Sherman, 1935

“The city of tomorrow will be an
automotive city”
— Miller McClintock, traffic expert, 1937

Super-highways must be
constructed and they must
serve the heart of the city.
— Charles Hayes, president of
the Chicago Motor Club, 1945

“Who controls the past
controls the future; who
controls the present
controls the past.”
— George Orwell,
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

“our burning love affair with the automobile”

“the long honeymoon with our new sweetheart”

“The motor car was being treated like the new girl in
town.”

“The motor car was being treated like the new girl in
town.”
“Our romance with the automobile—it’s still going on.
Our honeymoon ended … but we’re still very much
married to Lizzie. We don’t always know how to get
along with her, but you certainly can’t get along
without her. And if that isn’t marriage I don’t know
what is.”

frequency of love affair with the automobile
in works in English scanned by Google, 1900-2000

The
false
choice
hierarchy.
Arterial
Collector
Local

Successful
application of
folklore engineering.
Level of Service A.
Highly efficient operations.

20 mph = livable
40 mph = killable

Change the conversation.
My community’s campaign

equal pay for
equal work
a tree in your
living room

Fact:
engineers and planners sometimes have the same goal

http://www.virginiadot.org/info/transportation_efficient_land_use_and_design_guide.asp

Accommodate people
New uses drawn inExisting uses adapt
Auto-centric corridor

Take this
with you.
- Virginia DOT Transportation & Land Use Publications
“fundamental modes”
“enhance quality”

Take this
with you.
“…will accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians…in the
of Virginia’s transportation network”
planning,
funding,
design,
construction,
operation,
and maintenance
- Virginia DOT

Take this
with you.
“…[roundabout] should be considered
the Department’s
preferred alternative…”
- Virginia DOT Design Manual

Context.
Transects.
Modal priorities.
Human-scale design.

1
2
3
Interpretation (classification) of streets is critical.
Traditional streets promoted activity.
Modernist streets discriminate against people.

be disruptive
Monday morning
to-do list

The
design
hierarchy
of
freedom.

We have
history as a teacher,
consensus with engineering community,

Functional Classification of Streets: So important that no one wants to talk about it

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