Whenever I drive down any city roadway I always wonder why do these streets or roads get designed so wide?
For example a residential area has a street that's almost 4-5 cars wide. Both curbs are used for private parking almost full time. And the remaining 3 car widths are for 2 way travel. Repaving a street like this costs way more just because of the width alone.
I always figure why does the city not just maintain the "absolute minimum" roadway required for the particular roadway classification. For starters street parking should be separated from the street like shown in the image below.
This shrinks the roadways square footage that requires maintenance, such as repaving every few years. If dedicated parking areas are required at street level by a business or homeowner, this area should be maintained and cared for by those businesses/owners ideally, working directly with the city for proper specifications and maintenance details.
Residential areas could also benefit from shrinking street widths, I would almost say a car and a half width is more then acceptable. This benefits the area from a influx of thru traffic and from speeding on the area. It also provides more area on the street for green space, with benefits to health and air quality as well as potential benefits for rain water being absorbed back into the ground.
This would be a example of a narrower residential street that's about a car and a half wide, still allowing 2 way travel as cars need to slow down and squeeze past each other.
A street like this is a destination, not a thru-way.
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