Is This an Urban Planner's Finest Hour?

This streetscape is in the 'politician' section of Milton Ontario. The streets are largely named after politicos of varying stripe - Louis Saint Laurent Avenue, Trudeau Drive, Clark Boulevard, Bennett Boulevard, James Snow Parkway, Kennedy Circle.

There's even a new High School just down the street named after Criag Kielburger. While not formally a politician, at least not yet, nor a Miltonite (he hails from Thornhill), he began campaigning to eliminate child slavery around the world when he was only 12 years old.

I guess that deserves getting something named after you.

But I'm not talking politics here.

I just thought when I saw this piece of urban environment that it encapsulated a lot of Good Things.

On the far left is a residential street, which cars can only get to in a very limited number of ways.

Hence, local traffic only.

Hence, a perfect place to play road hockey.

Next is a pedestrian sidewalk, then a bike path, then the major arterial road for through traffic.

So the varying types of traffic, vehicular and otherwise, are all separated. Everybody should be happy.

I guess not every neighbourhood has the space to make this happen. But this one, carved as it was out of a green field and green woods, offered the planners essentially Carte Blanche, you should pardon the expression, and they seem to have done a decent job of it.

Now if only the intersections nearby were controlled by roundabouts, they'd have really nailed it.

There are some nearby, but not here.

I can't help but wonder - why is that?

They came so close to getting it darn-near perfect...

 

Comments

[Franklin Swark]

Excellent design for sure, even without the roundabout.

[Larry]

That is very impressive. What happens to the sidewalk and the pedestrian path when they come to an intersection?

[Kent L (@kett4l)]

This is a fine display of modern planning. Try compare it to 1980's era suburbs, where main streets are fronted by wooden fences, and you'd be lucky to get a sidewalk, never mind a bike path.

The term for this kind of street, by the way, is an "open window street".