A modest way to improve almost every major road in the US
Businesses upfront. Parking in the rear. Yes, it's that simple.
A few months back, I had the displeasure of driving down US 19 along the western end of Florida. US 19 runs from the west coast of Florida up to Erie, Pennsylvania, and perhaps for a lot of that stretch, it’s not too bad a road. I have no idea. But on the stretch from at least Crystal River to St. Petersburg and maybe further, US 19 is a massive street with at least 3 lanes on each side (and sometimes more) and it’s ugly. It’s ugly and unsafe, not just to the brave few pedestrians who would dare to cross the road at intersections or the daredevil cyclists who would try to ride along the traffic there. It’s dangerous to drivers too. It’s been dangerous for a long while too. Back in 2005, NBC called that stretch of US 19 the “most dangerous road in America.” Since then, part of US 19 south of Palm Harbor heading into Clearwater has been turned into a highway. The other sections of US 19 in that part of Florida remain the same.
Here’s what it looks like now:
I can say this sucks or you can see the pictures above and come to the same conclusion. We know that safety matters, but what does it matter if US 19 is an eyesore? Well, it serves as the de facto main street for many communities up and down the central west coast of Florida. For most visitors to these communities, this is the first thing they see when they are in Palm Harbor or Dunedin or Tarpon Springs or New Port Richey. What a horrible first impression!
There are two ways to go about fixing this. The first way was already done in a stretch and it’s fairly conventional thinking. Just turn the whole of US 19 into a freeway without stop lights or the pretense of being bike or pedestrian friendly. That’ll help with pedestrian and cyclist deaths but it won’t help a whole lot with driver fatalities. It also won’t help with the aesthetics of the area, and it won’t be climate friendly. It’ll just stay a big road, just one that drivers will stop less on. It also won’t help businesses along the road. It’s not really a fix, but it is what people know.
The second way, and I think the better way, is to fundamentally change the makeup of the road. Cut two lanes out entirely and drop the speed limit to a max of 45 mph. If you must, create a frontage road for truck drivers only so they can bypass much of the ordinary car traffic. And then, rezone the entire length of the highway, and yes across multiple cities and counties and yes that’s not easy, so that businesses are adjacent to the sidewalk and the parking for those businesses is in the rear. Part of why US 19, and the many roads in the US like it, are so ugly is that businesses are hidden behind massive parking lots. That’s not only ugly but dangerous. As a driver, you need to figure out if the store you want to go to is in the shopping center there or just the next one over. Sure would be a lot easier if the businesses were just right upfront next to the sidewalk. Those businesses might actually see some pedestrian and cyclist traffic too. Right now, if you want to walk to a business on US 19, god help you but you’d have to not only navigate the massive 8 lane road, but also walk a quarter of a mile through a parking lot with no pedestrian walkways to finally get to the business you want to shop at. No pedestrian wants to do this so they drive! And look at that picture of the bike lane above. I love biking but no one should be cycling on that road as is. That’s an invitation to the hospital or morgue.
Business upfront, parking in the rear. This is the formula to fix almost any American road. This is why so many Americans love small town Main Streets. The businesses are upfront, easy to see, easy to walk to or bike to or yes even drive to if you must. You don’t have an acre of parking to navigate through. And because more people can walk or bike to a place, car traffic is reduced. If your only way to a place is via a car, then that is all you will have on the roads. But give people other ways of traveling, and the end result is a huge benefit to those drivers still on the road – less traffic. Less traffic, less of the risks with heavily trafficked roads, less crashes and fatalities. And when you change that 8 lane road to be more like a 2 to 4 lane road with protected bike lanes, trees, sidewalks, you’ll end up with more of the things that make a town feel welcoming to residents and visitors.