SUSTAINABLE PLACES
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...advocate with PennDOT and local municipalities to right-size roads, install traffic calming, build
green streets, install sidewalks, and use other safety and environmental improvements for streets
Streets are the most public places in the county, the connecting thread between communities. Their primary role is to
move vehicles, both motorized and non-motorized, but they also have an impact on adjoining properties, the walkability of
neighborhoods, the image of communities, and stormwater. There are a number of approaches PennDOT, the county, local
municipalities, developers, and property owners can use to lessen these impacts.
Right-Sized Roads
- Roads can sometimes be too small or too large for the amount of traffic volume they carry. Many
roads built in the 1950s and 1960s were made wider than they need to be, and right-sizing these roads is called a road diet.
Often road diets incorporate bike lanes, landscaped medians, rain gardens, crosswalks, and sidewalks. Road diets often
increase the efficiency of vehicular traffic flow while making the road safer for everyone.
Traffic Calming
- Traffic calming is designed to slow down vehicular traffic and make roads safer and more appealing
for pedestrians, bicyclists, and people on adjoining properties. The most common traffic calming techniques used in the
Philadelphia area include speed humps, traffic circles, roundabouts, landscaped medians, speed tables, curb extensions or
bulbouts, and streetscaping.
Green Streets
- Green streets incorporate landscaped areas designed as stormwater best management practices. Instead
of going directly into pipes, stormwater runoff is directed into landscaped areas designed to allow water infiltration and
filtering of pollutants. Green street techniques include stormwater curb extensions, stormwater planters, vegetated swales,
and rain gardens.
■■ New examples of road
diets, traffic calming, and
green streets completed in
the county
■■ Fewer accidents on roads
Measuring success
Bumpouts in Jenkintown were used to narrowWest Avenue, making it easy for
pedestrians to cross from one site to the other.
Keswick in Abington uses streetscaping, landscaped islands, and roundabouts to
calm traffic.
