2.4.3. Considering Design Choices and Consequences

 

Under CSS principles, roadways through a community should be considered much more than just a quick way to get from point A to point B.  These roadways are, in a sense, the lifeblood of our communities that affect day to day lives in many ways.  Roads have taken on a much greater role than just transportation corridors, but rather they can greatly affect the overall image of a community, the economic vitality, the recreational potential, the safety and security, and yes, even our personal psyche.    If the thoroughfares through a community look bad and function poorly, it affects everything around it.  At the same time, if our thoroughfares are attractive and function well, our communities tend to be uplifted in value and spirit. 

 

Main Street – Calhoun, Georgia

Photo Credit:  City of Calhoun, GA

 

 

 

 

 

“Main Street” is typically the defining feature for many Georgia towns and cities.  Main Streets provide access to businesses, residential roads and other nearby properties.  Main Streets serve pedestrians, bicyclists, businesses and public transit, with motorized traffic typically traveling at slower speeds than roads on the outskirts of town.  Main Streets also give communities their identity and character; they promote multi-modal transportation, support economic growth, and often have scenic or historic value.  Additional information about the formal Georgia Main Street Designation Program can be found at: http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatwedo/mainstreet_success.html

 

For most communities, much of this evolved over many, many years, with a series of critical design choices. Most communities tried to capitalize on their unique strengths of location, natural attractions, geography and topography, and local vernacular and landscape setting.  Some might argue that much of this contextual sensitivity has been lost over the years with the establishment of highway design guidelines and safety standards However; with CSS projects we can now better balance the issues between community preservation and enhancement, while meeting necessary design and safety standards. This is all part of making the right choices that best fits the needs of our specific communities.

 

Helen, Georgia’s unique community setting.

Photo Credit: www.georgia.gov

 

Design choices begin at the start of a project, with the initial goal setting, committee discussions and transportation needs assessments. These early choices can include establishing the overall project character, roadway alignments and widths, design speeds, and a discussion of alternative locations, etc.  Each of these choices can affect the final outcome of the project in terms of its overall character and contextual sensitivity.  It is these initial, important decisions that establish further opportunity for enhancements, or in some cases, may preclude certain future enhancements from taking place.  It is these decisions that the community has to live with for possibly a generation or more to come.

 

Unlike in the past, when many transportation projects only focused on the basics of vehicular movements and safety, CSS projects have opened up a whole new world of design choices due to their sensitivity to the communities in which they pass through.  While the function of a roadway is a critical framework for any project, much of what the public actually sees, and the overall image of a project, are the enhancements give the project more character and to fit into the surrounding landscape. 

Sometimes, a suitable and appropriate Context-Sensitive Solution may be more “visual” than it is functional.  In other words, sometimes a road could be widened slightly to serve the transportation needs better, but may involve much more aesthetics and visual appeal as requested by the community.  For instance, a downtown business district may be more concerned with the aesthetics of the area than the movement of traffic; pavements may become brick instead of concrete, lights could take on a more visual, decorative character, more street tree plantings could occur, signage may be enhanced, etc.  This may meet the contextual needs of the community while still meeting the baseline goals of the transportation engineers and state officials.

 

 Old Fourth Ward
Photo Credit:  www.brandenfellman.com

In order to make successful design decisions, we must understand the total environment in which the project sits, or passes through.  Consider the type of community or setting:

•  Is it rural, where scenic views, natural topography and landscape are the dominant features, or is it urban, where the man-made environment may be historic or unique in character; or is it somewhere in between? 
• Is it a community that is geared towards the automobile or one that is walkable and geared to the comfort of both pedestrians and bicycles? 
• Are there key architectural features or important cultural attractions to be protected, or is it a newly developed area dominated by big-box retail establishments?

 

These are just a few of the many questions that may be asked as a community ventures into a new CSS project.