Long City Blocks

As I was running through downtown San Diego yesterday, I found that I was very appreciative of the minor streets that allowed me to keep running and not require me to stop and wait for a light to change. I could have longer sections of running, which helps me get in a better workout, and is just more enjoyable. For both cyclists and every-day pedestrians, those nice long stretches without having to wait for a traffic light are just as beneficial.

Traditional blocks — good for cars, bad for running

This idea could be taken further. In a city-from-scratch scenario, it could be a great arrangement for creating a more walkable, transit-oriented city. We could have longer, more arterial streets running in one direction, with streets on the perpendicular axis treated in a lighter fashion. They could be smaller and spread further apart, perhaps even having significant distances between actual streets on the minor axis. Pedestrian-only walkways could be provided along that minor axis to maintain accessibility throughout the neighborhood.

In existing cities, some streets could be narrowed to single lanes or when population density could support it, converted to pedestrian-only plazas. Updating several streets in succession could create long stretches of great, pedestrian strolling zones, along with benefits to cyclists and runners.

Longer blocks in cities — better for runners, pedestrians, and cyclists. In this case, three blocks have been combined into one larger one, but even reducing the size of streets (going from two or three lanes down to one in the “minor axis”) could provide a great benefit to the user-friendliness of the city.