When Should a Stroad Become a Road?
This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Will Gardner’s Substack, StrongHaven. It is shared here with permission. In-line images were provided by the writer.
I wouldn’t be doing my duty as a Strong Towns-inspired writer if I didn’t write about stroads periodically. Here in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Route 6 — which I call Stroad 6 — is both needlessly deadly and a drain on the town's financial stability.
According to Strong Towns' Chuck Marohn:
A stroad is a street/road hybrid. It is the futon of the transportation system. A futon is an uncomfortable couch that converts into an uncomfortable bed, something that performs two functions but does neither well. A stroad tries to be both street and road, providing both mobility and access, yet fails miserably at both.
Marohnians like me tend to focus on places where stroads can and should be streets. Within our town limits, where there’s some reasonable population density and a lot of businesses, it’s easy to see the places where Stroad 6 would benefit from becoming a commercial street. But what about just outside of town? The stretch of Route 6 that leads east out of town proper and toward neighboring Mattapoisett becomes much more rural in its pattern. It’s hard to imagine it becoming a complex environment that’s a platform for building community wealth. So it must be more suited to being a road, right?
Super 2 Legit
I was having a hard time imagining what a good road might look like in this setting. And then, as I was heading down Route 88 in Westport last week, I realized I was experiencing a decent example of a road. What’s so special about Route 88? Let’s take a look:
Route 88 stretches north-south from the interstate down to Westport’s beautiful beaches to the south. It was built after the construction of I-195 in an effort to draw traffic and business off the new interstate. Route 88 serves as the main route to get to both Westport Village and the popular beaches to the south. What’s so remarkable about it?
Here we have highway design, built for traveling at speeds above 35 mph (it’s posted 55 mph on most stretches). Wide shoulders with a big clear zone. Most of it is either divided or, as pictured, has rumble strips along the double-yellow centerline. Nothing about that is remarkable. But look at the number of lanes…. Just two?! This type of highway apparently has its own name— a Super 2!— and is not common in the U.S. The lack of a passing lane does two things: It serves to slow traffic, which makes you safer, and it also means that this highway takes up less land than your typical four-lane state highway. If, for example, Route 88 had been built as wide as Route 240 in Fairhaven, it would take up around 120 additional acres of land through the middle of Westport. That’s a lot of valuable land (worth around $29 million undeveloped) that can be conserved for the public good or developed, adding to town revenue.
One important trait that Route 88 shares with Route 240 is the fact that it has controlled access. Other than a few signalized intersections, Route 88 is free from all the driveways, drive-thrus, and curb cuts you’d typically find on this kind of state road in our region. That makes it a much safer roadway — Route 88 has had zero fatalities in the past nine years (compared to at least five on the stretch of Route 6 in the same town). The lack of access also makes Route 88 much more pleasurable to drive down — the driving is predictable and travel speeds are faster.
By contrast, look at Route 6 just outside of Fairhaven:
This route has nearly identical peak hour traffic counts (just over 500) to Route 88. It’s a similar width to Route 88, owing to its lack of a median or shoulder. Its “clear zone” comprises the not-quite-serviceable sidewalks and peoples’ yards. It pretends to be as predictable as Route 88, but it’s anything but due to the many curb cuts and access points. It’s slower, more dangerous for everyone, and more frustrating to drive on than a controlled Super 2.
Safer, More Enjoyable Six
It’s unrealistic to think we could convert the more rural parts of Route 6 into a Super 2 immediately. There are a lot of access points along this stretch that people rely on. But it’s definitely worth looking at the opportunity cost of having two unnecessary lanes on this road. That’s a lot of space that could be used for additional green space, shared-use paths, or even small access roads allowing people to drive, walk and bike to businesses and houses apart from the highway while Route 6 traffic moves along unabated. Likewise, it’s critical that we not feed the stroad by allowing for additional curb cuts and access along this stretch. Each new curb cut further degrades the ability of this route to get people to their destination quickly and safely.
Within town, Route 6 has the potential to become a street — a platform for building wealth. This means reducing highway design elements like slip lanes, wide shoulders and wide travel lanes. But outside of town, Route 6 should serve as a proper road, efficiently getting us from here to Mattapoisett and Marion. To meet this latter purpose, Route 6 needs to be designed more like a small highway with controlled access and less environmental complexity. Route 88 gives us an example of what that might look like in its purest form.
Will Gardner is an education consultant and the founder of Alma del Mar Charter Schools. He’s currently scheming about how to improve his town, but he’s happy to help you with whatever you’re working on. You can find him at StrongHaven.substack.com.
