What are ‘street typologies’ and how can they make your street safer?

Today, every street in your city is assigned one of three definitions (or typologies): local, collector or arterial. Those streets are then designed and managed based on the characteristics those three options are supposed to have.

A local street might support people moving from their homes toward a collector street where they’ll join other commuters making their way to the high-traffic, higher-speed arterial roads.

It’s a common way for cities, counties and states to manage roadways, but three options doesn’t leave much room to be descriptive or accurate.

A local street could include a 20-foot street in front of your house where cars have to slow down or stop (yield) to avoid hitting each other, or it could be wider, with enough space for cars to move freely and therefore more quickly.

A collector street could run in front of your child’s school, your church or your favorite restaurant. And because it’s designed to “collect” more vehicle traffic, it will often be engineered and managed to support higher speeds that are inherently dangerous to people outside of cars.

Your chance of surviving being struck by a motorist drastically increases if the vehicle’s speed is slower. Source, The Urbanist.

Salt Lake City’s Transportation Division is proposing creating 15 new definitions, or “street typologies,” that take into account existing or desired land uses on that given stretch of street.

Today, if a street has a posted speed limit of 25 mph, but has wide lanes and other treatments that promote driving 35 mph or more, drivers will often inherently go above the posted speed limit.

These 15 new typologies would also set a target speed, or the speeds at which a street will comfortably support vehicular traffic, rather than relying on often-ignored speed limit signs.

This plan, if accepted and approved by the Salt Lake City Council, could lead to safer (and more beautiful) streets citywide. Not overnight, but gradually, as each of the city’s 10,000 street segments receives routine maintenance or reconstruction over time.

This is one of our first campaigns. We’re helping make the public aware of the work being done so it can comment on the new typologies proposed around the city. We’ll then work to ensure the Transportation Division follows its plan, leading to safer streets over time.

If you’ve found yourself upset about cars speeding past your front door, your kid’s school, your favorite park, or wherever you go, comment on the draft typologies by Aug. 15, 2020. Then head to our campaign to sign up for alerts and ways you can help.