In the 1930s, The Federal Housing Authority embraced the trend towards cul-de-sacs, decrying the standard street grid as monotonous and unsafe. Norman Garrick and Wesley Marshall have proven otherwise.
Garrick and Marshall's research shows that yes, the person living on the cul-de-sac is safer - if they never leave their block. But the suburban road structure that makes cul-de-sacs possible is more dangerous than a grid.
Emily Badger talked with Garrick and Marshall, as well as Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology:
"Garrick and Marshall compiled data on 230,000 crashes spanning 11 years in 24 medium-sized California cities. And they began to parse and classify street patterns in a kind of taxonomy."
"In their California study, Garrick and Marshall eventually realized the safest cities had an element in common: They were all incorporated before 1930. Something about the way they were designed made them safer."
FULL STORY: Debunking the Cul-de-Sac
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA)
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research