Is this the Most Outrageous Example of Sprawl Madness in America?

Suburban Orlando is home to what might well be the best example of the absurd development patterns of post-war America. There you'll find two houses with adjoining backyards whose front doors are separated by seven miles of roads.

1 minute read

March 1, 2013, 8:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Behold: Two houses with adjoining backyards in suburban Orlando," writes Angie Schmitt. "If you want to travel the streets from point A on Anna Catherine Drive to point B on Summer Rain Drive, which are only 50 feet apart, you’ll have to go a minimum of seven miles. The trip would take almost twenty minutes in a car, according to Google Maps."

"Windy street patterns, full of cul-de-sacs and circles, have become such a ubiquitous feature of the suburbs that they mostly escape remark. But disconnected streets have many insidious consequences for the environment, public health, and social equity."

Thursday, February 28, 2013 in DC.Streetsblog

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