Absurd Street Widths

Category: Urban Planning

Tucson: This is a residential street in central Tucson and it's wide enough to hold about 8 lanes of traffic. Why? Given that only a smattering of cars use the street, then if it were 1/2 as wide, there would be no loss in parking, the street would probably be safer due to a slower traffic flow, and more importantly - property owners would enjoy bigger front yards, you'd have vastly smaller drainage issues, the heat island effect would be reduced and the street would cost half as much to build and maintain! At the very least, the shoulders of a street like this could be redone with Gravel Pave, or a similar pourous material to address drainage issues without causing a major flash flood every time it rains.