Discussion»Questions»Language» In the United States, a 'dead end street' has a particular meaning (see definition below). In other countries, languages or cultures, how
I have no idea but I can say being on a dead-end street is a wonderful place to be. Especially the last house on it. Highly recommend it.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 18, 2017 5:00 PM MDT
I don't actually know the answer to your Q...not familiar with the expression in other languages...however, your third photo down? It seems to have a working traffic light there! Plus someone waiting at the light...somehow there is a message there... ;)
"Dead end street" A dead end in Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain Workers Village at El-Lahun Pyramid site Welwyn Garden City cul-de-sac that is short and narrow
A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac, is a street with only one inlet/outlet. While historically built for other reasons, one of its modern uses is to calm vehicle traffic.
The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology and traffic signs include many different alternatives. Some of these are used only regionally. In the United States and other countries, cul-de-sac (/ˈkʌldəsæk/ or /ˈkʊldəsæk/)[1] is often not an exact synonym for dead end and refers to dead ends with a circular end, which makes it easy to turn around.[1] See below for regionally used terms.
5 Terminology 5.1 Canada 5.2 Australia 5.3 New Zealand 5.4 United States 5.5 Other uses 6 Signage 7 See also 8 References 9 External links
History
Dead ends existed in towns and cities long before the automotive 20th century, particularly in Arab and Moorish towns. The earliest example was unearthed in the El-Lahun workers' village in Egypt, which was built circa 1885 BC. The village is laid out with straight streets that intersect at right angles; akin to a grid, but irregular. The western part of the excavated village, where the workers lived, shows fifteen narrow and short dead-ends laid out perpendicularly on either side of a wider, straight street; all terminate at the enclosing walls.
Dead-end streets appeared also during the classical period of Athens and Rome. The 15th century architect and planner Leon Battista Alberti implies in his writings [2] that dead-end streets may have been used intentionally in antiquity for defense purposes. He writes: "The Ancients in All Towns were for having some intricate Ways and turn again Streets [i.e.dead-ends or loops], without any Passage through them, that if an Enemy comes into them, he may be at a Loss, and be in Confusion and Suspense; or if he pushes on daringly, may be easily destroyed". The same opinion is expressed by an earlier thinker, Aristotle, when he criticized the Hippodamian grid. He writes: "... but for security in war [the arrangement is more useful if it is planned in] the opposite [manner], as it used to be in ancient times. For that [arrangement] is difficult for foreign troops to enter and find their way about when attacking."[3]
In the UK, their prior existence is implied by an 1875 law which banned their use in new developments.[citation needed]
Inferential evidence of their earlier use can also be drawn from the text of a German architect, Rudolf Eberstadt, that explains their purpose and utility:
We have, in our medieval towns, showing very commendable methods of cutting up the land. I ought to mention here that to keep traffic out of residential streets is necessary not only in the general interest of the population, but, above all, for the sake of the children, whose health (amongst the working classes) is mainly dependent on the opportunity of moving about in close connection with their dwelling places, without the danger of being run over. In the earlier periods, traffic was excluded from residential streets simply by gates or by employing the cul-de-sac.[4]
It was in the UK that the cul-de-sac street type was first legislated into use, with The Hampstead Garden Suburb Act 1906. The proponents of the Act, Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker, thus gained permission to introduce culs-de-sac in their subsequent site plans, and they promoted it as a suitable street type for Garden Suburbs. Unwin's applications of the cul-de-sac and the related crescent always included pedestrian paths independent of the road network. This design feature reflects the predominance of pedestrian movement for local trips at the turn of the 20th century, and presages the current planning priority for increased pedestrian accessibility. The 1906 Act defined the nature of the cul-de-sac as a non-through road and restricted its length to 500 feet (150 m). Garden cities in the UK that followed Hampstead, such as Welwyn Garden City all included culs-de-sac (see photo).
In the 1920s, the garden city movement gained ground in the US and, with it, came its design elements, such as the cul-de-sac. Clarence Stein, a main proponent of the movement, incorporated it in the Radburn, NJ, subdivision, which was to become a model for subsequent neighbourhood developments. The US Federal Housing Authority recommended and promoted their use through their 1936 guidelines[5] and the power of lending development funds.
In Canada, a variation of Stein’s Radburn 1929 plan that used crescents (loops) instead of culs-de-sac was built in 1947 in Manitoba, Wildwood Park, Winnipeg, designed by Hubert Bird. In 1954, the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation published its own guidelines[6] in which the cul-de-sac was strongly recommended for local streets and, as the FHA in the US, used its lending power to see its inclusion in development plans. The Varsity Village and Braeside, subdivisions in Calgary, Alberta also used the Radburn model in the late 1960s.
In the 1960s the cul-de-sac attained systematic international application in planned new cities such as Doxiadis’ Islamabad (1960). In the UK new towns such as Harlow (1947) by Sir Frederick Gibberd and Milton Keynes (1967) incorporated culs-de-sac and crescents in their layouts Planning theorists have suggested the use alternatives to culs-de-sac most notably, Christopher Alexander et al., in his “A Pattern Language” 1977 book (pattern #49) suggests the use of looped local roads which do not abruptly stop. Although dead end streets, i.e. culs-de-sac, would fit his definition of looped local roads Alexander suggestions that "culd-de-sacs are very bad from a social standpoint–they force interaction and they feel claustrophobic, because there is only one entrance".[7] Doxiadis has additionally argued their important role in separating man from machine.[8] Originally unplanned dead ends Two dead ends created by closing a minor road in the center to block through traffic
Originally unplanned dead ends have been created in the centers of cities that are laid on a grid by blocking through traffic. Whole neighbourhood street reconfigurations emerged in several cities, mainly concentrated in North America and the UK, which include Berkeley, California, Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. This transformation of grid plans since the 1970s responds to the following needs:
To limit access to an existing road newly designated as a major artery, enabling traffic to move smoothly on it To protect neighborhood residents, particularly children, from the dangers of traffic To alleviate residents' concerns
This selective, sporadic transformation is continuing. As traffic volumes increase and as cities decide to remove or reduce traffic on specific streets of central areas, streets are closed off using bollards or landscaping thus creating new, originally unplanned dead ends and producing a new, functional blend of the inherited grid with newer street types. A recent variation of limiting traffic is the managed closure by using retractable bollards which are activated by designated card holders only. However, not only do they stop cars, they also stop ambulances and other emergency vehicles and often lack adequate turning. Function
Dead ends are created in urban planning to limit through-traffic in residential areas. While some dead ends provide no possible passage except in and out of their road entry, others allow cyclists, pedestrians or other non-automotive traffic to pass through connecting easements or paths.
This design improvement, which selectively excludes one mode of transport while permitting others, can be viewed as an example of “filtered permeability”. Its application retains the dead end's primary function as a non-through road, but establishes complete pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity.
In traffic engineering parlance, a dead end defines the local street as having primarily an 'access' function (access to properties) rather than having a 'transport' or 'through' function. Suburban use and benefits
Since the end of World War II,[9] new subdivisions in the United States and Canada, as well as New Towns in England and other countries have made extensive use of the cul-de-sac and crescent (loops) street types. Typically, there is one or several central roads in the subdivision with many cul-de-sac streets of varying length, branching out from the main roads, to fill the land in the subdivision; a dendrite or hierarchical pattern.[10] Since the 1960s, this pattern has been the dominant road network structure of suburbs and exurbs in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It is also increasingly popular in Latin America, Western Europe, and China. In this pattern, there are only a few roads (relative to the number of cul-de-sac streets) leading out of the subdivision and into other subdivisions or onto major roads.
In the US, these changes can be attributed to real-estate developers' desire to meet FHA guidelines and make federal home loans available to their consumers.[11] In Canada a similar incentive was provided to developers by CMHC. These incentives, which were discontinued in the 1970s, gave the initial impetus for the application of the hierarchical pattern. In other countries such incentives do not exist and its adoption is motivated by consumer preferences.
American urban planning, in the 19th and early 20th century, emphasized a grid plan, partly out of extensive reliance on foot, horse and streetcars for transportation. In such earlier urban development, alleys were included to allow for deliveries of soiled supplies, such as coal, to the rear of houses which are now heated by electricity, piped natural gas or oil. Brookside Close in Liverpool was used exclusively for the filming of Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.
The use of culs-de-sac reduces the amount of car traffic on residential streets within the subdivision, thus reducing noise, air pollution and the probability of accidents. Ben-Joseph (1995) and Lovegrove/Sayed (2006) indicate a substantially lower collision rate for street networks based on the cul-de-sac street type.[12][13] Dumbaugh and Rae (2009) suggest that land use patterns play a significant role in traffic safety and should be considered in conjunction with the network pattern.[14] While all intersection types in general increase the incidence of fatal crashes, four-way intersections, which rarely occur in a network with cul-de-sac or loop streets, increase total and injurious crashes significantly. The study recommends hybrid street networks with dense concentrations of T-intersections and concludes that a return to the 19th century gridiron is undesirable.
This decrease in traffic, in turn, is thought to lower the incidence of crime and increase desirability, because in most cases the people who traverse the cul-de-sac either live there or are guests of those who do. CPTED planning principles suggest increased natural surveillance and sense of ownership as a means of fostering security in a neighbourhood. Both of these phenomena occur naturally on a cul-de-sac street as does social networking. Design guidelines based on the CPTED perspective recommend its use for these reasons.
Cul-de-sac streets increase spontaneous outdoor activity by children. A study in California examined the amount of child play that occurred on the streets of neighbourhoods with different characteristics; grid pattern and culs-de-sac.[15] The findings indicate that culs-de-sac showed substantial increase in play activity than the open grid street pattern. culs-de-sac reduce perceived danger from traffic thereby encouraging more outdoor play.
Similar studies in Europe[16] and Australia[17] found that children’s outdoor play is significantly reduced on through roads where traffic is, or perceived by parents to be, a risk. In addition, they confirmed the results of the seminal Donald Appleyard 1982 study which showed the negative correlation between amount of traffic and social networks. This inverse correlation between amounts of traffic and sociability of streets was reconfirmed by a newer study [18] that repeated Appleyard’s San Francisco analysis in Bristol, UK. It showed that the cul-de-sac street with the lowest traffic of the three streets had the highest level of social interaction. These studies recommend the use of the cul-de-sac or strong traffic calming measures. When culs-de-sac are interconnected with foot and bike paths, as for example in Vauban, Freiburg, Village Homes, Davis, California, they can increase active modes of mobility among their residents.
Real estate developers prefer culs-de-sac because they allow builders to fit more houses into oddly shaped tracts of land and facilitate building to the edges of rivers and property lines.[9] They also choose these discontinuous network patterns of cul-de-sac and loop streets because of the often significant economies in infrastructure costs compared to the grid plan.
From an environmental perspective, culs-de-sac allow greater flexibility than the common grid in adapting to the natural grades of a site and to its ecologically sensitive features, such as streams creeks and mature forest growth.
The desirability of the cul-de-sac street type among home buyers is implied by the evidence that they often pay up to a 20% premium for a home on such a street, according to one study.[9] This could be because there is considerably less passing traffic, resulting in less noise and reduced actual or perceived risk, increasing the sense of tranquility. A survey of residents on three types of streets: cul-de-sac, loop, and through (grid) recorded their preferences among these types. It found that 82% of cul-de-sac residents preferred their own street type, 18% preferred a loop, and 0% the grid. Only 13% of grid street residents preferred their own type and 54% would choose a cul-de-sac to live on.[12] Two other studies,[20][21] reported in 1990 and 2009 respectively, confirmed this upward trend and determined the premium that cul-de-sac streets command. The first found a 29% premium over the streets in a grid. The second, focused on trails and greenbelts, found that other amenities including cul-de-sac streets add significantly to the home value.
The positive feelings that a cul-de-sac street could evoke, that residents value, are expressed vividly by Allan Jacobs in describing a short (250 ft), narrow (60 ft), densely built (14 du/acre), and wood-paved[22] cul-de-sac in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:[23] “Step into Roslyn Place and you are likely to sense, immediately, that you are in a place, a special place, a handsome place, a safe place, a welcoming place, a place where you might wish to live.” ... “narrowness and enclosure and intimacy bring a feeling of safety to Roslyn Place... “Stay on our street” is all the kids have to know.”
Gated communities, steadily increasing worldwide, employ cul-de-sac and loop street networks because, having a dendrite structure, they reduce the number of through roads and, consequently, the corresponding number of entries and exits to be controlled.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at March 18, 2017 7:47 PM MDT
Benedict Arnold 