Adopt infrastructure design standards that protect the economic and ecologic functions of the highway corridor through clustering of development, native plantings and incorporating access management standards.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Adopt an access management overlay district or access management standards where highways access auto-oriented commercial development; install/work with others on pollinator habitat, other native plantings, and living snow fences. |
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Achieve 1 Star rating AND define auto-oriented commercial zoning districts in clusters rather than continuous strips; minimize superblocks and increase quality pedestrian passages between buildings. |
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Address environmental justice principles by including conservation buffer requirements and site residential areas- especially those located in Areas of Concern for Environmental Justice - more than 650 feet from a major road (AADT over 40,000). |
Resources
- The Minnesota organization Strong Towns urges design distinctions among highways (roads), streets and county/park roads.
- A road is an efficient connection between two populated places: high speed and safe (due to limited access). It is a replacement for the railroad: a road on rails.
- In contrast, streets maximize the value of the adjacent development pattern in neighborhoods (commercial, residential) and are slow and share space with other modes of transport.
- Country or park roads are narrow and/or gravel and cheaper to maintain.
- A STROAD is an expensive street/road hybrid to be avoided: travel at 30-50 MPH does not move cars efficiently, is less safe, and can diminish adjacent property values: in town, drivers move too fast to stop and shop, out of town cars move too slow and drivers find alternative routes.
- The walkable multi-way boulevard is a road design technique for reconfiguring strip mall parking to keep parking in front, typically in more urban settings.
- Access management is the planning, design and implementation of land use and transportation strategies in an effort to maintain a safe flow of traffic while accommodating the access needs of adjacent development. See also MnDOT's new Corridor Investment Management Strategy that brings MnDOT together with its local, modal, and state partners to identify opportunities for collaborative and innovative investment.
- Context sensitive design resources from the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of MN.
- Lakeland Shores, MN, for example, uses 3 serial roundabouts along a highway-oriented commercial district.
- Conservation Buffers: Design Guidelines for Buffers, Corridors, and Greenways (USDA, 2008).
- Utilize data and mapping such as the MPCA map of Areas of Concern for Environmental Justice and Met Council’s Place-Based Equity Research, which allows users to identify Census tracts where additional consideration or effort is warranted to evaluate the potential for disproportionate adverse impacts.
- See the PlantSelector tool for roadside planting, living snow fence resources, and a highway sponsorship program – structuring public-private partnerships to support environmental sustainability and improved aesthetics in state rights-of-way – from the MN Dept. of Transportation.
- The MN Dept. of Natural Resources' Roadsides for Wildlife Program provides many resources to help community stewards plant native prairie wildflowers and grass seed along rural roads.
- Preserve the ecological functions of the corridor by including lighting considerations in the design standards. Use the International Dark-Sky Association Light Pollution Effects on Wildlife and Ecosystems guide to promote reduced/smarter outdoor lighting. See the GreenStep Dark Skies best practices for more.
Order Number
3
Action Type
Finite