A recent article discusses some of the flaws to Stapleton’s new urbanism effort, which mostly focuses on street design. What was intended to be a walking community has essentially been overrun with speeding cars. “The design has done nothing to encourage biking or walking,” says new urbanism planner Doug Cox. “When you make wide roads with two and three car garages in the back, you completely eliminate street parking, therefore creating wide lanes which encourage speedy traffic.”
In fact, Cox says if Stapleton ever feels like a raceway, it’s probably because it’s not too far off. “The measured distance from end to end of the Daytona race track is 40 feet,” says Cox. “Most Stapleton streets are 38 feet, meaning there is really not much of a difference in driving on the Daytona race track or driving the suburban Stapleton streets.” Cox says that Stapleton has significantly higher than expected traffic speeds. “Our studies have indicated that for a lot of the Stapleton roads, roughly half of the drivers are exceeding the speed limit. This can be dangerous when we have so many kids, dogs, bikers, and runners.”
Residents have tried different things to slow the traffic with little success. Some residents place the “slow children at play” signs in the street, others use the “drive like your kids live here” signs, and even the most effective sign has proven to not be effective enough. Police have done their part by having patrol cars, motorcycles, photo traps, and speed limit signs. Nothing has worked in slowing the Stapleton speedway.
Ultimately, Cox feels that like everything else, time will heal Stapleton’s speed problems. “As Stapleton begins to get teenagers, there will be extra cars at homes,” says Cox. “Extra cars mean more street parking, more street parking will shrink the size of the roads, which will ultimately slow traffic.” So, pick your poison, Stapleton residents. Speedy traffic or teenage drivers? ]]>