If You Build It, Will They Come?
Hope to convert languishing auto-oriented areas into walkable activity centers? The market will not respond if it is too congested or unattractive. We created a "Development Scale Calculator" to help you craft concepts that remove barriers to mixed-use. The Stroad below not only repels mixed-uses, but it is also overly congested even at low densities. This means economic development will be tiny, even if you improve walkability.
Converting it to a Quadrant Intersection not only improves the multimodal environment, but it also functions well at high densities. Before, it could handle only 3,700 vehicles per hour. After, it handles 5,700 - a 50% increase! This is important because walkable development in the suburbs still generates high vehicle trips, so you need a "drive slower, travel faster" system that can handle high volumes, or economic development will be limited.
In this case, the 50% increased capacity, combined with multimodal features, allows the Floor Area Ratio (FAR, or density) to increase by 4x! That will offset 350 acres of sprawl and 10-miles of general infrastructure. Well worth the investment! Learn more about this calculator here, and contact us for free consultation!