Winter 2004
PLACES: Sacramento Poised to Adopt New
Citywide Pedestrian Friendly Street Standards
 Inspired
by a 2002 presentation to the City Council by Dan Burden of Walkable
Communities on the importance of great streets and how to build
them, Sacramento has been moving forward to enhance the city’s
pedestrian environment, beautify neighborhoods and encourage alternate
transportation modes. Now the City is on the verge of adopting
new Pedestrian Friendly Street Standards.
The cutting edge street design standards cover streets of all
types, from local residential to six-lane arterials. Following
the standards new streets in Sacramento will be narrower to calm
traffic and create more walkable neighborhoods and commercial areas.
The standards specify 30-foot local residential street widths and
reduced travel lane widths on collectors and arterials. All streets
are required to have six-foot planter strips between the curb and
sidewalk, creating a buffer between cars and pedestrians. The parkway
strips also provide space for trees, upholding Sacramento’s
tradition of classic tree-lined streets.
Other features to improve walking and biking conditions include
vertical curbs instead of rolled curbs, wider sidewalks and more
and wider bike lanes. Vertical curbs prevent cars from parking
on sidewalks and rolling over sidewalks to make turns. The standards
increase minimum sidewalk widths on residential streets to five
feet, which encourages more walking by allowing two people to walk
side by side. Bike lanes are required on all collector and arterial
streets and are widened to six feet, giving riders more room to
maneuver and distance from cars, while decreasing the likelihood
that the lane will be blocked by garbage cans or landscape debris
piled at the curb for pick up. The extra margin of safety is especially
important on arterial streets where car speeds are increased.
The standards apply to new construction in this rapidly growing
city and will provide an important reference for projects that
involve re-design of existing streets. For more information about
the standards and a copy of the document go to: http://www.pwsacramento.com/traffic/streetrevisions.html or contact Steve Pyburn, Supervising Engineer with the Sacramento
Department of Public Works, at: 916-264-7481/email: spyburn@cityofsacramento.org.
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