Engineering

Street layout directly impacts the ability to walk or bicycle to school. Frequently, the layout of subdivision streets makes distances much longer than they need to be. Long neighborhood block lengths and cul-de-sacs contribute to this problem. Neighborhoods that are designed with long blocks and numerous cul-de-sacs are often barriers to walking and bicycling to school as they reduce connectivity and increase travel distance between the home and school.

Properly designed driveways, as they cross sidewalks, can enhance pedestrian safety by providing a consistent surface and reminding drivers that they are crossing a sidewalk. The following principles should be applied to driveway design;

Sidewalk placement, or setback, along streets should take into account buffer zones and provide room for snow storage where snowfall is prevalent. The space between the sidewalk and closest lane of moving vehicles is the sidewalk buffer. In general, there are four types of sidewalk buffers including;

An example of a location where a marked crosswalk alone typically does not work and should not be used without further substantial safety improvements is when an uncontrolled marked crosswalk crosses four or more travel lanes and the average daily traffic (ADT) well above 10,000 motor vehicles per day. At a location like this, a marked crosswalk without an accompanying traffic signal or other treatment is not recommended.