Sustainable Road Design

In the urban areas, every building and location is connected by road. The total distance of road in a city may 500 kilometer or more. And the road in city plays a vital role in transportation. Thus, the road design is also important. With the tendency of building sustainable cities, the design for road also should be sustainable. In this blog, it will illustrate some problems exist in current road design. The solutions will be presented in the below.

There are some existing problems in current road design. First of all, limited street tree planting in many urban areas reduces opportunities for naturally occurring carbon sequestration, helping to combat climate change. Secondly, dark road surfaces and extra wide streets contribute to the heat island effect and higher use of air conditioning, increasing demands on electricity infrastructure during peak usage hours. Thirdly, lack of shade from trees results in poor passive environ­mental design and also contributes to higher air condi­tion demand for private properties in urban areas. Moreover, poor street design promotes poor physical and social health of citizens fostered by street design that discour­ages walking, community engagement and activation of the public realm (community gardening). Finally, lack of productive and failure to integrate waste conversion to nutrient soil are another two problems.

For the consideration of sustainable road design, there are the solutions for these problems. As the picture shows, to plant more trees near the road can sequester carbon. It can reduce the greenhouse emission in the atmosphere and improve air quality. And the plant near road should be biodiverse. For the plants, it should provide adequate space for healthy root volume. Secondly, to organize and consolidate services underground. Thirdly, adjacent properties are likely to experience reduced cooling demands & costs. In addition, minimize width of driveable street relative to movement network. Finally, the sustainable road should reclaim streets as an inviting public space.

To sum up, if the government aims to build a sustainable urban city, it is a basic project to design sustainable road. Because road is one of the most important components in urban areas, the sustainable design road will have huge positive impact on environment and transportation. 

Reference: 
1. Moore, W.E. 1972. Introduction. in Technology and Social Change, ed. W.E. Moore.

Chicago: Quadrangle Books, pp. 3-25.