Burning Question: Cul De Sacked?
News has been floating around our fair state lately about putting an end to a suburban staple: the cul de sac. Lawmakers in Virginia are planning to take measures to penalize developers who continue to create neighborhoods filled with dead end streets (read about it here and here). As they see it, cul de sacs are inefficient – they limit connectivity, disrupt traffic flow, increase congestion and hinder emergency vehicles who may benefit from more grid-like through streets. But it’s obviously catching flack from developers and suburban lovers alike who adore the added safety and privacy of these closed off communities.
What do you think? Would you like to see the cul de sac preserved for future generations or are you happy to see it go the way of the do-do?
Image courtesy of Google Maps (it’s actually my childhood subdivision).
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absolutely preserve the cul de sac! i grew up on one and because there was no through traffic it was a very safe neighborhood. my dad spray painted a baseball diamond onto it as well as a four square box and us and neighborhood kids spent hours outside right in the circle playing!
The cul-de-sac is great as long as the neighborhoods are connected by walking / biking paths. In planning communities, our goal should be to make them more people-friendly…not car-friendly.
honestly I do understand the appeal of the safety and privacy, but I think there are other ways to build developments where you can still have this while ALSO having connectivity and walkability to stores.
This legislation can’t come fast enough in my opinion.
I think it would be horrible to do away with the cul-de-sac! If you live in a neighborhood, why would you want it used as a pass-thru for traffic? I mean, who wants people using your neighborhood to shave a few minutes off their commute! Our last house was in a cul-de-sac and it was wonderful for our kids. We didn’t have to worry about people flying by and the street is wider so they could actually get a game of basketball going. All the neighbors had kids as well, so we would just sit out there in the evenings and hang out and watch the kids play. In our house now, people drive by like they’re in the Daytona 500–it really burns me! I say leave the cul-de-sacs alone!!
Our current home and the last two are all on Cul de Sacs. We bought the first one (also in NOVA) because our children were little and we liked the safety. Having lived on regular streets and in cul de sacs I have to say I love cul de sacs. People drive slower in cul de sacs than on the regular street.
This is good news for Virginia! cul de sacs need to go. They create horribly inefficient, isolated and car-centric towns – i can’t even call areas with cul de sacs communities, because it would be an oxymoron. cul de sacs are anti-community.
Here’s a good book on cul de sacs and other problems of suburban design: http://www.amazon.com/Suburban-Nation-Sprawl-Decline-American/dp/0865476063
I hope these penalties become law!
Anything that cuts down on the amount of traffic driving by at 2am is a good thing to me.
Over regulation is going to be the death of this country.
My grandparents house was in a Cul de Sac and I loved riding my bike around in circles and playing with the other kids on the block. There was so much privacy and lack of traffic that we could play endless amounts of wiffle ball. I understand that they are inefficient but my childhood wouldn’t have been the same without those weekends playing with my cousins in the Cul de Sac.
I’ve always had Cul de sac envy! They make for the best neighborhoods!
If you read Freakonomics, the author pretty definitively proves that cul-de-sacs gives a false sense of security and that they aren’t really safer than through streets.
But where would all the neighborhood kids play kickball or four square? WOW what memories I have of growing up in Midlothian and all the neighbor kids meeting up at the cul de sac to play games until it was dark and our parents would yell for us. I remember thinking I was so cool because I was the house right on the cul de sac.
cul de sacs are so desperate housewives…
but thats coming from a city girl.
Cul- De- Sacs, are the product of “segregation now” white bread republicans. the suburbs have been the decline of our nations sense of connection, and have ultimately lead us to this over the top excessive economy we are now all “benefiting from” if you need a safe place for your children to play, i have no idea who ever thought the street would be it. go to the park, or put a fence up in your back yard. I would get so mad if everytime i walk out to get the mail or the paper or pull out to go to starbucks (the suburban american treat)i had to be concerned about balls flying around, and kids screaming everywhere. USE THE BACKYARD!! if you need a paved surface, go to the playground or use the driveway. But then again in the suburbs, there are no playgrounds, or local parks, because that would be a place for “the riff raff” to loiter!
I live on a street where people FLY down it (even school buses) despite the two kid parks located along the same street.
If they do away with cul-de-sacs (which is ridiculous, in my opinion) they should look to how other countries slow down traffic on neighborhood streets, such as round-a-bouts. The idea is, if you can see way down the road – your eye is focused on that point and you don’t realize how fast you are going.
When we bought our house that was are 1st requirement – be on a cul de sac. It’s great for the kids to be able to play without worrying about speeding through traffic. Are planned community has walking trails connecting us to other streets and neighborhoods, shopping, community center. Plus we have a great neighborhood cookout every year right in the middle of our cl de sac. We wouldnt be able to do that if we lived on a through street.
Oh no! I think cul de sacs are the bomb! I grew up in one, and I can’t imagine having kids play on a busy street . . .
Did you know that the plural for cul-de-sac is really culs-de-sac? Funny, huh? :)
Jokes aside, I think it would be horrible if culs-de-sac were done away with! I lived on one growing up and my husband and I live on one now, and like many previous posters, we love that random cars don’t come flying through and that kids can actually play in the street and ride their bikes!
I despise cul-de-sacs and think this legislation can’t come soon enough. Death to the cul-de-sac! I grew up on one and can understand the appeal to parents and the perception of safety, really I can. But from an urban planning/community standpoint, as many have already referenced, they are inefficient, car-centered wastelands. If you look at really successful neighborhoods that have stood the test of time, maintained high property values, and vibrant communities, you will not find them in cul-de-sacs. Gridded streets with central squares, multi-use, multi-income neighborhoods are far more likely to be successful year after year. Living here in VA, I think of places like Alexandria, Cary Town, and DC as incredibly successful living spaces. And gridded streets don’t have to be cut throughs at all. When I lived in Del Ray/Alexandria with parking on both sides of the street, cars actually go slower than they do on the main thoroughfares that cut through a cul-de-sac neighborhood. And while we’re at it, bring back the back alley. I love a back alley where you can keep your ugly garbage cans and all the unattractive utility stuff back there rather than hauling the garbage out to in front of your house.
I grew up on a main street and was not allowed to set foot near the road. I had to be driven to my friends’ houses and since my mother hated to drive, I essentially went nowhere. We moved when I was 15 and my sister was 7 to a cul-de-sac street with lots of children. Guess who had more fun & friends growing up? Not that I am bitter. haha. Unfortunately, I now live on a main blvd. and my kids spend lots of time with just each other. It’s all about ‘play dates’ which frankly, suck. I wish we lived on a cul-de-sac!
We LOVE our cul de sac. We have made a big effort to get to know our neighbors over the last 5 years. Now, almost every Friday night we all meet in one of our driveways & the kids ride their bikes & scooters & the adults talk & have a drink & sometimes play “bags”(or some people call it corn hole). We all know each other & know when something doesn’t seem right…we caught someone breaking into cars because we knew he didn’t belong in the neighborhood. We will be moving out of state in a few months & the hardest part will be leaving this community we have helped build.
As a current home owner at the end of a cul de sac I say keep the SAC!!! We love living here with almost no traffic, but alot of walkers, bikers and kids playing. How can you ride a big wheel, play kick ball or have a block party on a busy through street? Why would you want to take all that away…just so you can get some where quicker? What has this country come too? That’s SAD!
I’m not particularly offended by cul de sacs (though it is extrememly irritating to navigate an unfamiliar neighborhood full of them) but we definitely need to rethink they way we are expanding our cities. The current suburban “plan” is just not sustainable.
I grew up in a neighborhood that had streets that looped around to the main street – with no outlet to any other roads. I think this was a great place to ride our bikes when we were little. I still go back and do a nice long jog around these loops.
Cul de sacs are not anti community! They may be roads (where drivers actually slow down) but they are also informal areas for children to ride their bikes and neighbors to talk. As in community.
Lets whine about over the top excess and then whine about not getting to Starbucks quietly enough.
good riddens. these horribly designed housing developments have been taking over suburbia for too long. agree with norbert about them being inefficent and too car-centric
Cul De Sacs aren’t my thing, then again I would never chose to live in a planned community where cul de sacs run rampant.
I say do away with them and move to the city!
My husband and I are currently looking to by a new home. Our previous and current home are both on a cul de sacs. Growing up on a very busy street, I appreciate the lack of traffic noise but also, I tend to know who my neighbours are. As much as we use our backyard, the kids still want to play in groups in the front yards and cul de sacs allow this.
Granted, I will agree that the ever growning number of coves and cul de sacs makes navigating through any suburb difficult. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten turned around and nearly lost in a sea of dead ends while house hunting.
But should this be governed by law? Probably not, but good city planners and engineers may be able to steer new developers into a more efficient way to plan their communities.
I personally would like to just move out of the city and live on a couple acres of land. I really could care less about cul-de-sacs. They are annoying when you are trying to drive. I understand the appeal, since they make people believe they are “safer”, but they aren’t. You can get robbed on a through street, a cul-de-sac or in a gated community. So, my thought is really……who cares?
Leave them! We live on one and wouldn’t have it any other way. Kids can play without fear of cars flying through, parents can sit on front porches and supervise, and the sense of community is really increased. It would be a shame to put an end to them.
What about the people who live on the “main” street that all the cul-de-sacs feed off of? As more sacs are added, the more traffic’d their street becomes (and the lower the value of the property). On one hand, it allows for a mix of low-income housing (main street houses) in a neighborhood of higher-end housing (sacs). On the other hand, it means that if you have kids and you want kid friendly housing, you have to pay for the higher cost sacs — or else live on a busy street. On the extreme end, it means that to live on a cul-de-sac you have to have two incomes, so the kids only get to enjoy the quiet streets on the weekends, because during the week they are in daycare or an afterschool program waiting for mom & dad to get out of work. And single income families can forget living on a cul de sac because they can’t afford it. Plus, the kids can end up trapped on their street, because they aren’t allowed to go on the busy “main street” to get to a friends house. If there were no cul-de-sacs, then there would be less busy “main streets” – which would literally enlarge the kids worlds.
I’m pretty neutral about the cul de sac issue but I wish we had more sidewalks in Virginia. In Dallas, I lived in an area that had lots of through streets, alleys and almost no cul de sacs but because of pedestrian walking trails, parks, lower speed limits and crosswalks it was very safe. In fact, it was one of the most desirable places to live for families and young singles.
I live on a cul de sac and hate it. After a couple break ins on my cul de sac (it’s fairly large, 20 houses) I think I could benefit from police actually driving on my street.
Oh my goodness!!! I grew up in a cul de sac and I have such fond memories from it. It fosters a great sense of community and it gives children a place to play away from incoming cars. As a child, during the summers we played capture the flag, kick the can, baseball all while our parents sat on their lawns relaxing and knowing their children were safe and having fun. For Halloween, the parents ordered a bunch of pizzas and it was a neighborhood social before the children went trick-or-treating. I will be SO heart broken if cul de sacs go away.
“Cul- De- Sacs, are the product of “segregation now” white bread republicans . . .” Yikes Jonathan! That’s quite a statement there! I know plenty of cul-de-sacs that are home to multiple nationalities (both republican and democratic).
I feel like Cul-de-sacs do create a different sense of community than a through street. It seems like there shouldn’t be a law against it. I know in some neighborhoods they have to have 2 fire routes (1 primary and 1 secondary). That seems like it would take care of the traffic “issues.”
Well, I can see both side’s point. But ultimately, I think that if builders want to include cul-de-sacs in their developements, they should be able to. We lived on a cul-de-sac for 4 years, and loved it! It was very quiet and all the neighbors knew each other, and our kids were always outside riding around the cul-de-sac with the neighbor kids. It felt safe. As for people that complain about our kids playing outside, if you don’t like it, don’t live in the suburbs.
I understand the appeal, I want to be safe and have privacy, too.
BUT, the larger community suffers from inadequate planning in my neck of the woods, too. If traffic can’t move properly, the congestion affects everyone. There are many ways that developers have made short-term appeal choices, just for a higher profit and we must do better in that regard. We need to think ahead and plan ahead. Ending cul-de-sacs is one of the difficult choices before us. I think it’s the right thing to do. Developers need to be held to higher standards in other ways, too, like providing sidewalks, proper drainage, etc.
I really don’t get the appeal of cul-de-sacs. Kids shouldn’t play in the street — that’s what backyards are for or neighborhood parks. My kids play for hours in our backyard and ride bikes in the driveway or at the park. I love playing in the yard and waving at the neighbors as they pass by or walk their dogs. We never have to worry about cars – because we aren’t in the street.
I love grid style streets and big front porches.
I’ve lived in almost every kind of neighborhood out there, includuing on a cul de sac, and I definitely think that cul de sacs are on their way out. Some of my favorite neighborhoods in Richmond are on city streets that back up to a park in the middle of the block. Perfect for cook outs, community gardens, badminton courts, etc. They’re safe, since kids are far from the street rather than playing in the street (in a cul de sac).
Gotta say, I’m not a big fan of cul-de-sacs. They really are isolating and insular, and I’m much more fond of open grid layouts with plenty of park space à la Burnham and Bennett’s Plan of Chicago.
Oh, and like Eric, we have neighborhood cookouts every year on our street… but I live on a busy street! And we actually have TWO block parties every year, so it is very possible. :)
I’m in my first cul-de-sac (after many years of not)and I think it’s great for all of the reasons already pointed out. I do see the flip side … but still think the positives outweigh the negatives. Would hate to see them go away entirely.
Good riddance!! Us city kids never had these things, and I never understood their purpose. I wan my kids to grow up BEING AWARE of cars and the road, instead of living in a sheltered little alcove.
I live on a through street with TONS of children. Everyone knows everyone else, and we have a HUGE block party for the 4th of July every year. It IS possible to live in a safe place, surrounded by good people without a cal de sac.
On a purely selfish note I like the idea of doing away with new cul-de-sac developements because I imagine that would increase the value of my cul-de-sac home. Supply & Demand…
GASP! Please don’t take away my beloved cul de sac! I love ours. Our quiet little cul de sac was a major selling point when we bought our house.
Lack of sidewalks and the bulding of subdivisions along very busy arteries creates the anit-community feel…not cul-de-sacs. I grew up in a grid neighborhood and loved it. 20 some odd years ago I was free to roam on foot and bike. Today the world is not as safe and cul-de-sacs give kids a place to play and parents a better sense of safety.
Holy cow…when did cul-de-sacs become a polical thing? Geez, angry much? Sense of community transends all boundaries. When sitting outside watching our kids play, it’s not about politics but community. What else will the government try and take over??? I’m just thankful that it’s not happening here yet. So sad…
I find them to be an inefficient use of space, but if people want them then I am ok with that. I don’t agree with a lot of regulation. I am surprised more developers aren’t leaning toward more efficient use of land, seeing as the more houses they can fit on their land translates to higher profits.
Tamisha’s comment is spot on! (I 2nd the motion calling for alley revival too!). Traffic issues aside, cul de sacs are insular by design, so the “sense of community” is very small indeed, but this is coming from a life-long resident of the “city block”. The neighborhoods where I have lived have always felt – and this is important – a PART of a larger enitity. As a kid, I never felt comfortable visiting friends who lived on cul de sacs. I always felt as if I was entering a semi-gated community and needed to know the secret handshake for admittance.
I currently live in an historic neighborhood of a mid-size Midwestern city where various ages & socio-economics are represented among the residents. The street is busy, and yes, we’d like for traffic to slow down, but the neighborhood is organizing, and working with the city to address the traffic & safety. My 3.5yo twins have a backyard for play, will meet friends at the park at the end of the block, and will eventually ride bikes in the church lot across the street. For privacy, the residents believe “good fences make good neighbors. My kids know people up and down the street, young & old, affluent and not, and they will grow up to have an appreciation for the diversity represented here. It’s a life that could not found amongst the homoginity of suburban cul de sacs.
As one who grew up partially in the country and later, in the city of grided squares, I’m a huge fan of getting rid of cul de sacs. I love how easy it is to navigate through cities that only use grids, straight roads, and square blocks.
Holy cow! Who would have thought that this would be such a hot button issue. Geez, if you don’t like cul-de-sacs, then don’t live near them. I would not want to live above a bar, but some people do.
As someone without a car, who relies on my bicycle and my feet for transportation, I say hooray! In my city, old, gridded neighborhoods are still fantastic for kids. I see them out playing basketball and other games all of the time. Cars don’t use those streets for cross-city trips – they’re too narrow and have too many stop signs.
As to why I appreciate grid-style development as a pedestrian and bicyclist, I give you these graphics:
The first, the destinations available within one mile from a suburban neighborhood in Seattle.
http://www.sightline.org/maps/maps/Sprawl-SuburbWalk-CS06m/Sprawl-SuburbWalk-CS06m-dis
The second, the destinations available within one mile from a gridded neighborhood in Seattle.
http://www.sightline.org/maps/maps/Sprawl-UrbanWalk-CS06m/Sprawl-UrbanWalk-CS06m-dis