Road and Site Design Standards

The Road Design, Site Plan and Subdivision Standards, and Zoning adopted by a municipality can have a significant effect on driving habits. Using these mechanisms, municipalities can encourage healthy community design practices and promote sustainable travel modes.

Road Design

Road Design Standards are guidelines that provide uniform expectations for road construction projects, including elements such as road dimensions, materials, and considerations for different road users.

• Local governments in Massachusetts often do not control the design of high volume roads or state roads within their boundaries. For these roads or any road project receiving state or federal funding, road design must follow the MassDOT’s Project Development and Design Guide.

• However, local municipalities can establish their own road design standards for locally developed roads. Some cities and larger towns create their own municipal-wide regulations, but most communities will reference MassDOT’s guidance or design standards published by national organizations, like NACTO. i

• The most common local road design standards are found in Subdivision Regulations. ii

Site Plans & Subdivisions

The Site Plans and Subdivision Standards govern the design and construction rules by which new residential roads are constructed. Once roads in a new residential subdivision are completed, most of them become public roads and a local government asset. As a result, these standards can have a dramatic effect on how communities grow, and, by extension, affect community health. ii

• Municipalities require developers to submit Site and Subdivision Plans when new neighborhoods or tracts of land are being developed or divided into building sites. These plans depict the layout of buildings, sidewalks, roads, and other structures or pavement.

• Site Plans and Subdivisions Plans are reviewed against established criteria, the Site Plans and Subdivision Standards, as the basis for requiring improvements to and approving development plans.

• Site Plan and Subdivision Standards can encourage better local road design, establishing road design standards that address travel lane widths, bike lanes, sidewalks, streetscapes, and other aspects of roadway infrastructure.

• Communities can review proposals to ensure that they provide for safe internal traffic and pedestrian flows and provide bicycle and pedestrian connections to the larger community.

Zoning

Zoning is a tool that can be used to encourage development patterns of communities to ensure all residents have the option to bike, walk, or use a wheelchair or use another mobility assistive device to get to basic goods and services. Learn more about Zoning.

Transportation Design Checklist

Below are some best practices to consider:

Roads

• Ensure that street design standards comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and meet the needs of people of all abilities.

• Require roads to be designed to “Complete Streets” standards, with equal attention to the needs of automobiles, cyclists and pedestrians.

• Requiring narrower roads and traffic calming measures (Subdivision regulations can also establish desired road cross-sections that apply to new developments).

• Require a well-connected road and pedestrian network with multiple pathways between destinations.

• Require bicycle and pedestrian linkages to nearby networks.

• Require highly visible and predictable crosswalks at road or driveway crossings.

• Require pedestrian crossings at large or complicated intersections, with pedestrian refuges where needed.

• Require street lighting, especially near parks or schools.

• For new street signs, install highly visible signs that are reflective and have high contrast, large type.

• Enhance pavement markings.

• Install brighter stoplights.

• Encourage pedestrian facilities like benches, shelters, and interesting ground level features including plantings.

• Provide Shelters and benches at bus stops.

• Require shade trees along pedestrian and bicycle pathways.

• Consider maintenance in the design of roads and sidewalks.

• Set appropriate pedestrian crossing signal times.

• Prioritize active transit and public transit traffic at intersections.

• Establish dedicated left-turn lanes at busy intersections.

• Use medians on wide streets and streets with a lot of traffic.

• Limit right turn on red.

• Limit corner radii’.

Developments

• Mixed-use development.

• Orient buildings to serve pedestrians on the street.

• Encourage compact development patterns where housing is located close to destinations.

• In places where combining housing and commercial uses in the same or adjacent buildings is not desirable, small neighborhood commercial centers can be inserted into existing housing-only neighborhoods.

Parking

• Promote on-street parking over off-street parking.

• Place parking lots at the back or side of buildings.

• Encourage park-once designs for new commercial developments.

• Set designated parking lot spaces for older drivers, handicap vehicles, carpools and fuel-efficient vehicles.

• Require commercial and multifamily residential developments to offer bike parking and/or storage.

• Design driveways to minimize pedestrian impacts by minimizing curb cuts through shared/common driveways and requiring driveways to rise to the level of the sidewalk.

• Provide easy drop off and pick up locations.

• Design parking lots with an obvious circulation patterns and directional arrows.

• Require all signage to be highly visible, reflective, and use high contrast, large type.

• Require adequate lighting.

• Require destinations meet the needs of people of all ages and abilities when ADA standards do not apply.

• Consider parking designs that reduce conflicts between parking cars and cyclists.

Using the best practices checklist above, review your municipalities’ current road design, site plan and subdivision guidelines, and zoning regulations.

Connect with your municipal planner and local biking and walking advocates (or Bike/Walk Committees) about changes to design standards and zoning that could encourage healthy community design practices and promote sustainable travel modes.

Establish a pre-site plan and subdivision design review process that creates an Inter-Departmental Project Review, including representatives from various municipal departments/boards, including the Board of Health, to provide review and feedback on projects for healthy design strategies while still in design development.

Citations

i City of Boston (2019) ROADWAY DESIGN STANDARDS. https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/imce-uploads/2019-05/roadway_design_standards.pdf

ii American Planning Association - MA Chapter & Homebuilders Association of MA (2011) Sustainable Neighborhood Road Design: A Guidebook for Cities and Towns. https://masscptc.org/docs/core-docs/NRB_Guidebook_2011.pdf