Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Courtesy Streets

by: Michelle Sopko

A courtesy street can also be known as a queuing street. On this street there is either parking on one or both sides of the street and not enough room for traffic to move in both directions. If two cars encounter each other, one must pull over in the parking shoulder while the other continues. One example is in on Harrison Street in Brookline, MA. A map location can be found below.


As seen in the picture below there are cars parked on both sides of the street with 12 feet between them for a car to drive through. After observing this road for 3 hours on a Sunday, there were no encounters. This street is mostly used for residents leaving and arriving at their houses. There is not much through traffic.


 Another location is Blake Road in Brookline, MA as seen in the map location below.











As seen in the picture there is a car parked on the right side of the road. This road can be very busy as it is used for through traffic. During the day there is no parking on the left side of the road making it wide enough for two cars to pass at a time. At night there is parking allowed (after 6p) and the road becomes a courtesy road. Traffic is not very busy at night, making this courtesy road convenient for travelers.


The last location can be found in Boston near Northeastern University. It is Public Alley 809.

As seen in the picture, the parking on the left is not parallel parking rather, parking for residents before an apartment complex. There are many encounters during rush hour when cars are leaving for or coming from work. It can be an inconvenience, but the residents do not seem to mind. When the cars encounter each other, one must pull into an empty parking space in order for their to be enough room for the other car to pass by. If there are no empty parking spaces, one of the cars will reverse until the other car has gone where they would like. The car closer to an intersecting road typically is the one who reverses. A suggestion would be to eliminate the sidewalk on the right of the building. It is not utilized and would allow more room for cars to safely travel.



Boston is one of the most popular places to find courtesy roads. Some parts of the city that are rather busy, use one way roads because it requires the same space, but reduces the number of accidents. In less busy areas, courtesy roads are used to eliminate the inconvenience of one way roads. Boston utilizes courtesy roads when it is beneficial!

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