5 Notes On Urban Boulevards
In my previous post, I illustrated a few ways that cities have given their infrastructure much-needed makeovers. But there is some urban infrastructure out there that’s already pretty welcoming for pedestrians and cyclists alike, and one example is right outside my apartment.
I live on Ocean Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard in Brooklyn, conceived by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as the country’s first bike path.
The original path is 5 miles long and opened in January 1894. The bike path is raised higher from the roadway (carriageway at that time) and is a haven for cyclists. These days there are benches, game tables and chairs sprinkled all along the Parkway, which is always full of life when the weather’s nice.
A recent stroll along Ocean Parkway had me thinking more about boulevards.
There’s been a lot of talk about them lately, particularly in Toronto. While one proposal to demo part of an elevated expressway and replace it with a boulevard was recently rejected by city council, another long-anticipated boulevard project was completed only a few days ago.
With boulevards on the brain, I decided to channel my inner urban planner and hash out what I think are 5 crucial notes about these long stretches of public space.
5 Notes on Boulevards
1. Where the inspiration came from
The term boulevard is often dumbed down to evoke a wide, untraversable asphalt roadway, though a modern version of the ‘Grand Boulevard’ is gaining traction.
Olmsted and Vaux’s inspiration for the parkways was the grand boulevards in Europe, pioneered by one famous Parisienne, Baron Haussmann. His boulevards were multi-way roadways that separate through-traffic from local traffic by special tree-lined medians for pedestrian and other recreational uses. Not all of Haussmann’s remain in their original form, but Paris still retains a significant number of them. The boulevards come in all sizes, such as Ave Kleber and Ave de la Grande Armee (below).
2. Two types of boulevards
There are essentially two types of boulevards: 1) a standard boulevard with one main, wide median in the middle of the through-traffic and without access roads (top); 2) a multi-way boulevard with access roads, where the main medians are buffers between the through-traffic and access lanes (bottom).
Access roads serve as a traffic calming measure by diverting local traffic to a slower lane, so pedestrians and cyclists don’t need to worry about sudden quick turns from vehicles. As a result, it encourages more leisurely uses along the median.
3. The importance of scale
A boulevard’s success is determined by two design factors: scale and a well-designed median. (Of course: intersection safety and traffic flow management are absolutely crucial engineering factors here).
The scale of the boulevard is essential because its purpose is to provide pedestrians with a safe and attractive route right next to multiple lanes of traffic. For example, a street light for vehicular traffic is 30ft tall and signifies inaccessibility, while a pedestrian light is around 16ft tall and signifies safety and ambience.
In Berlin, buildings along Unter de Linden are not overwhelmingly tall and the wide sidewalks in front provide pedestrians with plenty of room. Rows of Linden trees line the boulevard, humanizing the space and providing an enclosure from through-traffic.
By contrast, on the other side of Berlin, Karl-Marx-Allee is wide and overwhelmed by huge, uniform buildings along the boulevard. It has a planted median, but trees are spaced far apart along the sidewalks and away from the curbs, so there isn’t a vertical buffer between the sidewalk and through-traffic. This makes the space feel unoccupiable.
4. Making the medians count
A well-designed median — whether in the middle of the boulevard or separating the through-traffic from the access road — with regularly spaced trees, green space and recreational elements, offers a fine-grain pedestrian-scaled experience.
Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City has offices, restaurants, residences, shops, embassies and more. The medians in between the service roads and main traffic lanes are lined with tall mature trees. Along the main walking paths you can find seating coves, bikeshare stations, informational booths and outdoor cafes. The opportunities are endless.
5. Boulevard guidelines for today
All of the above-mentioned boulevards are centuries in the making, so what will a contemporary boulevard look like?
Smart Growth America advocates the implementation of Complete Streets, which places emphasis on pedestrians, transit users, cyclists and drivers equally. These guidelines involve adding bike paths, designated bus lanes or comfortable bus shelters. NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) in the United States, takes it one step further by showcasing boulevard guidelines in its Urban Street Design Guide.
And a significant numbers of cities have aready introduced complete streets and boulevards! In the 1970s, the City of San Francisco voted to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway and finally turned it into a boulevard in 1990. It’s now a well-used waterfront promenade with beautiful view of the bay.
The city didn’t stop there. In 2005, it transformed part of Octavia Street into Octavia Boulevard. Access lanes are introduced to divert local traffic from the main 4 lanes’ central way, and three wide medians are incorporated to provide green space and seating. The medians are now often used by residents and are a favorite path for cyclists.
The term ‘Grand Boulevard’ often has a tinge of historicalness to it. However, many cities have proven that the idea can be introduced successfully and bring major benefits to every segment of the population. Public spaces and through-traffic can coexist beautifully.
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