Narrow Roads Open Wide Debate in O.C.

Driving along the freshly paved streets in this city’s newest planned communities, you can be excused for feeling slightly claustrophobic.

That’s because many of the gently curving streets on the edges of a dense orange grove are as much as 30% narrower than the standard 36-foot-wide residential road.

The design is seen by developers and city planners as a way to create more tightknit and attractive communities. Narrower streets have become common in new neighborhoods from Palm Springs to San Clemente and have the added safety advantage of forcing cars to slow down.

But not everyone is pleased with the new design.

The Orange County Fire Authority, which reviews development plans along with cities, has rejected several street designs and OKd others only after builders agreed to equip nearby homes with indoor sprinklers or put extra fire hydrants in the area.

“We are looking at this with a critical eye because the smaller the street, the more difficult our engines and trucks have maneuvering around,” said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority. “We know that people are sensitive about the aesthetics of the street. But our focus always has to be on safety.”

Most firetrucks measure roughly 8 feet wide by 45 feet long. But officials said they need at least a 20-foot-wide street when operating during emergencies.

The fire authority has purchased slightly smaller fire engines for use in communities with narrow streets.

“Our primary focus always has to be on protecting life,” Brown said. “If we can create situations where you have these types of streets with adequate fire protections, I think everyone wins.”

Other operators of big vehicles--such as trash trucks--are a little leery.

“If a narrow street causes you to make a three-point turn instead of full turn, it can create problems--especially if you have kids playing nearby,” said Dan Batty, recycling manager for Solag Disposal, which serves most South County communities.

The trend toward narrower streets extends across the nation. New planned communities in Texas and Florida include even narrower residential streets than California--some as tight as 18 feet across.

The look is part of a larger effort to make residential areas more pedestrian-oriented and to get away from the black-and-white look of streets and sidewalks.

To that end, city and county planners report a revival in the use of parkways--lawns that stand between the sidewalk and the street. Developers also are increasing their use of colored tiles and brick to accent streets.

“I think the feeling is that the street scapes have more asphalt than we would like,” said Jim Holloway, San Clemente’s community development director. “There is a definite shift we are seeing in new development toward less pavement and more colors and vegetation along streets.”

One of the most cutting-edge street designs is found in the new Glenneyre at Lanesend section of Irvine, where builders created a narrow road surrounded with strips of grass.

Under the grass is plastic, providing a hard surface for vehicles to pass stopped cars. It also offers enough space for fire engines. Planners say that other compact streets will be seen in several large South County developments underway, including the 8,100-home Ladera community near San Juan Capistrano.

In Riverside, the county’s planning department is reviewing its road width requirements because of growing interest in narrower streets. The minimum width allowed is 32 feet, but planners might reduce it to 28 feet for certain types of planned neighborhoods and retirement communities.

Putting roads on a diet is a contrarian concept in the world of transportation, where the focus is almost always on widening streets to improve traffic flow.

“Narrowing the road causes cars to drive 15 to 20 mph. You don’t get anywhere fast, but that’s the point,” said Loren Evans, local roads chairman for the American Society of Civil Engineers, which is also studying the trend.

“By reducing the space between you and your neighbors across the street, you are more likely to say ‘good morning’ and have a chat,” said Evans, noting that smaller roads also give developers extra land for homes.

The new look seems popular with residents and potential home buyers as well. “It feels cozy,” said Sandra Green, an Orange retiree who is looking for a house in Irvine’s Northwood village. “No one wants to live off a big boulevard. . . . It’s impersonal.”

Urban planners began experimenting with narrower roads more than a decade ago. But the idea has become more popular in recent years with the rise of “New Urbanism,” an architectural movement aimed at increasing human interaction and neighborliness in suburban communities.

In Irvine, plans for subdivisions in Northwood and Lower Peters Canyon include street widths as much as 8 feet less than the 36-foot standard if parking is prohibited.

“We’ve had requests for even narrower ones, but we haven’t approved them,” said Timro Rifiq, the city’s principal transportation planner.

Irvine and other cities also report increases in the use of chokers, which are designed to reduce the speed of traffic. Chokers are extensions of the sidewalk that jut into the roadway, narrowing the street to 24 to 26 feet.

Los Angeles County has so far resisted the move to narrower streets, according to David Wang, a civil engineer with the regional planning department, still requiring residential streets be at least 36 feet wide, or 34 feet for cul-de-sacs.

“We think that’s as narrow as it should be,” Wang said. “Anything lower than that might pose safety problems.”

But Orange County planners and some residents think that any safety worries are far outweighed by a key safety benefit: forcing cars to drive more slowly.

“That’s important to me,” said Sandra Green, who was pricing houses in Northwood recently with her husband, Lou. “I think a narrow street is more tranquil.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Street Fight

Some cities are allowing developers to build streets that are narrower than previously allowed. Firefighters are wary of the smaller streets, worrying their trucks may have problems getting to homes. A comparison of a standard-width residential street with two narrower versions:

Standard street size allows curbside parking

Narrow street does not permit parking along curb 28 feet across

Narrow street with choker, which is designed to slow traffic

Standard firetruck is 8 feet wide and 45 feet long; standard fire engine is 8 feet wide and 37 feet long

Source: City of Irvine and Orange County Fire Authority; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times