Smart Growth Corridors Corridors are major roadways within the city. Lamar Boulevard, Guadalupe Street, and 6th Street are examples of existing corridors within Austin. Most of these corridors were developed primarily to accommodate the automobile. The result is an environment that is unappealing and sometimes dangerous for anyone who attempts to walk along the corridor. While it is important to accommodate cars, this pattern does not realize the full potential of these corridors as community assets.
Roadways are one of our most widespread forms of public space.
Through a combination of public and private efforts, these corridors could be transformed into diverse neighborhood centers that provide services, new homes, community gathering places, and additional transportation opportunities. Corridor planning refers to a comprehensive method of identifying which corridors may be appropriate candidates for redevelopment, how a corridor plan would be created, and what type, and intensity, of development could be appropriate in a specific corridor. The City of Austin, with the assistance of professional consultants and a citizens advisory group, is beginning the process of identifying what, how, and where corridor planning will take place. Traditional Neighborhood Development or TND is a new planning term that describes development patterns found in older urban neighborhoods and towns. Traditional neighborhoods include a variety of residential housing types, neighborhood commercial uses that are located nearby and are in scale with the neighborhood, a network of narrow, interconnected streets that provide a safe and enjoyable walking environment, and open space that serves as both an organizing feature and gathering place for the neighborhood.