Planners classify streets according to their intended use. Local streets should be short and meant for residential traffic. They typically connect to collector streets, which funnel traffic out of neighborhood and toward arterial streets. Arterial streets are intended to move through traffic from one area to another with minimal impediment. Problems arise when these principles are misapplied.
Streets designed for a lower level of traffic actually end up carrying a higher volume.
A great deal of attention has been devoted to neighborhood design and traffic issues in recent years. Confronted by a steady stream of resident complaints about traffic, city planners and traffic engineers have responded by applying many types of traffic-calming techniques ranging from stop signs to speed bumps and rumble strips. Unfortunately, these methods may irritate drivers and produce undesirable secondary consequences, such as accidents and increased traffic noise. One traffic calming technique that has been adopted by neotraditionalist designers is use of narrow streets to slow traffic. Supporters of narrower streets often make the assumption that wider streets always mean higher speeds.