The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-11-12
SMALL TOWNS NEEDS.
Improvement Pointers on a Com
prehensive General Plan.
IDEAL LAYOUT FOR STREETS.
Diagonal Thoroughfares Should Radi-
ate From Railway Station Like
Spokes From Wheels Hub-Widths
For Streets and Roadways.

During the past two or three years
number Of elaborate reports have been
published setting forth proposed plans
for the improvement of some of the
largest cities of the country. While
these are interesting to ell municipal
officials, their very elaborateness may
serve to discourage the smaller COM
munities whose resources would not
permit any approximation to the ex-
penditure required for such improve
ments. Fortunately their needs are
similarly much less than those Of the
larger cities. A recent report for the
suburban town of Ridgewood, N. j.,
which has been submitted by Charles
milford Robinson, is unusually COM
plete considering the size of the town,
and is an Illustration of the fact that
intelligent and expert study of condi-
lions and recommendations for i'm
prOvements are as desirable for the
small community as for the large and
that the adoption Of the plans need not
entail impossible expense, says the
Municipal Journal and Engineer.
In considering the general street plan
the report starts with the railroad sta
ton as the chief focus of traffic, it be-
ing the effort of every commuter to
either reach it or get away from it in
| the shortest possible time twice every
day. The natural tendency for a sub
urb is to grow around the station as q
center III concentric rings, and in the
ideal suburban street plan diagonal
thorOughfares would radiate from the
station like the spokes from the hub of
a wheel. Between these thoroughfares
1T brief intervals would be short and
quiet streets. A secondary focus of the
town should be furnished by the town
hall and postoffice-
Taking up the details of the streets,
Mr. Robinson first considers the side
walks and unhesitatingly condemns
most of those in RidgewoOd because
the walk proper is placed about twelve
to eighteen inches from the curb in
stead Of being at least three feet, as it
should be in any residential district.
! From five to ten feet would be better,
while for parkways, bOulevards, etc,
the distance should be still greater.
Assuming walk six feet wide, which
Is generally, ample on a street sixty
! feet between lot lines, there should be
J three feet planted in turf between the
property line and the walk, then ten
/ feet in turf between the walk and the
curb, the latter strip carrying the street
/ trees and in most cases being further
ornamented with flowers and low
shrubs. Then would come a twenty
/ two foot roadway, which is sufficiently
wide for any residential street in q
small suburb which is not arterial or
does not carry heavy pleasure traffic.
! On a street eighty feet wide, assuming
that there are no car tracks, there Is
such ample room for identifying the
/ street that either the width of the side
parking between walk and curb could
be made about fifteen feet or a central
strip of grass fifteen feet wide could
divide the roadway into two, each
eighteen feet wide, five foot strip of
turf still separating the walk from the
curb. Few wagons exceed eight feet
in width over all, and touring cars sell
dom reach seven feet, so that an eight
cen foot roadway allows ample room
for passing. Where there is a middle
strip of parking all through traffic on
each side should be in the same direc-
! ton.
! Appearance Is not the only argument
In favor of such proportioning Of the
street space, but economy also argues
In its favor. A square foot Of road
way is more expensive to construct
and to maintain than an equal area of
turf; also, from @ sanitary point of
view, the wider the road the greater
the volume of dust, and the closer the
road comes to the curb the nearer this
dust is to the houses and to pedes-
TRANS. Moreover, 1t Is assumed, of
course, that shade trees will be planted
In the strip between sidewalk and
curb, and the wider this Is the
healthier the trees are apt to be and
the less the damage they do to both
curb and sidewalk paving. When
trees are planted in a strip only few
inches wide either they will be puny
and sickly and ultimately die for lack
Of nourishment, or II they do grow
vigorously they will force up the walk
and throw the curb out Of line. With
the wider strip Of turf there is a better
symmetry to the street as a whole, a
few inches width only Of such being
too insignificant a dimension In com
parison with the others and Irritating
by the lack Of balance. Moreover,
wide parking seems to increase the
depth Of the adjacent lots and gives
the houses better setting.
As to curbing. 1t Is recommended
that uniformity in construction be re-
CURED in each civic unit, such unit be-
ting a whole street or at least section
considerably longer than one lot. The
report recommends the substitution of
concrete cutters for cobble ones, stat
ing that the latter are difficult to keep
clean and are soon deficient In orderli
ness Of aspect
Street trees should be, as Mr.. Rob
inson states, the property Of the com
munity as q whole and in charge Of
its representative, one who has ex-
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