From Seattle Transit Blog, a discussion of the effect of cul-de-sacs on walkability.

We’re living out in rural southern Wisconsin, so these issues don’t really affect us in any way. However, we’ve lived in suburban areas for a few years, and always enjoyed the areas that had more connectivity for walking and biking than those that did not. I’m not saying that a “grid” pattern is better, but leaving green space for walking/biking trails between cul-de-sac areas seems like something that should be part of every community development plan these days.

We enjoyed the suburban areas we walked in a lot more when there was some walking variety. Not the same street, same neighbor, same dilapidated porch, etc. Our first home was suburban-rural and only had a few walking options. It wasn’t nearly as much fun to walk there routinely as when we lived in Bellevue, Washington for a few years.

(I’m intentionally ignoring part of the blog-post’s issues that were raised regarding convenience factors of living on a grid-based road system).

Read.