The ‘Stroad': US Routes & State Roadways With No Soul

In 2011, civil engineer and urban planner Charles Marohn concocted the pejorative portmanteau mixing street and road, Stroad. The word ’stroad’ is defined by any thoroughfare that combines the complexity of a city street with the vehicular accessibility openness of a country road. The stroad is usually a very uncomfortable place to be. To walk down one of these monstrosities is considered to be an incredible feat; so incredible in fact, drivers will gawk in awe at the fact you took the time to not only think about trekking the minimum 4 miles to get to the mile wide parking of Walmart, but also did the death defying stunt of actually crossing to the other side to get there. Seriously though, these things are outright dangerous for anyone not in a car by design. In cities and towns across the US, these stretches of roadway account for an alarming amount of pedestrian deaths and crashes. 

The driving environment gives all the power and accessibility to the cars at the expense of the accessibility, mobility, and safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and really anyone who is NOT in an automobile. Stroad-like urban environments have historically formed along legecy US routes and State highways that ran through towns and cities. Therefore, these 'Main Street’ stretches of road have also historically been local connectors for pedestrian traffic as places have literally been built around these main streets. However, with the increasing popularity of cars in the 50s and 60s and most of the interstate system not being built at the time; widening of these main streets had to be done. In the decades to follow new names like ‘main drag’ or ‘strip’ were coined to describe the change in appearance. Consequently, with the widening of main streets came a propelled cycle of car dependency. This meant more cars, more parking lots, more sprawl, more lanes, larger building setbacks, and criminally underfunded and bankrupted mass transit systems of every mode. Blocks of cities were leveled for the widening of once vibrant city streets soon to be replaced by a much sterile, artificial environment. 

More importantly, this created a public environment where every public fixture is treated like a checklist item they tagged on at the end of the project to get 1% of extra credit. You see, GM can’t profit off of you if you’re using your silly little legs to get around. So, the Main Street widens one more lane both ways. Their sidewalks, however, lay neglected being broken up by overgrown tree roots if left in at all. The new-looking sidewalks on stroads aren’t usually new either. They just see such little foot traffic that wear just never happens. Like I wrote before, the gawking of drivers at the glorious stroad pedestrian is a fashionable pastime for those passing at 20 over the speed limit. “Where’s their car?”, “Are those legs?”, “Feet? You’re actually using them?”, “Do the driving laws change when someone is not in a car?”, and “Should I yield when they cross the street?” are some of my favorite questions I’d like to imagine are rolling around the minds of drivers. Alas, most of them just look angry and lifeless at the same time. A normalized feeling constant for those who are driving on the stroad. 

When outside of a car, the feeling you get is one of lifelessness as well. However, instead of the stressful lifeless existence of driving. A feeling of overwhelming dread, sameness, and loneliness comes into view with each passing driver. The loneliness of a disconnected public speeding around with somewhere to be right now. A public taking the time to acknowledge your exist only when it suits them the most. A soulless city street with the thin vail of business disguised as traffic. Sometimes they may not notice your existence in time and at that point you’re unfortunately at the mercy of the system. In other words, an act we may unjustly call a “Traffic Accident”. An accident created purposefully by a system that promotes the tool that killed 7,508 pedestrians in the US in 2022 according to The GHSA (the most pedestrians since 1981). I can’t imagine the level of pain these people felt before they ceased, even more so with the popularity of larger vehicles increasing exponentially in recent decadesc and maybe because of it. 

More often now stroads are the setting for these gruesome ends. It needs to stop. This lobbyist-driven agenda for public work projects will never work in an era where finding loopholes means progress. Rather than progressing in the act of regulating for the sake of accessibility of and safety for other modes of travel. The stroad goes against any form of connection and understanding on both a personal and region-wide basis. They cut up and hallow out cities, pollute the environment, are ugly as sin, aren’t safe (even for those driving), and prompts an unhealthy lifestyle physically, emotionally, and mentally. Furthermore, it does this all quietly while normalizing an existence where the automobile no longer is a tool, but a necessity. YOU must finance the vehicle YOU must drive on the surface YOU get increasingly taxed on (even if you don’t drive) while YOU pay for fuel and maintenance just to go across town for the simplest of trips. If you don’t have a license or car or money, well tough, you don’t deserve the precious “freedom” to drive on the traffic clogged stroad that you pay for anyway. While we’re talking freedom, umm, according to the almighty US debt clock: out of the 163,503,363 people in the US workforce; just 15,481,818 are union workers, 9.4%. Compared with just shy of 30% throughout the 50s and 60s according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

Anyway, turns out kids growing up in a car dependent, stroad incased suburb are less apt to understanding social cues, have increased dependency issues, and are more wary of strangers. Adults living in a same environment are more susceptible to overreacting, overthinking, misunderstandings, and loneliness. Misunderstandings and the road rage induced are popular on stroads and highways as well. The same road rage in which has recently has caused traffic shootings to rise. Yes, we are heading towards the path of normalizing traffic shootings. It’s a cause-effect chain that knows no bounds. That’s a topic that sorta goes beyond just stroads, but I’ll get to the startling statistics of traffic violence in another post. Make no mistake, a traffic pattern and urban environment that negatively mixes two totally different types of travel setting does not ease any rage. 

When you’re not in a car you start to see why a car oriented environment is horrible in just about every way for your community. Kinda like if you’re not a smoker you can really tell how bad cigarette smoke smells. Just like with smoking, it is going to take years of advocating for policy to reverse the social and environmental damage of stroads in the US. Lowering speed limits, better transit connections (yes even bus), not treating pedestrians like animals, speed governors in autos, road diets (reducing width of streets), and an overall increase in funding to promote walking, walkability, and the connectivity that it brings with the implementation of its fixtures. These are all things we can do to reduce the amount of needless deaths and confront systemic issues on the US’s transportation network. Advocate for better, instead for settling on an unsafe stroadway with absolute lack of soul and community. Nobody deserves to die alone so suddenly, let alone on their own main street.