That and to clean those central channels the crew would likely block the whole street instead of one side at a time.
Comment on Why don't urban/suburban streets and roads use a center storm channel?
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 days ago
I’m not a civil engineer, but the most fundamental thing I can think of is heavy rain would sooner cause road flooding with a central low spot, while have two sides of drainage provides double the drainage, plus any overcapacity will first flood a sidewalk.
a4ng3l@lemmy.world 4 days ago
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
I did consider this possiblity, but I figure that such a center drained road would necessarily have excavated more material from the road than a conventional crowned road, so the road itself sits lower than the nearby properties, and lower than a crowned road.
If done like this, the road necessarily has more “storage” capacity during floods than whatever could fit into the shallow side gutters of a crowned road. If the issue instead is clogged drains, then the center drains could be placed 2x more closely than side gutters, such that the total number of storm drains per km is identical.
Ellvix@lemmy.world 4 days ago
This feels like the difference between cars vs pedestrians as the more important user. Having drains on each side means that even if there’s some good buildup of water, the crowned center means you’re more likely to be able to fit one car through, but you totally wipe out the sidewalks. I’m all for /c/fuckcars and would prefer sidewalk use, but I can see the other way winning in the US as roads are primarily designed for cars. Maybe dense city centers could prioritize sidewalks, but more rural stuff and stroads could prioritize roads.
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
The premise of my question is that it is a false dichotomy: there need not be tension between pedestrian and roadway users if the drainage system spread out the water over a larger area of already-paved surface. Everyone wins!
In a rural area where roads are already narrow, this wouldn’t work and I acknowledged that in the title, limiting the inquiry to urban/suburban. I agree 100% that rural country roads built with ditches are entirely appropriate, cheap, and allow natural absorption into the soil. But urban streets aren’t just souped-up country roads and need to be constructed for the built environment.
Whereas rural areas prioritize land, livestock, and the great outdoors, urban areas prioritize people. And that means pedestrian facilities are non-negotiable in my book.
almost1337@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Practical Engineering seems to back up this idea