By Age-Friendly Carbondale
We conclude our review of crossings along 133 with Snowmass and Meadowood Drive, the only two where survey respondents did not report perceiving unsafe conditions. That said, let’s take this week to examine the nature of 133.
Roads move people from point A to point B quickly, efficiently and, usually, safely. In the song “Ramblin’ Man,” the Allman Brothers Band sings: “I’m on my way to New Orleans this mornin’, leaving out of Nashville, Tennessee.” Dorothy skips down the Yellow Brick Road to her various destinations around Oz. Willie Nelson wants to get “on the road again” to places he has never been. Dorothy, Willie and the Allmans don’t stop to shop, find a good restaurant or visit the farmers market. They are traveling from one place to the next. They need a “road.”
The Beatles sang: “In Penny Lane, there is a barber showing photographs of every head he’s had the pleasure to know, all the people that come and go, stop and say ‘hello.’” Penny Lane is a “street.” Rather than getting you from one place to another place, streets are places. They provide housing, access to services and recreation. Streets are the lifeblood of a community. They create wealth, slow traffic and have infrastructure designed to strengthen the fabric of a community. People live their lives on streets — children, caregivers with strollers and walking dogs, pedestrians, cyclists, older adults and people with mobility challenges.
Highway 133 was established in the 1920s, as a vehicle thoroughfare from Bardine (near Paonia) to Carbondale, according to Wikipedia. Over the next few decades, the road underwent many changes. By 1954, a large segment had been removed, and only a four-mile section near Carbondale remained. By 1978, the route was expanded and completely paved. As Carbondale grew, it expanded along both sides of 133. Essential services like housing, restaurants, shopping, medical services and recreation have changed the thoroughfare’s nature and utility. Rather than skirting Carbondale, 133 now divides it, with too few safe ways for vulnerable users on either side to access goods and services on the other.
Highway 133 no longer moves motorized traffic efficiently enough to be a road, but it’s not safe or efficient for vulnerable users going about their local business either. We’re trying to make 133 serve two conflicting functions, so naturally, it serves neither function well. We call this kind of hybrid a “stroad.” Stroads are the futons of our transportation system because a futon tries to be both a bed and a couch and is not good at either. Highway 133 is our paved futon. Next week, we’ll conclude this series with recommendations for redesigning it.