Both Shorewood and Whitefish Bay are working on improving their business districts. In Shorewood's case the main purpose is to improve the tax base. We've accepted that that task is of primary public interest.
Among the secondary interests, the most difficult community problem is fast movement of cars through these districts.
Although some traffic is necessary in these type of communities, high volumes that merely go through are of no use to the community nor to the shopping environment.
The main thing that both communities can learn from Glendale is that slow moving traffic can be designed into the street system.
There are ways to induce slower movement. But this must be done carefully and expertly. Sheboygan never recovered from their experiment, a principle misapplied.
One of todays problems is that these main streets were developed at a time when car ownership was at an extreme low and continuing to keep them as state highway routes was of little significance to business.
These streets still function as highways but today high traffic has extreme negative significance to the improvement of business districts.
Therefore there's always a planning conflict with the State who needs these highway routes and the local communities, who need slow traffic.
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Because the State contributes to construction and maintenance costs, the State usually wins and the highway function remains.
On the other hand the State would never agree to putting commercial development on both sides of a modern highway with parking privileges, sidewalks and immediate access to the shops. They wouldn't do this in the Oconomowoc area, for example. This would work against the highway function.
Who would be crazy enough to put shops on the edge of a highway. That to a lessor degree is what Silver Spring is to the shops in Whitefish Bay and what Capitol especially is to the shops in Shorewood.
Although some shopping seems to survive on these streets with a fairly high level of traffic, all conventional attempts to improve the shopping function are producing meager improvement. We need to accommodate both needs.
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What does the urban planner suggest? “Niche shopping areas” on both sides wherever possible, especially with new development, also by both narrowing and raising the street to side walk level to create plazas or interesting social and shopping alcoves at these points.. A recent report by ULI (Urban Land Institute) illustrates this approach quite well.
The fact that cars would now be driving through a pedestrian area means that they must do so very carefully, perhaps more carefully than in parking lots and at fairly low restrictive speeds.
The "enclaved area" psychologically reduces “the through traffic effect” and pedestrians can cross at these points of traffic cautiously and more safely than over fast moving street right-of-ways because pedestrians have the "right-of-way."
