Cul De Sac - French for Dead End?

or
Why Some Towns Place Roadblocks on Cul-de-Sacs

August 27, 2006
National Perspectives

By CARLA BARANAUCKAS
NORTHFIELD, Minn.
ON a crystalline day in early August, grumbling yellow bulldozers and excavators dug into a broad swath of black earth just east of the city limits here, within earshot of both the farm operation the acreage had been part of and the suburban landscape into which it will be absorbed.
Tucked inside the fifth addition to the subdivision Rosewood is Larkspur Court, the type of cul-de-sac that has long been an iconic feature of American suburbs.
But here and in other areas across the country, this staple of suburban development is drawing criticism from a growing number of planners and government officials, who say it should become an endangered species.
Highly popular after World War II, the cul-de-sac is essentially a dead-end residential street, often but not always ending with a large circular patch of pavement allowing vehicles to turn around. The form was initially embraced as something that promoted security, neighborliness and efficient transportation.
Homeowners found that the cul-de-sac limited traffic, creating a sense of privacy, while encouraging ties among neighbors, who could hardly avoid one another. Developers liked the cul-de-sac because it made it possible to build on land unsuited to a grid street pattern and because home buyers were willing to pay a premium to live on one.
Now the cul-de-sac is excoriated in certain quarters, especially by New Urbanists, as a detriment to security, community and efficient transportation......................................