New Tool Allows You To Play Street Designer

• February 1, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

A new website out there makes it easy to visualize how cars, bikes, pedestrians and trees can all fit together on one street.

StreetMix, a website-in-progress, gives professional and amateur planners an easy visualization tool to use when trying to figure out how to make a street work for a variety of transit options, reports Atlantic Cities.

Like a “digital sounding board,’ the interface allows users to pop in a bike lane, insert a planting strip or a tree, and widen and narrow streets.

Developed by Code for America, an organization that aims to help governments maximize the internet and technology, the visualization tool may one day be used in community meetings, as city planners work with residents to help adapt street designs.

Right now, the site is still fairly basic, with drive lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks and planting strips that can be rearranged on one axis. But the developers are working on adding more features, said Atlantic Cities, like cycle tracks, parklets, and whatever else planners and residents dream up. The tool, which was developed in just a few hours, seems like it will be a handy addition to the toolbox.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/new_tool_allows_you_to_play_street_designer/6597