Street Design/Patterns

Origins of the Grid Layout

For long periods of time in Europe, most cities followed the “gridiron,” or grid, layout of roads made popular by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago. This involved a series of roads running parallel with another series of parallel roads intersecting with them at 90 degrees. This layout, originally intended for the ease of walking and simple in its design and simplicity, was repeated throughout the Americas when European settlers arrived in the 17th century.

In America, the grid layout was adapted to take account of the vast open spaces and tracts of land that the pioneers encountered. The Northwest Ordinances carried out in 1785 and 1787 established the pattern for the grid for American cities. This created six-mile squares across the continent, leaving these squares simple to survey, easy to divide, and establishing everything at right angles.

Apart from a few exceptions, this method of street design was accepted as the easiest method of planning and design. This allowed for its “blocks” to be easily surveyed and recorded for ease of ownership, as well as ease of pedestrian movement around the city. It was not until the advent of the combustion engine and the motor car that the grid system of street layouts slowly began to change.

The advent of public transport—before the motor car came into existence—allowed workers (commuters) to live farther away from their workplace and provided efficient longer-distance commuting. This led to suburbs springing up on the edges of cities that once again used grid patterns but sometimes incorporated diagonal streets, making pedestrian access to public transport accessible. As the passenger numbers increased, the main stops and terminals became social and commercial centers, shaping the future layout and planning of these areas.

Advent of the Automobile

It was the introduction of the motor car, and the ability of the middle and working classes to purchase one, that led city planners to be released from the constraints of having to plan mainly for the pedestrian. The grid pattern was the mainstay of most city road layouts until the growth of people owning their own vehicles caused a series of gridlocks in many populated cities.

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