Some things in life ought to be certain. We should be able to rely on the fact that gravity exists, the world is round, and also that cul-de-sacs are one of the better concepts to emerge from suburban planning.

Alas, the latter notion is now under attack. According to Governing magazine, city planners in Austin, Baltimore, and Olympia hope cul-de-sacs will become an endangered design species.

But wait a minute! Cul-de-sacs are great because they limit traffic, Parents love them because children can ride bikes in front of the house without being mowed down by crazed suburban commuters. And cul-de-sacs allow developers to use land efficiently.

So what's wrong with cul-de-sacs?

"Too much traffic. Too many delays for fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. Too little sense of community," reports the magazine.

"While their popularity among homebuyers remains undiminished, cul-de-sacs are under attack," Governing explains. "Critics blame 'the lollipop-shaped, dead-end roads" for producing enfeebled 'cul-de-sac kids,' bored teenagers who turn toward delinquency, isolated 'soccer moms' and stranded senior citizens. More concretely, they point out that cul-de-sac subdivisions are disgorging new streams of traffic onto already overloaded arterial roads, creating massive traffic congestion and forcing local and state governments to spend millions on road construction."

Wow! Cul-de-sacs do all of this?

Do Cul-De-Sacs Cause Crime?

Just how much do cul-de-sacs contribute to juvenile delinquency? Maybe there is a study somewhere which shows that more broken homes are located on cul-de-sacs or that poverty is more common on cul-de-sacs. I would really like to see a rigorous, peer-reviewed published article proving that cul-de-sacs by their nature encourage juvenile delinquency -- or any other form of bad behavior.

Alternatively, is there any evidence that through streets enhance sanity or reduce delinquency? How many drag races occur on cul-de-sacs?

Other Claims

How do cul-de-sacs strand senior citizens? Do they not have access to the road system? Are people prevented from visiting them? Are mail deliveries not made on cul-de-sacs?

And how do cul-de-sacs isolate "soccer moms" or any other type of mother? Do not phone lines reach homes on cul-de-sacs? Are cable companies prevented from entering cu-de-sacs? What about working moms who live on cul-de-sacs -- are they isolated also? Are women confined to cul-de-sacs or are they allowed to leave? Do cul-de-sacs also isolate "soccer dads," or is this a gender thing?

What evidence exists to support the idea that cul-de-sacs reduce the local "sense of community?" Is there a standard measure, such as a mile or a pound, which can be used to define a "sense of community?" And if no such measure exists, then how is it possible to say that a local "sense of community" is better or worse?

Traffic

As to cul-de-sacs forcing all that traffic onto roadways, cul-de-sacs are neither the cause nor the cure of this problem.

Streets are more crowded in some areas because our population keeps growing and people refuse to stay at home. More vehicles are on the streets, not because we have cul-de-sacs but because we have a growing population. You could eliminate every cul-de-sac in America and the number of drivers and vehicles would continue to grow -- along with traffic.

The idea that traffic could be drained from main streets by building fewer cul-de-sacs misses an important point: People don't want such traffic, noise or speeding in their neighborhoods -- that's why they have cul-de-sacs.

Okay, so why keep cul-de-sacs? In the best survey of all, the one where people vote with their dollars, the marketplace answer is clear. Home buyers favor the simple cul-de-sac.

"Just aesthetically, people like them," Dominic Chavez, government relations liaison at the Real Estate Council in Austin, Texas tells Governing "Those are the first lots that sell in a subdivision," he explains.

For more articles by Peter G. Miller, please press here.

Published: December 4, 2001

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Peter G. Miller, also known as OurBroker®, is the author of six real estate books -- including The Common-Sense Mortgage -- and is the original creator and host of America Online's Real Estate Center. Peter's weekly columns appear in more than 100 newspapers nationwide, he is also published in a variety of other media outlets and he is a frequent speaker at national events and conventions. Peter welcomes your questions, comments, and news releases via e-mail at .