A very quiet residential street inviting for people to spend time in, often with an informal layout and a sharing of spaces, and a low speed and volume of movement.
Residential ways are two-way, very low movement volume yield streets.
Carriageway widths are approximately 5.5–6m with either unstructured car parking or car parking on one side.
They have a slow speed, shared zone character.
They can be used as edge streets to open space, with one side having residential development.
Formal or informal car parking with one travel lane
Favoured in subdivisions due to their small land take. Often function as informal shared zones.
Design elements: often roll kerbs, occasionally flush environments.
Drawings
Section (2000–2020s suburb example)
Residential way section.
Plan (2000–2020s suburb example)
Residential way plan
Common issues
Misapplied in greenfield blocks with narrow lots where on-street car parking demand is too high for the available space. Vehicles, trailers, boats etc are parked on verges to maintain two travel lanes or manoeuvring space opposite driveways. Planting is degraded and street has a chaotic, failed character.
Regardless of car parking demand, roll kerbs or flush environments unintentionally signal to drivers that verge car parking is required, wearing out grassed verges and damaging street trees or planting.
Can work successfully at mid-block as an informal shared space, but residential way often lacks entry treatment at junctions to signal the changed character and slower speeds required.
When on-street car parking demand increases beyond a functioning, organic arrangement, there may be pressure to formalise car parking to one side. Property owners dislike overall loss of spaces.