Yield street
A very quiet residential street for living activities and movement at low speeds and volumes, with a carriageway that requires people driving vehicles to yield to one another to pass.
Middlemiss Street Mascot is characteristic of the yield street type as a quietand calm local street. It also features a raised and paved intersection at Tramway Street that facilitates slower speed interactions between street users and creates safer conditions for walking and cycling.
Yield streets are two-way, with a relatively low-volume of movement and often slow speed. In residential environments these are minor streets.
Carriageway width is approximately 7.6-8m, with parallel car parking on both kerbside lanes.
Depending on the number and arrangement of parked vehicles, they effectively become a single travel lane at certain times and places along the street, requiring slower, cooperative driving: one driver yields to another.
Urban context
- Typical street reserve: 12–13m
- Property access: mainly rear access properties with minimal driveways
- Car parking: high demand for on-street car parking. Occasional car parking gaps such as a driveway allow for passing opportunities.
- Use: typically laid out in a loose grid network. Popular cycle routes. Largest service vehicles are garbage or delivery trucks to properties.
- Design elements: upright kerbs, and often fully paved verges against a defined property boundary.
Suburban context
- Typical street reserve: 15–16m
- Property access: front-access properties with frequent driveways
- Car parking: low demand for on-street car parking maintains two travel lanes with a ‘yield’ situation created only occasionally
- Use: common street type in suburban estates from 1960s to today; commonly a cul-de-sac street
- Design elements: in new suburbs these streets often have roll kerbs. Often there are no footpaths or a footpath on one side only
Drawings
Section (1960–2000s suburban example)
Yield street section
Plan (1960-2000s suburban example)
Yield street plan
Common issues
- No footpaths, or footpaths on one side only and some lacking pram ramps, deters walking, cycling and mobility device users.
- Street crossings with large kerb radii, fast-turning vehicles and long pedestrian crossing distances deter walking and cycling by children on paths.
- Roll kerbs are often misinterpreted as a requirement to park vehicles on the verge to create two travel lanes, degrading verges and creating a chaotic streetscape with ambiguous driving behaviour.
- Streets with narrow lots (<15m) and many driveway cuts limit use of the kerbside lane for car parking. The resulting appearance does not require careful ‘yielding’ driving behaviour and enables higher speeds than intended.
- The material and colour of various private driveways overrides a consistent street character and downgrades the footpath. Narrow verges with frequent driveways and poor sightlines create concern for the safety children cycling on footpaths.
- There are few trees, with original trees outgrown and removed without replacement or heavily pruned under overhead powerlines.
Design solutions
Low complexity
- Tree planting in verge to maximise canopy for shade and reduce heat island effect
- Continuous footpath treatment to reinforce pedestrian priority at driveways
- Painted threshold to reinforce pedestrian priority at intersections
Medium complexity
- Trees placed in parking lane to maximise canopy and narrow the perceived corridor
- Raised platform with tree planting aligned with lane marking to contribute to the street composition
- Slow point with planting to contribute to the street
- Raised crossing to reinforce pedestrian priority at intersections
- Mid-block street closure to restrict through-movement for some modes
High complexity
- Intersection treatments (content to be provided in the next version of the guide)
