I think my street is the opposite of beckdawrek’s dead end lane. There is an exit on the interstate highway just 6 houses to my north side. Although most of the interstate traffic goes in the other direction to the north, I still get maybe 25% of the volume. About ten years ago they widened the road to 2 lanes in each direction and the traffic study at that time measured 12,000 cars a day on my street. I am sure it has increased since then.
It’s Saturday and I’m sitting on the front porch enjoying the warm breezy day. There is a steady stream of cars in both directions. For long periods there is a car every 100 feet or so. And they are fast. The speed limit is 35 but they are mostly 45 mph. It takes about 1 second for each car to cross my 70 foot frontage.
In evening rush hour there is often a solid line of stopped cars in front due to the traffic lights in either direction. It is uncomfortable if I am doing yardwork in front. All the stopped drivers have nothing to do except text and critique my mowing. Fortunately I am on my Honda rider. It may be 20 years old but it is a Honda ferchissakes. Take that, Walmart mower guy!
The four lanes end at my house and it is surprising how many drivers cannot figure out the “lane ends” sign and they get all jammed up and curse and honk at each other. Many times I have had a driver lean on the horn and stay on it, honking continuously until they are out of earshot. Someone is pissed.
And many people miss the turn on to the interstate somehow. They are looking for a place to turn around and go back. My house is much further from the road then any others so they pick my driveway. During rush hour there is often someone stopped in my driveway hoping for a lull in the traffic to back out.
We are the last of three homes on a private lane. Strategically planted hemlocks hide our two “neighbors”. I can walk out my front door naked, circumnavigate our yard, and go back in the house without concern for being seen. I do not do this often, but I’ve done it a couple times just because I can.
I live on Halsted Street in Chicago, not too far from Wrigley Field. It’s a very busy street and even busier during Cubs home games. There is auto traffic and pedestrian traffic pretty much 24/7. I love it, I’m definitely an urban person. And, yes, I know I mentioned my actual street, but anyone who knows the area understands that there are thousands of apartments here so I’m not worried about a stalker.
We’re about a quarter of a mile from the major route thru our county, but the 3 streets in our little subdivision are pretty quiet - it’s a self-contained development that doesn’t connect to anything else.
My last house was on a busy two lane surface street, and my house was only three in from the stoplight. Constant traffic (and traffic noise), constant litter in my yard, and the backups the OP mentioned where everyone just stares at you if you’re in the yard. Oh, and in the summer I’d get the BOOM BOOM BOOM of stereos.
I knew it was aggravating, but I didn’t realize just how much until I moved to a quiet street late last year. My windows are open and I hear birds, the breeze and the distant buzz of a mower. It’s bliss.
Phoenix is built on a one-mile grid. The streets on the gridlines are “arterial” - typically 2 or more lanes in each direction.
I live on the half-mile street, which is a “feeder,” one lane in each direction, 30mph. The traffic is pretty light, maybe a few cars each minute.
The problem is at night, when the traffic is much lighter - maybe a car every few minutes, but those people find the 30mph limit to be too slow, and they zoom down the empty street at 40, 50 or even 60mph.
We get more foot traffic. Our street ends at a playground, and just past the playground we have a bus stop and a shopping center. Despite the fact that not many people drive down our street, our second car was totaled recently by an old guy (late eighties) who also hit a parked car a couple of blocks away.
We live on a corner, and the street which runs along the side of the house is fairly busy – it’s only a 30mph speed limit, but it’s four lanes of traffic (two in each direction), and particularly at rush hour, it’s pretty busy.
Also, that street acts as one of the primary access routes to get to the Brookfield Zoo (which is about six blocks east of our house), so on nice weekend days (or on school holidays), the eastbound side of the street can easily get backed up.
We live on a 55-mph country road, two lanes going east, a median, and two lanes going west. It gets a little busy during the morning and evening rushes, but other than that, it’s not that bad.
I live on a cul de sac and and the only cars that pass are people I know or people visiting them or working for them. Ok, maybe occasionally someone who is lost.
I could probably get away with that too, so long as I kept half an ear out for the mail delivery; but there’s some non-zero chance that one of my Old Order Mennonite neighbors might show up on foot, and I might not hear them coming in time, and we’d both be embarrassed.
My wife and I are back in the woods on a dirt road that ends past our house and a neighboring home. The only cars that ever pass are the neighbors, a husband and wife who drive out in separate cars once in the morning, and drive back in the evening. If another car comes down the road it is someone lost who has taken a wrong turn, or the occasional sight seer. We get 15 to 1 deer over cars.
Not busy at all. It’s a little loop with about 20 houses on it. There no reason for anyone to go down it unless they live here or are making a delivery.
Only full time resident on a dead end dirt/gravel road. There is one other house down at the end of the road, they are only here in the summer. Got 2 feet of snow this week too. That helps keeps the ‘traffic’ down as well.