Oasis Greenways: A New Model of Urban Park and Bikeway within Constrained Street Rights-of-Way.

摘要

Parks and greenways can offer many benefits to urban communities in many areas including recreational, public health, and increased land value. This research examines the approach of using only the right-of-way (ROW) of publicly owned streets to transform pavement into a new paradigm for a linear park. The needs of the linear park include it being continuous, green, and shared space, which involves ultra low motor vehicle speeds and volumes. This park is called an "Oasis Greenway," which is a long series of interconnected low-speed, low-volume, shared-space, vegetated linear parks created from an assembly of residential streets.;To meet the objectives, an Oasis Greenway has to address traffic demands and spatial constraints while connecting to a greater greenway network. Using a calibrated trip generation ratio, this research develops a model by incorporating speed control, volume control, road user dynamic envelops, connections across high-volume roads, and enough greenspace to emulate a parklike environment. Using this model, residential streets can be converted into linear parks, potentially creating a usable network of Oasis Greenways and greenspaces.;The criteria and thresholds developed in this thesis can be applied to cities across the country to increase greenspace and give more opportunities for walking, biking, and recreation. The model was successfully applied to a corridor in Boston, which demonstrates that the traffic, space, and connectivity criteria for a linear park along a residential road have been met.