Why don't cities build alleys anymore?

[bandit957]

I think it's a shame that new neighborhoods today don't have alleys.

I like having one now, which is so much nicer than when I lived along a major highway or in a neighborhood that didn't have alleys. It's much more convenient for trash collection, unloading things from cars, finding shortcuts across town, or bicyclists who want to travel where there's fewer cars. It's sad that this convenience is being phased out.

Alleys probably even make things easier for police and fire emergencies.

[PHLBOS]

Alleys probably even make things easier for police and fire emergencies.

Au contraire, alleys tend to invite more opportunities for criminal activities to take place in them.  That was likely the main reason why such were dropped from today's designs.

[DaBigE]

They're alive and kicking in the newer areas of Sun Prairie, WI. Although, they're not going in as fast any more, as they're finding out those homes aren't selling as well as the ones with garages facing front.

Alleys probably even make things easier for police and fire emergencies.

Not necessarily. Sun Prairie had to buy a smaller fire truck to fit into some of the newer alleys. Makes it much harder to get to garage fires. Of course in this case, some moron designer had to put some tight corners within the alley.   Had they been "traditional" alleys, there probably wouldn't be any problem with the regular trucks.

[empirestate]

I love alleys. One of my favorite things about Philadelphia is the fractal geometry of its street grid, as rectangular blocks are broken and re-broken by ever smaller streets, measurable by the number of crosswalk stripes it takes to traverse them. Once you get down to the two- and one-stripers, you have delightfully enigmatic mash-up of alley-like streets and street-like alleys.

One of the things I always look for in a good street map is whether it shows a city's full network of alleys and lanes. Boston has an extensive and prominently numbered set of "Public Alleys", but I'm still looking for a map of St. Louis showing its system.

Cohoes, NY actually still has grass-surfaced alleys:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.779329,-73.706316,3a,75y,245.87h,78.22t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1shDWEiz9cEbtMWk5X0gIWzQ!2e0

I actually "discovered" an alley in Irondequoit, NY, and got it (literally) put on the map. 

[Landshark]

I think it's a shame that new neighborhoods today don't have alleys.

That's not the case in all areas.  Many dense new developments along the I-5 corridor have alleyways. 

[vtk]

Dominion Homes has recently built several "stand-alone condominium" developments around Columbus with the garages on alleys.  While the street layout is typically rectillinear, the developments' only connections to an arterial along one side, so it's not really close in effect to the  traditional continuous city grid.

[lepidopteran]

Probably because there's less demand than there used to be for alleys.  Company bowling teams don't seem to be as popular they once were, and at about $3/game plus $2 for shoe rental...

(Sorry, couldn't resist!) 

Seriously, though, the image of a "dark alley" simply (forgive me) strikes most people as being scary, rightly or wrongly.  There's also the issue of extra roads to maintain and plow, and a place for loose trash to collect.  There might be more of a sense of privacy to keeping the area behind one's house inaccessible.

[empirestate]

Of course in this case, some moron designer had to put some tight corners within the alley.

That reminds me of a humorous alley-related photo I took. Here's a nice loading dock, conveniently built for a truck to back up to it:


Yessir, shouldn't have any trouble getting our truck in there!

[Zeffy]

One of the things I always look for in a good street map is whether it shows a city's full network of alleys and lanes. Boston has an extensive and prominently numbered set of "Public Alleys", but I'm still looking for a map of St. Louis showing its system.

I actually "discovered" an alley in Irondequoit, NY, and got it (literally) put on the map. 

Trenton NJ has alleys, although they don't like look the ones you'd find in major cities. I don't think these types of alleys encourage/discourage crime, since people just do it out in the open anyway, or by/in abandoned / vacant buildings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.215559,-74.754871,3a,52.3y,156.88h,78.56t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sMXGoObXk4r9WB40u44PCcw!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.222531,-74.744177,3a,62.7y,71.13h,79.3t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1slmwVudiayIvQqXdA_qvQ-A!2e0

This is probably a better example of what people expect an alley to look like: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.21941,-74.764171,3a,66.2y,72.77h,84.45t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scOowfONYQ4L6ST-wEZEKUQ!2e0

[jeffandnicole]

I'm guessing most alleyways were created when horse & buggy was the way around. In Philly, many of those alleyways are so tight a regular vehicle would have trouble not hitting the curbing.  Thus...no point in building alleyways which won't allow cars to fit.

As mentioned above, fire equipment and ambulances are a consideration also.  A town probably wouldn't allow something that their current equipment won't fit thru in most cases.

[Brian556]

My neighborhood has alleys, and I effing hate them.
Reasons:
1. One lane for two way traffic. You have to pull into a driveway to let oncoming vehicles pass.
2. Unsafe. Fences are way too close, drivers backing cannot see alley traffic at all. A random shooting gallery basically.
3. Because of what is stated above, you have to drive really slow. While this is no big deal for people who live close to the end of the block, it is a major inconvenience for people who live mid-block.
4. People are always blocking them. People are entitled buttholes and think it's ok to block other people from accessing their driveways. They do it all   the time.
5. Makes crime more likely.
6. Because they are inconvenient, they encourage more street parking, which really obstructs traffic.

I resent my city government for having the neighborhoods built this way. It is a major source of inconvenience and aggravation, and really reduces quality of life.

In the future, when I can afford a house of my own, I really hope to be able to live in an alley-free neighborhood.

[1995hoo]

The lack of sufficient alleys in downtown DC is one of the reasons for some of the traffic problems like rampant double-parking and hydrant violations, especially by delivery trucks (FedEx, UPS, courier services). The alleys serve an important purpose in commercial areas by allowing for off-street deliveries. They're also useful for the smokers as more and more cities pass laws against smoking within a certain radius of a building's front entrance (although the way the smokers litter the alleys with burning cigarette butts is probably a problem of its own given that alleys often seem to have other debris lying around).

In a residential area, an alley might be useful if it allows access to off-street parking or rear garages, but otherwise it seems like it'd be a lot less beneficial compare with some of the problems like inviting crime.

We refer to the area out back of our house as an "alley," but it's not one in the urban sense of that term. Rather, the property lines on our street and the next street over do not meet, such that there is a strip of HOA-owned land in between. Most, but not all, the houses have fences. The HOA's land between those fences is what we call the "alley." It's mostly grass and dirt.

[briantroutman]

This is probably a better example of what people expect an alley to look like...

Actually, your first two examples are almost exactly what I think of when I picture an alley. Although, yeah, in a city, there'd be brick walls on both sides.

I remember seeing a new-urbanist-type documentary some years ago, and some planners were presenting their ideal neighborhood layout in which back alleys were the primary venue for vehicular traffic, with homes' front-doors facing pedestrian-only malls. In their vision most people would be walking through the neighborhood to work, shopping, etc., and the vehicular traffic would primarily be garbage collection, service trucks, etc.

A nice utopia, perhaps, but certainly not the way most Americans live. I could easily imagine the pedestrian mall being deserted and the back alley being crammed with cars and trucks. Also, it's not really a new idea–like Elfreth's Alley in Philadelphia.

[lepidopteran]

The HOA's land between those fences is what we call the "alley." It's mostly grass and dirt.

Some developments have a narrow strip of concrete in that space, about 2 feet wide or so, to channel away stormwater.  This is called a swale.  While some environments require concrete swales to prevent erosion (red clay in the Deep South and sand in the desert Southwest come to mind) I think the preferred method today is for swales to be made of rip-rap or just grass, i.e., not impervious.

[Pete from Boston]

This is probably a better example of what people expect an alley to look like...

Actually, your first two examples are almost exactly what I think of when I picture an alley. Although, yeah, in a city, there'd be brick walls on both sides.

I remember seeing a new-urbanist-type documentary some years ago, and some planners were presenting their ideal neighborhood layout in which back alleys were the primary venue for vehicular traffic, with homes' front-doors facing pedestrian-only malls. In their vision most people would be walking through the neighborhood to work, shopping, etc., and the vehicular traffic would primarily be garbage collection, service trucks, etc.

This is what they did in Radburn:

http://goo.gl/maps/ksiyS

The houses face the grassy areas containing the footpaths, with the streets leading to the rears.

I could swear I found a new version of this amid the kooky subdivisions east of Louisville (near the creepy Norton Commons), but can't find it on maps at the moment.

[realjd]

One of the things I always look for in a good street map is whether it shows a city's full network of alleys and lanes. Boston has an extensive and prominently numbered set of "Public Alleys", but I'm still looking for a map of St. Louis showing its system.

I actually "discovered" an alley in Irondequoit, NY, and got it (literally) put on the map. 

Trenton NJ has alleys, although they don't like look the ones you'd find in major cities. I don't think these types of alleys encourage/discourage crime, since people just do it out in the open anyway, or by/in abandoned / vacant buildings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.215559,-74.754871,3a,52.3y,156.88h,78.56t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sMXGoObXk4r9WB40u44PCcw!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.222531,-74.744177,3a,62.7y,71.13h,79.3t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1slmwVudiayIvQqXdA_qvQ-A!2e0

This is probably a better example of what people expect an alley to look like: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.21941,-74.764171,3a,66.2y,72.77h,84.45t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scOowfONYQ4L6ST-wEZEKUQ!2e0

I picture a Texas style suburban alley where houses have rear facing garages. You ever watch King of the Hill? That's what I mean by alley.

[corco]

They're actually making a bit of a resurgence- modern design theory says that it fosters better neighborhood camaraderie and sense of place when houses aren't dominated in the front by their garage. Could be a bunch of hogwash, but they are making a little bit of a comeback. 

[Landshark]

They're actually making a bit of a resurgence- modern design theory says that it fosters better neighborhood camaraderie and sense of place when houses aren't dominated in the front by their garage. Could be a bunch of hogwash, but they are making a little bit of a comeback.

My theory is so they can cram more houses into smaller lots.   The front of the homes still have curb appeal and  the functionality of a garage.  ...all at the expense of a backyard, privacy, security, etc.  In the Puget Sound area, the homes in newer neighborhoods with alleys are cheaper than nearby newer houses with garages and backyards.   

[corco]

They're actually making a bit of a resurgence- modern design theory says that it fosters better neighborhood camaraderie and sense of place when houses aren't dominated in the front by their garage. Could be a bunch of hogwash, but they are making a little bit of a comeback.

My theory is so they can cram more houses into smaller lots.   The front of the homes still have curb appeal and  the functionality of a garage.  ...all at the expense of a backyard, privacy, security, etc.  In the Puget Sound area, the homes in newer neighborhoods with alleys are cheaper than nearby newer houses with garages and backyards.   

That's actually intentional- part of that whole modern theory is that if people are closer together, they'll be friends, though the idea is to make it so folks still feel like they have privacy. That may actually be a load of hogwash.

[DaBigE]

They're actually making a bit of a resurgence- modern design theory says that it fosters better neighborhood camaraderie and sense of place when houses aren't dominated in the front by their garage. Could be a bunch of hogwash, but they are making a little bit of a comeback.

My theory is so they can cram more houses into smaller lots.   The front of the homes still have curb appeal and  the functionality of a garage.  ...all at the expense of a backyard, privacy, security, etc.  In the Puget Sound area, the homes in newer neighborhoods with alleys are cheaper than nearby newer houses with garages and backyards.

^^ This. It's all part of the "New Urbanism" movement...creating more walkable communities/neighborhoods as well as favoring higher residential density while still having single-family houses. The "experiment" around my area has been lukewarm at best. The houses, condos, multiplexes go up like weeds, but in most areas, the commercial is very, very slow to follow.

The part I dislike most is the view...1), you don't really have any on the sides, and 2) just about everything is vinyl. You better hope your neighbor never has a house fire cause you're guaranteed to have collateral damage with how close the houses are together.

Apparently the limit of people in favor of alleys has been reached around here, as the expansions of the same newer neighborhoods all feature front-facing garages.

[formulanone]

You hope that your neighbors have equal thoughts about noise and disturbance. Also, many of these types of dense neighborhoods offer limited and/or scattered additional parking if you have friends and family over for an event. Some have an auxiliary lot, some don't.

We've looked into them when moving, but a key shopping anchor such as a grocery store is always absent...because they're not trendy or hip. The bar, pizzeria, and sushi stand is great once a week or so, but they're not staples.

[Brandon]

Maintenance, and they were out of fashion for a while.

Alleys are a pain to maintain.  Many are just gravel instead of being paved, and many municipalities do not plow them during the winter.  They also fell out of fashion as "old-fashioned" during the suburban boom of the 1950s and 1960s.  This is later shown in house design during the 1970s and 1980s when the garage was moved to the front of the house.

[empirestate]

I remember seeing a new-urbanist-type documentary some years ago, and some planners were presenting their ideal neighborhood layout in which back alleys were the primary venue for vehicular traffic, with homes' front-doors facing pedestrian-only malls. In their vision most people would be walking through the neighborhood to work, shopping, etc., and the vehicular traffic would primarily be garbage collection, service trucks, etc.

This is what they did in Radburn:

http://goo.gl/maps/ksiyS

The houses face the grassy areas containing the footpaths, with the streets leading to the rears.

That reminds me a little bit of Mt. Gretna, PA, where the streets either do or don't happen to be wide enough for vehicles, and that's pretty much what determines if they're permitted:


(Thanks to random person whose Flickr photo I've linked to.)

Of course that's getting into the separate topic of pedestrian-only neighborhoods, such as on Fire Island in NY.

[Landshark]

^^ This. It's all part of the "New Urbanism" movement...creating more walkable communities/neighborhoods as well as favoring higher residential density while still having single-family houses.

Those neighborhoods are less walkable as the streets are littered with cars parked along it (instead of on driveways) and you have to dodge cars and garbage trucks coming out of the alleyways. 

[jeffandnicole]

I bring it up only because I'm familiar with the town (actually, borough), but Pitman, NJ has a spoke-and-wheel area of named alleyways that are only a sidewalk-width wide: http://goo.gl/maps/lRWnv.  Zooming in, you can see that cars are generally parked behind the houses within the open area of the spokes.

The quick history of the borough was it was originally a Methodist summer camp, then became inhabited year-round.  The nearby Alcyon Lake was the gathering place for many to relax.  Alcyon Lake eventually became know for something else in the 1980's: The #1 Superfund cleanup site in America (it's since been cleaned up). 

As far as the type of people the area attracts: Well, chances are, you won't find millionaires living in the area.  It's a decent area to live in, but income levels tend to be lower than average.