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w i z J } Q • Earthen berms represent an 3 effective method of screening o i parking areas and other = o unattractive site features from 2 (..i4z the roadway. (Source: Post, w °: Buckley,Schuh,and Jernigan, 2co w Inc.) 5 c & N H N I a a aa 3 o o N C I 7 2 ., I ,:j G - Line of vision S / 12' / f' 12' / 10 / B... Line > PINES BOULEVARD-jBuilding llArea '( PARKING AREA ON SITE I I allowed to display rate and price information on free- for large sites and conveniently located surface parking standing signs, provided that the area displaying prices areas to support business establishments. Parking lots can • does not exceed 30 percent of the total permitted sign face require great expanses of land. Indeed, when surface park- area. ing is used, it often consumes from 50 to 75 percent of In addition to typical standards governing the type, size, a project site. Given these kinds of proportions, it is no height, and number of signs permitted, development stan- wonder that well-planned strategies for improving the dards for Highway 90 in Garland, Texas, include limits appearance of parking areas along commercial roadways on the number of information items that can be displayed can be one of the most effective methods of improving on any one sign. Following the"Street Graphics"approach the overall aesthetic quality of a road corridor. to sign control, the adopted roadway standards prohibit Many planners and designers believe that the best solu- any sign along the highway from containing more than tion to the design of off-street parking areas is to elimi- 10 items of information. Though not widely practiced, nate them or at least shield them from view from adja- attempts to limit the barrage of information targeted at cent roads. While off-street parking is essential for all but motorists could improve both the appearance and safety the smallest of commercial projects, screening and buffer- of urban corridor areas. ing techniques can be used to effectively hide such areas As with many elements of the corridor, the private side and soften the visual effects associated with vast of the sign control equation is only part of the problem. wastelands of asphalt. Public road signs and traffic control devices also contrib- Santa Fe's highway area landscaping requirements call ute to roadside visual problems. Forced to compete for for the installation of landscape buffers along major and valuable roadside space and the attention of motorists, secondary arterials. The ordinance requires a planting these publicly owned corridor accessories are likely to be strip at least 10 feet wide along all adjacent roadway front- as poorly designed and overused as their private coun- ages. Provisions further stipulate that at least one-half of terparts. In Dade County, Florida, alone, it is estimated the buffer strip be planted with a minimum of one five- that some 20,000 public signs are installed or replaced gallon shrub (four-foot mature height)for every 20 square every year. Although guidelines and techniques do exist, feet of buffer area. The remaining half of the buffer can relatively few communities have been successful in im- be treated with low-growing vegetative groundcover and plementing a system of uniform design standards for these nonvegetative material on a 50:50 basis. As an alterna- public signs and traffic information devices. tive to providing a 10-foot-wide planting strip, develop- ers are given the option of constructing a continuous (SCREENING AND LANDSCAPING STANDARDS three-foot-high solid wall along all adjacent roadways. The early origins of the highway commercial area devel- For projects located in the city's special corridor dis- opment pattern can be traced, at least partially, to the need trict, additional landscaping standards apply. The Cor- 8