Aug 15 2007
Usability in Road Naming
Traffic engineers may not know it (or care to admit it) but they are really usability engineers that focus on traffic design. And while we know bad usability is bad for your health, we now know that bad usability in road naming burdens the driver.
Take this map of a small neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia:
Notice the three roads called 9th. There are a total of three different roads:
- 9th St
- 9th Pl
- 9th Rd
To make matters worse, all three 9th streets are right next to each other! Anyone who has lived on a similarly named street is far too familiar saying to any guest There are three streets named 9th. I live on 9th AVE, make sure you don’t go to 9th STREET or ROAD. And anyone visiting a friend on similarly named streets has gotten lost cursing Why are they all called 9th! Which one do I want?
Clearly this is frustrating. But why?
Because the names are too similar and the roads are too close geographically. Similarity is an issue because when a person remembers a street name, they often don’t bother with the street type (as most of the streets most Americans will interact with are the type street).
Putting these streets next to each other just makes matters worse. If the three different 9th roads were spread out over 30 square kilometers than there is less confusion (but it is still a bad idea). But these roads are right next to each other, which means a driver is considering these roads in his or her path finding exercise.
Perhaps the traffic engineers aren’t to blame, perhaps we ought to blame the urban planners.