2.4.3 Contrast the Highway

There are occasions where the design objective is to have the highway contrast with its surroundings. There are cases where there is a lack of variety in the surrounding landscape, or the surroundings may be so visually confused that there are few redeeming qualities to the views from the road. In these cases, it may be desirable to manipulate the aesthetic qualities of the road so that it becomes the dominant visual feature. Tools that can be used to achieve this objective include the following:
  • Use curbs and concrete traffic barriers
     to delineate the driving lanes visually and physically. This is particularly effective on urban streets. Where practical, use colors to achieve contrast. See
    Figure 2-8
    through
    Figure 2-10
    for examples.
  • Vegetated medians
     offer excellent contrast to the travel lanes, making their edges clearer. Additionally, turf areas offer visual relief and glare reduction in large expanses of pavement in multilane highways. Medians with turf also hide small litter objects better than bare pavement, helping to keep the roadway neater in appearance.
  • Materials and textures
     can be manipulated more economically on small, paved surfaces such as walks and drive aprons. Likewise, the colors and textures selected can be used to reinforce the contrast between the highway ROW and the surrounding properties.
Treated Gore Areas in Communities
Adding color to traffic islands improves visibility and delineates travel lanes.
Figure 2-9: Adding color to traffic islands improves visibility and delineates travel lanes.