Day 78-Suburban Street Grid

day 78Today’s walk was through an area just southwest of Leestown Road near Masterston Station Park.  This appears to be three separate subdivisions, though the bulk of today’s path was in the Spicewood subdivision.  This portion was built out in the early 2000s.  Even though the surrounding areas seem to generally be of a similar age, the area immediately northwest of Spicewood is currently still building and there are a string of undeveloped lots on White Oak.  One of the nice features of this area is that it has two connection points to the Town Branch trail.

 

One of the access points to the Town Branch Trail.
One of the access points to the Town Branch Trail.

I was also happy to see that this subdivision and many of its neighbors have moved away from the cul-de-sac philosophy.  Instead of many dead end streets, each street connects to multiple other streets.  One of the benefits is that the distance between two points is likely to be closer relative to two similar points in a cul-de-sac neighborhood, which is especially nice when one of the things you might want to walk to is a trail.

Day 77-Small homes and a large campus

day 77Today took me through a short stretch of high density residential next to some larger parcels including the Ashland Oil Company headquarters campus. It also featured one of the less exciting stretches of Man O’ War.  There isn’t much to surprise here.  I did spot one of the nicer phone company buildings I’ve ever seen.  Instead of the usual windowless box, this building has a hip roof and faux windows to make it less foreboding.

A disguised phone company building at Palumbo and Darby Creek.
A disguised phone company building at Palumbo and Darby Creek.

The apartments and townhomes are 1980’s vintage and are nondescript. (Did you know there was an apartment complex along this stretch of Man O’ War?  It surprised me!)  Our aesthetics change, and apartments from this era have been impacted particularly negatively by this.  But one complex does a nice job creating a “neighborhood” feel with relatively short setbacks and a consistent presentation toward the street (unlike some of the apartment buildings, which are loosely arranged in space.

Townhomes near Palumbo and Darby Creek
Townhomes near Palumbo and Darby Creek