A side street is a street that intersects a main street and ends there. It is generally of little importance to through traffic. Being the last mile of the road system, it generally carries little traffic. Common characteristics of a side street include low speed limits (usually not more than 30 mph or 50 km/h), curbside parking, and few or no painted line markings to display lanes. Intersections in urban or suburban areas are usually marked by stop signs, or occasionally yield signs in some suburban areas when intersecting other side streets. In rural areas, some intersections are uncontrolled.
Most side streets are lined with residences. Occasionally, a place of worship or a school may be located on a side street, but in a residential area, it is rare to find any commercial development (this is often prohibited by local zoning laws, unless directly adjacent to a major street).
Side streets, when built, are mostly intended only for the traffic of their residents and visitors. However, many side streets that do not dead end are also used for rat running by motorists in congested areas.
Read more about this topic: Side Road
Famous quotes related to side street:
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)