Drive-thrus are creating problems for cities and towns

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NEW YORK — America is a land of drive-thrus.

There are an estimated 200,000 drive-thrus spread across the country. Americans visit drive-thru lanes approximately 6 billion times a year. Leading chains like McDonald’s, drive-thrus account for 70% of sales or more.

Drive-thrus promises hungry drivers ease, comfort, and a juicy burger. But long lines of cars waiting for orders spill onto American highways in every state from chains like Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. And city officials, urban planners and critics say the model is failing in modern cities.

Traffic and congestion magnets, drive-thrus discourage walking, the use of public transportation, and visiting neighboring businesses. They also cause accidents with pedestrians, cyclists, and other cars, and contradict the environmental and livability goals of many communities.

A host of cities and regions want the sprawl stopped: Lawmakers in Atlanta will vote this summer to ban new drive-thrus in the popular Beltline area. Minneapolis; Fair Haven, NJ; Creve Coeur, Missouri; Orchard Park, New York and other cities have banned new drive-thrus in recent years. Some Southern California cities, like Long Beach in 2019, have passed temporary moratoriums that block new development. Restrictions have also been considered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Mesa, Arizona.

Drive-thrus don’t “support any of the life, vibrancy and conveniences that suggest people might want to come live, work or play in a neighborhood,” said David Dixon, a fellow at design firm Urban Places and Stantec planning. “Drive-thrus belonged to a much more self-centered world.”

Drive-thru land

Drive-thurs first appeared in California in the 1950s, according to the Smithsonian. An early Jack in the Box was a hit with children, who could order their food through a clown’s head.

The dine-in model expanded on American highways over the following decades as highways were built, suburbs sprawled, and new fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Wendy’s emerged.

Drive-thrus became a lifeline for chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, as restaurants closed indoor seating areas. Drive-thru sales reached $133 billion in 2022, an increase of 30% over pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm.

Shake Shack and Sweetgreen opened their first drive-thru locations during the pandemic, while Taco Bell, Chipotle and other chains opened stores that cater exclusively to drive-thru customers.

Businesses have switched to drive-thru models because they are more cost-effective: smaller than sit-down restaurants, require less staff and maintenance.

They make the most sense in car-centric areas, and there are many drive-thrus located away from foot or bicycle traffic. But drive-thrus are often in the “exactly worst place for them” for traffic safety, said Eric Dumbaugh, a professor in Florida Atlantic University’s department of urban and regional planning who studies traffic safety.

They are often intentionally placed along high-speed arterial roads (busy highways that carry cars from a region at high speeds) to capture the attention of drivers.

This means that if there is a pedestrian or bicyclist at an intersection or sidewalk, drivers have less time to brake, increasing the chances of an accident. Drivers on arterial roads also tend to focus on the road and the cars around them, and are less likely to watch for pedestrians.

Drive-thrus can also be a hot spot for rear-end collisions and T-bone accidents from cars making left turns out of driveways.

Companies “are not paying attention to security considerations in their design decisions,” Dumbaugh said. And local governments pay lip service to pedestrian safety but still allow these uses on arterial roads, she said.

More lanes, more congestion

The companies say they are changing their drive-thrus by adding more car lanes and technology like AI to speed up orders and reduce potential problems.

Starbucks told CNN that it is mindful of the communities in which its stores are located and that it is “presenting the right type of store for the needs of that community.” Starbucks is testing different store models in different areas, such as pickup-only stores, curbside drive-through and drive-thrus.

But chains that try to address congestion by adding more lanes only encourage more cars to arrive. Accidents are so common that personal injury attorneys across the country specifically advertise for people injured in the drive-thrus. Experts say pedestrian safety can be improved by strictly managing access along major roads and locating self-service stores away from them.

Drive-thrus also don’t support neighboring businesses, Stantec’s Dixon said, as people generally just grab their food and leave.

A better and safer fast food model in these areas is restaurants and bars with sit-down options that contribute to walkable neighborhoods, he said, or on the first floor of multi-story buildings.

cities recede

Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier proposed a bill this year to block new drive-thrus around the Atlanta Beltline, a pedestrian path along a 22-mile rail corridor. The Atlanta city council is expected to vote on the bill in August.

Dozier’s bill was in response to pedestrian deaths in the area.

Since 2015, 14 pedestrians have been killed and 47 seriously injured in car crashes in the Beltline area, he said. More than half of those deaths occurred in the past two years.

“This is a very scary time for pedestrians in the city,” Dozier said. “We need to make sure that we can design communities around pedestrian safety.”

In Sugar House, a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, the planning commission has proposed banning new drive-thru development in business districts after residents complained that drive-thru blocks blocked sidewalks, bike paths and lanes. circulation in the streets.

“It puts the vehicle front and center. It goes against Sugar House’s master plan to promote a pedestrianized and mixed-use downtown,” said Levi Thatcher, chair of the Sugar House Transportation Committee.

Charlotte has had problems with clogged roads from cars spilling onto the streets of Chick-fil-A and other fast-food lanes during rush hour in recent years.

“Our love of waffle fries is causing even bigger traffic problems on Charlotte’s busy highways,” said a 2019 WCNC television report.

Charlotte has a long-term plan to become a less car-oriented city through investments in rail and other public transportation. Building drive-thru restaurants in densely populated areas clashes with these goals, said Keba Samuel, president of the Charlotte Planning Commission.

“The more drive-thrus you build, the more car-focused you become, as opposed to something that has more mobility options,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to have this multi-billion dollar investment in light rail and continue to foster a car-centric environment. It’s counterintuitive.”

However, the Charlotte City Council recently approved new Chick-fil-A and Bojangles drive-throughs near public transit stations.

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