Originally Posted by jplinville

It's a matter of public safety, especially of the neighborhood has many young kids. Most suburban areas have laws preventing neighborhoods from becoming thoroughfares. Kids tend to play ball in the streets...I know we did when I was growing up in suburbia. Our city didn't allow neighborhoods to become high traffic areas...and they ticketed those they could, when they could, whenever people called and complained.

Most neighborhood roadways aren't constructed to handle the constant heavy traffic that the main roads are designed for. Adding heavy traffic to road beds that aren't designed for it will prematurely wear the road out, causing higher costs for street maintenance.