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>Not many U.S. cities have taken the radical step up prohibiting the development ofdrive-thru operationslike fast food restaurants and coffee shops. Minneapolisended drive-thru development in 2019, but the list of cities prioritizing traffic safety and air quality over driver convenience is relatively small.
>Salt Lake City is consideringa halt to any new drive-thru windowsin its burgeoning Sugar House Business District, with avote from city council expected early next month.
>Now city planners in Golden, Colorado are considering an ordinance that would limit, or even ban, the development of drive-thrus in the city.
>Concerns about drive-thrus are cropping up in Denver as well, as the citymulls updates for East Colfax Avenuebetween Broadway and Yosemite Street, wherea future bus rapid transit lineis expected to shift emphasis on transit use and walkability in the corridor. In apresentation the city posted last month, it hailed a prohibition on “vehicle-oriented drive-thru development” is one potential way to deemphasize travel by car.
>“Councilman Rob Reed, who with Brown brought the idea forward for consideration, said the detractions of drive-thrus are evident,They require huge amounts of asphalt, which exacerbates theurban heat island effectcommon to many paved-over areas. More notably, there’s the impact on air quality, with motorists spewing emissions as they inch forward for that crispy chicken sandwich, bank withdrawal or venti latte.”
>“On days when we have ozone alerts, idling cars are a problem,” Reed said.
>“I think there is that vision that as we develop new areas, we want to make it more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists,” Reed said.
>The city will take up the future of drive-thrus as part of its zoning code revisions process, which is already underway. Reed said he doesn’t expect Golden to make any decisions on the matter until next spring, at the earliest.
Drive-Thru's wo shindieru.