Nowhere in the article did it explain why so many new apartments in DC and across America are small studios/1BRs - because we require access to two stairwells (despite the fact that it doesn’t improve fire safety).

Have you ever noticed that all new buildings are like hotels in that all apartments open into a hallway, while in old, walk-up style buildings the door was basically in the stairwell? It’s this same regulation. It’s not like this in any other country, and it makes our housing much more expensive while also making it virtually impossible to build family-sized apartments.

A great, real life example of this happened in Alexandria, VA either last year or 2021. There was an empty lot in a row of a rowhomes where another home used to be. The lot owners had to file with the city for a zoning adjustment (and have public hearings about it and everything) just to be able to rebuild the townhome that was once there.

Parking requirements, setback requirements, minimum lot sizes, and other dumb regulations make many old buildings illegal today. Have you ever wondered why modern apartment buildings all have hallways to the doors but in old ones they were closer to the staircase? That’s because modern building codes require access to multiple stairwells (but that requirement does not improve fire safety in reality).

It is the roads, though. In the countries that prioritize safety over speed, traffic injuries and fatalities are much much much lower. It virtually all comes down to road design, which is why DDOT’s apathy is so fucking infuriating