I found this article by civil engineer to be very poignant. Over the last 50 years there's been an asphalt arms race to make it safer and safer to drive faster and faster, at the of neighborhood character and safety for road users who aren't sheathed in steel and swaddled in airbags. The irony is that the application of supposedly scientifically derived "standards" creates a vicious cycle wherein wider roads increase speeds and make the roads more dangerous for everyone, so they widen the road again.
One of the discussions of the changes to Western Ave in Cambridge, was about the desire to return the neighborhood character and make the street feel less like an extension of the highway it feeds into. I'm glad that there's a new wave of engineers and planners who believe in models which include other factors than speed and throughput. And I hope that this column goes viral among civil engineers, and that it gets posted on cubical walls and taped up on engineering professors' doors, as an inspiration for a future beyond "standards"