A highly congested city is already suffering from a serious problem with detrimental consequences to pedestrians and cyclists. Making cycle lanes available just helps reduce those problems. You will still have congestion whatever you do. But having less capacity for cars could help deter people from making journeys that cause such a nuisance.
>deter people from making journeys that cause such a nuisance.
Connectivity and interaction is the whole reason we have cities. Urban planning that seeks to prevent trips ("transportation demand management") defeats the purpose of living near other humans. Why have cities at all, if you are going to design them to be isolating?
When it's easier and faster to navigate 50 miles between farms than 5 miles between urban neighborhoods, the city has thoroughly and catastrophically failed. I'm not surprised that this happens accidentally. But the idea we should deliberately make cities hostile to their residents' desires to get around just seems crazy.
Happens in St Petersburg Russia a lot. While there are road signs and markers, the only acknowledged rule of the road most of the time is "we go this direction on this side", and even that isnt always carefully followed.
Sometimes it's great and inow traffic times the flow is fine. Other times every intersection is an adventure to get through as cars pile into the middle hoping to get through. Lot of horns beeping and lots of swearing. Even worse if the traffic lights go out.
Maybe this works in certain conditions, but too many cars on the road just seems to cause chaos without something enforcing order.
(Many of the traffic jams are further complicated by Russian insurance policies when it comes to accidents in that you may compromise your version of the story if you move your vehicles before the police arrive. This means that an inconvenient accident in an intersection can stop traffic for a long ways until the police decide to arrive and write a report. )
7952|8 years ago
closeparen|8 years ago
Connectivity and interaction is the whole reason we have cities. Urban planning that seeks to prevent trips ("transportation demand management") defeats the purpose of living near other humans. Why have cities at all, if you are going to design them to be isolating?
When it's easier and faster to navigate 50 miles between farms than 5 miles between urban neighborhoods, the city has thoroughly and catastrophically failed. I'm not surprised that this happens accidentally. But the idea we should deliberately make cities hostile to their residents' desires to get around just seems crazy.
csydas|8 years ago
Sometimes it's great and inow traffic times the flow is fine. Other times every intersection is an adventure to get through as cars pile into the middle hoping to get through. Lot of horns beeping and lots of swearing. Even worse if the traffic lights go out.
Maybe this works in certain conditions, but too many cars on the road just seems to cause chaos without something enforcing order.
(Many of the traffic jams are further complicated by Russian insurance policies when it comes to accidents in that you may compromise your version of the story if you move your vehicles before the police arrive. This means that an inconvenient accident in an intersection can stop traffic for a long ways until the police decide to arrive and write a report. )