4 ms·

All great solutions, but the infrastructure just isn't there (as already mentioned). Blame it in "brain-dead urban planning", or "stupid housing considerations

All great solutions, but the infrastructure just isn't there (as already mentioned). Blame it in "brain-dead urban planning", or "stupid housing considerations", but that doesn't change the fact that biking to work is simply not possible for most people. If you live in the suburbs of New York, biking to Manhattan to work just isn't practical. If you live in the middle of the country, biking to work can be a nightmare. If you live down South, again, very difficult. If you live in San Francisco, hope that your job is downhill. Let's build a better infrastructure, and not accuse people of being inconsiderate or stupid.

organicgrant 16y ago
You hit the real root of it there. Detroit auto bought out the passenger rail system in LA in the late 40s, then shut it down (true story). Oil drives concrete & consumption. Crack in a US sidewalk? Break it up and pour a new pad. Euro sidewalk? All pavers. Pull 'em up, fix a sewer line or whatever and put the same ones back down.
- eru 16y ago
  What do you want to tell with the tale about the sidewalks? We also have some concrete sidewalks in Europe. And pouring new concrete isn't too bad. You can even re-use the old broken down concrete for some things. The trend even seems to be to make Autobahnen out of concrete. (Although that's not very relevant I guess, because Autobahnen are rarely digged up.)
  - masklinn 16y ago
    > The trend even seems to be to make Autobahnen out of concrete. It's not exactly a trend, I've seen concrete autobahnen more than 15 years ago, and the early ones were concrete as well.
    - eru 16y ago
      Yes. I should have said, people have figured out how to make good Autobahnen out of concrete. The GDR also had streets paved with concrete---but they had tar in the gaps and sticking out of the gaps. You can imagine what a bumpy ride that was.
      - masklinn 16y ago
        There are also some concrete highways when entering Paris (after the highway gets under Paris's own supervision). They suck. They're bumpy and extremely noisy, a far cry from the smooth and silent flying over the good asphalt of most french highways.
middus 16y ago
So don't live in the middle of the country or the suburbs of New York? Move near your job.

organicgrant 16y ago

You hit the real root of it there. Detroit auto bought out the passenger rail system in LA in the late 40s, then shut it down (true story). Oil drives concrete & consumption. Crack in a US sidewalk? Break it up and pour a new pad. Euro sidewalk? All pavers. Pull 'em up, fix a sewer line or whatever and put the same ones back down.

eru 16y ago
What do you want to tell with the tale about the sidewalks? We also have some concrete sidewalks in Europe. And pouring new concrete isn't too bad. You can even re-use the old broken down concrete for some things. The trend even seems to be to make Autobahnen out of concrete. (Although that's not very relevant I guess, because Autobahnen are rarely digged up.)
- masklinn 16y ago
  > The trend even seems to be to make Autobahnen out of concrete. It's not exactly a trend, I've seen concrete autobahnen more than 15 years ago, and the early ones were concrete as well.
  - eru 16y ago
    Yes. I should have said, people have figured out how to make good Autobahnen out of concrete. The GDR also had streets paved with concrete---but they had tar in the gaps and sticking out of the gaps. You can imagine what a bumpy ride that was.
    - masklinn 16y ago
      There are also some concrete highways when entering Paris (after the highway gets under Paris's own supervision). They suck. They're bumpy and extremely noisy, a far cry from the smooth and silent flying over the good asphalt of most french highways.

middus 16y ago

So don't live in the middle of the country or the suburbs of New York? Move near your job.