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Pedestrians will also have a shorter walk if roads are straight, won't they? And, unlike cars, which can easily drive a kilometer or two further with no strain,
by kartickv 8y ago
Pedestrians will also have a shorter walk if roads are straight, won't they? And, unlike cars, which can easily drive a kilometer or two further with no strain, pedestrians and cyclists are sensitive to this.
- viburnum 8y agoYou have to walk a lot farther when the roads are bigger. All that road space has a cost. Straight roads make people drive faster, which makes not driving worse for everyone else.
- jaggederest 8y agoIn the limit, you build roads too small for cars, like in the old walled medieval cities in europe. They are in general great places to walk and terrible places to drive. In the other limit, you build like e.g. Detroit suburbs, where it's essentially impossible to do anything on foot, ever. If you have to choose which one to be more like, curvy narrow roads are the way to go if you care about pedestrians. Add to this the fact that, if you provide space for cars, they will take it up: adding lanes / width / parking increases car usage to a greater extent than the space added, such that you end up drawing more congestion to the area than before it was improved.
- kartickv 8y agoWe can control polluting vehicles by imposing a pollution charge, or even banning them from some roads. Or by limiting them to only one lane. I was trying to think in an idealistic or "from first principles" way as opposed to the practical / realistic approach you took. From that point of view, I'd want all roads to be straight lines to minimise travel distance.