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Making pedestrians go out of their way to get anywhere is a great way to discourage walking and treat it as a second class citizen to driving, when it should re

Making pedestrians go out of their way to get anywhere is a great way to discourage walking and treat it as a second class citizen to driving, when it should really be the other way around. Plus, said catwalks need to be accessible, so how many elevators are you planning on putting in and maintaining now? Pedestrian bridges flat-out suck. Better to get rid of as many vehicles as possible and slow the remaining ones waaaay the hell down so that people can walk along streets and across intersections safely.

bluGill 7y ago
For one. bridge you are right. Put in dozens such that you can go several km without going back down though and things are different.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  Do you realize how catastrophically expensive it would be to build and maintain all of these bridges and pathways along with the four elevators per intersection? And how closed in and claustrophobic it would make the street level feel like from blocking out so much sun? If this idea were viable, someone somewhere in the world would have already done it. But the closest I can think of is Las Vegas, and that's only along one road, and it's not even a full pedestrian pathway but instead just some bridges over intersections, and those are primarily there to prevent drunks from getting run over by cars.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    > If this idea were viable, someone somewhere in the world would have already done it. Hong Kong does this in the downtown area. It’s viable because of the very high population density and prevalence of foot traffic. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hong+kong+pedestrian+bridge&iax=images&ia=images&iaf=size%3ALarge https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hong+kong+pedestrian+bridge&iax=im...
  - true_religion 7y ago
    Downtown Manila basically has bridges over every intersection, or underground walkways with elevators for the disabled. It works out great. Though admittedly it’s more of a workout than walking in flat Manhattan.
    - CydeWeys 7y ago
      So you've got to go up and down to cross every single intersection? That sounds like a nightmare that makes walking take significantly longer.
      - jessaustin 7y ago
        It works because driving is so inconvenient there.
        CydeWeys 7y ago
        If driving is already so inconvenient why not just relegate it even further and prioritize walking over vehicles at intersections? Why should all the larger numbers of pedestrians be forced to take much longer to get where they're going on account of all these bridges to benefit a smaller number of vehicles?
        jessaustin 7y ago
        Sure, improvements should be made. The pedestrian bridges themselves are improvements. People use them by choice, and not because they appreciate the exercise. It would be easy to underestimate just how many many vehicles and pedestrians are attempting to navigate the metro Manila area. Roads and other transit infrastructure are seriously lacking in Philippines, relative to that seen in more "developed" nations.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    Many cities in fact already have it. We call them skyways. The bridge is building to building. It is generally not on the corners, but in the middle of the block. Getting in is tricky because you need to find the elevator in the middle of the building, but once in you don't leave for a while so that isn't a big deal.
    - CydeWeys 7y ago
      Yeah, I'm aware of what skyways are. And there's no city in which they remotely come close to covering as much walking territory as sidewalks do.
      - bluGill 7y ago
        True, but they do cover most of the areas where a large number of people want to be often.
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    they actually do this in places like Minneapolis. mainly because it's just too cold to be outside for prolonged periods in the winter. my friend walks almost his entire commute without going outside.
    - CydeWeys 7y ago
      Yeah, so that system is only 9.5 miles, and claims to be the largest such system of connected aerial sidewalks in the world. Meanwhile, NYC has 12,750 miles of sidewalks. That's a several orders of magnitude difference between the capacity of the two systems.

bluGill 7y ago

For one. bridge you are right. Put in dozens such that you can go several km without going back down though and things are different.

CydeWeys 7y ago
Do you realize how catastrophically expensive it would be to build and maintain all of these bridges and pathways along with the four elevators per intersection? And how closed in and claustrophobic it would make the street level feel like from blocking out so much sun? If this idea were viable, someone somewhere in the world would have already done it. But the closest I can think of is Las Vegas, and that's only along one road, and it's not even a full pedestrian pathway but instead just some bridges over intersections, and those are primarily there to prevent drunks from getting run over by cars.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  > If this idea were viable, someone somewhere in the world would have already done it. Hong Kong does this in the downtown area. It’s viable because of the very high population density and prevalence of foot traffic. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hong+kong+pedestrian+bridge&iax=images&ia=images&iaf=size%3ALarge https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hong+kong+pedestrian+bridge&iax=im...
- true_religion 7y ago
  Downtown Manila basically has bridges over every intersection, or underground walkways with elevators for the disabled. It works out great. Though admittedly it’s more of a workout than walking in flat Manhattan.
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    So you've got to go up and down to cross every single intersection? That sounds like a nightmare that makes walking take significantly longer.
    - jessaustin 7y ago
      It works because driving is so inconvenient there.
      - CydeWeys 7y ago
        If driving is already so inconvenient why not just relegate it even further and prioritize walking over vehicles at intersections? Why should all the larger numbers of pedestrians be forced to take much longer to get where they're going on account of all these bridges to benefit a smaller number of vehicles?
        jessaustin 7y ago
        Sure, improvements should be made. The pedestrian bridges themselves are improvements. People use them by choice, and not because they appreciate the exercise. It would be easy to underestimate just how many many vehicles and pedestrians are attempting to navigate the metro Manila area. Roads and other transit infrastructure are seriously lacking in Philippines, relative to that seen in more "developed" nations.
- bluGill 7y ago
  Many cities in fact already have it. We call them skyways. The bridge is building to building. It is generally not on the corners, but in the middle of the block. Getting in is tricky because you need to find the elevator in the middle of the building, but once in you don't leave for a while so that isn't a big deal.
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    Yeah, I'm aware of what skyways are. And there's no city in which they remotely come close to covering as much walking territory as sidewalks do.
    - bluGill 7y ago
      True, but they do cover most of the areas where a large number of people want to be often.
- leetcrew 7y ago
  they actually do this in places like Minneapolis. mainly because it's just too cold to be outside for prolonged periods in the winter. my friend walks almost his entire commute without going outside.
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    Yeah, so that system is only 9.5 miles, and claims to be the largest such system of connected aerial sidewalks in the world. Meanwhile, NYC has 12,750 miles of sidewalks. That's a several orders of magnitude difference between the capacity of the two systems.