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That’s mostly myth. San Francisco’s plan was built wide to accommodate streetcars and to reduce the spread of fire. The city was razed by fire after the 1906 e
by Spooky23 2y ago
That’s mostly myth.
San Francisco’s plan was built wide to accommodate streetcars and to reduce the spread of fire. The city was razed by fire after the 1906 earthquake, with several reasons (including a lunatic army contingent that built “firebreaks” by blowing up buildings and the fire chief getting killed in a freak accident early on) contributing. There’s a great book called “San Francisco is burning” worth reading.
My dad was a fire chief for decades in a city department. They only cared about street width in central business districts or other areas where certain types of aerial ladders were required for rescue companies. If they can’t get a ladder up, they need more firemen to respond to certain calls. Cities are insured and firemen DNGAF if they smash up cars on narrow streets, I suspect they find it fun.
- wongarsu 2y agoOn the other hand San Francisco has these giant articulated aerial ladder trucks. European trucks reach the same ladder heights on much smaller trucks by having more telescoping segments on the ladder. I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of it is a feedback loop: wide streets mean fire trucks can be big, big fire trucks mean streets have to be big (even if only the streets the fire department cares about)
- dboreham 2y agoEdinburgh's new town (designed 1776) has some very wide streets. When cars were invented they became handy because two cars could be parked nose to nose across the middle of the street plus the usual curb parking on both sides, still leaving room for four lanes of traffic. Traffic calming and pavement|sidewalk widening measures in recent years have reduced this to one vehicle across the middle, curb parking and one lane each way.