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Everything about American cities makes more sense when you realize they are designed entirely for cars to go fast. That is the sole metric and everything is opt
by rimbo789 1y ago
Everything about American cities makes more sense when you realize they are designed entirely for cars to go fast. That is the sole metric and everything is optimized to sure cars can go as fast as possible no matter the cost, both literal and less tangible.
- hn_throw_250811 1y ago[flagged]
- TrainedMonkey 1y agoI think we can do both. We can have core of cities optimized for walkability and traffic arteries optimized for speed.
- SirFatty 1y agoA very broad generalization that just isn't true. Certainly not for residential areas.
- foxyv 1y agoHave you seen how wide residential streets are in America? They are also very straight and cleared of obstructions. In other countries you will see traffic calming measures such as chicanes and road narrowing. In my own neighborhood people won't park on the street because people driving 40+mph will crash into their cars randomly.
- SirFatty 1y agoAs a person that lives on a residential street, and have my whole life, they are not straight and cleared of obstructions. At least in the Chicagoland area. Often curved, with a center berm and trees, etc. Sure the major streets are a different issue, but then those aren't residential streets.
- coldpie 1y agoYour experience in Chicago is definitely not universal. I live in Saint Paul, MN and many of our residential roads are perfectly straight for miles. Earlier this summer, someone was killed by a driver going approx 100 MPH on a perfectly straight, Saint Paul residential street. https://www.fox9.com/news/100-mph-intersection-crash-homicide-charges-st-paul-may-2025 https://www.fox9.com/news/100-mph-intersection-crash-homicid...
- foxyv 1y agoChicago is one of the few exceptions to this rule in the United States. New build suburban housing looks like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4041926,-111.559976,3a,75y,82.03h,86.68t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFu3wI3UsxZTtKIWX2v27_Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D3.3168008659063304%26panoid%3DFu3wI3UsxZTtKIWX2v27_Q%26yaw%3D82.02557541052786!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4041926,-111.559976,3a,75y,8... https://www.google.com/maps/@30.5705053,-98.2668855,3a,75y,304.2h,87.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s_jgaBsLGhvdsjHMwjtdhUg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D2.073234872496357%26panoid%3D_jgaBsLGhvdsjHMwjtdhUg%26yaw%3D304.19805898118295!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@30.5705053,-98.2668855,3a,75y,3...
- potato3732842 1y agoExactly. Culdesacs exist. Residential developments with all sorts of absurd meandering roads have been the norm since the 70s or 90s depending on where you look. They have their own problems though. I wonder how many social issues would be rapidly solved it we just rejected people from the discussion for spewing overly simplistic opinions on the basis that they clearly don't "get" all of the nuances of whatever is being discussed.
- alistairSH 1y agoCuldesacs are effectively a rich person's solution to "Main Street is too fast and dangerous". They also don't answer the question of "how do I walk someplace useful" - like the local grocery store highlighted in the article. For reference, I live in a "culdesac" neighborhood (3 big ones smushed together). The main suburban street that we use to actually get anywhere is 2-5 lanes wide, 40mph posted but 50mph actual speeds, with limited pedestrian crossings and in the 8 years I've lived here at least 2 pedestrian fatalities on a 2 mile stretch. This is pretty typical of the DC suburbs (largely built in the 70s-present). Smaller enclaves that are "walkable" in the sense you can walk around the block. But they aren't walkable in the sense you can live your life sans car/bus/whatever.
- SirFatty 1y ago"Cul-de-sacs are effectively a rich person's solution to "Main Street is too fast and dangerous" Good grief... not true. Suburban subdivisions use these, as well as curved roads as pushback against the grid system of city planning.
- neutronicus 1y agoI think cul-de-sacs are pretty obviously about preventing through traffic...
- alistairSH 1y agoAnd why do they use them in the suburbs? And why do people express disdain for interconnected roads? Because nobody wants hundreds of cars going 40mph+ buzzing past their house every day. And instead of taking the time/money to fix the root cause, people who can afford to do so build culdesac neighborhoods. Edit - and to be clear, I don't blame any individuals for making that choice. We're kind of stuck with what we have for now - any change/progress will be slow and incremental. None of which means we shouldn't design better/safer neighborhoods/roads.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoAnd ironically, you can generally drive faster from point A to point B in Amsterdam quicker than you can in a comparable American city. Point A & B are closer together in Amsterdam, and you're so much less likely to get stuck in traffic in Amsterdam.