6 ms·
The university I went to invested in skywalks to replace many if almost all cross walks within and on the edges of campus. It does require more energy to go up
by cordite 12y ago
The university I went to invested in skywalks to replace many if almost all cross walks within and on the edges of campus. It does require more energy to go up and down sometimes, but it means everyone is safer and everything still flows.
- icebraining 12y agoHow does it work for people with reduced mobility, wheelchairs, etc?
- cordite 12y agoIt is a spiral with an acceptable grading with rails.
- arthurdenture 12y agoThe big problem with skywalks is that they result in the streets underneath them being empty (of pedestrians). This has downsides: - Empty streets feel less safe - Stores get less foot traffic - Cars are more likely to speed when there's no one walking about So they really can suck the life out of the street.
- Dylan16807 12y agoElevate the stores.
- konspence 12y agoAfter you've done that, in combination with sidewalks, you have effectively created a pedestrian-only street above the cars. The cost of that is immense. Why not just make the surface (ground level) street more accessible to pedestrians, and keep the businesses where they would prefer to be?
- nitrogen 12y agoAfter you've done that, in combination with sidewalks, you have effectively created a pedestrian-only street above the cars. Aren't there large parts of Chicago already like that?
- slyn 12y agoNone of the vaguely famous underground/above-ground roads in Chicago, notably Wacker, Congress, and Michigan Ave, are pedestrian only above ground. It would also be pretty much lying to define those three roads as "large parts". There's probably 10-15 miles of drivable underground road in downtown (maybe less), most of which is used as not much more than service roads for garbage pickup and loading docks for the high rises above these. Chicago is also somewhat of an exceptional city in this regard in that it was to an extent demolished and rebuilt twice, and the city was further built up from water level to accommodate underground plumbing and (IIRC) to reduce the swampiness of the land.
- ubernostrum 12y agoEvery city I've visited that has an extensive skyway system is also a city that gets severe winter weather. The skyway is not so much about protecting pedestrians from cars, and more about protecting them from the weather.
- swalsh 12y agoMinneapolis has this pretty much (it get's REALLY cold there in winter) It's actually pretty great.
- eqdw 12y agoThey also, y'know, cost a ton. You're not going to put them at every crosswalk
- Retric 12y agoI doubt they actually cost all that much relative to the cost of a 40+ story buildings.
- chetanahuja 12y agoI don't know where this is so can't really comment on this particular situation. But the general idea of skyways, while making walking from building to building easier, would also isolate these pedestrians completely from the surrounding environment -- in particular, from other people who live and work in the city but don't have access to universities' buildings. How do you feel it works in your university?
- cordite 12y agoThey are outdoor bridges, so perhaps I used the wrong term. I do not feel like it sucks any life out of the scene, since even some of the bridges have bridges between them to connect over some nice landscaping. The university I went to is not like the one I see in Madison or Chicago. The entire campus was self contained and did not have non-university buildings there. So not much car traffic through the actual campus (as there were few roads, although the walkways were wide enough for maintenance vehicles to get around).
- slavik81 12y agoI don't know about his university, but I figured you might be interested in this too. We have a '+15' system in downtown Calgary such that most of the core office towers are connected on the second floor. Parts of the first two floors of most buildings are open to the public, and tend to be commercial space. Reading the Wikipedia page, it seems some people have been wondering if they're making the streets less vibrant, but quite frankly even if they were, the enclosed walkways would still be worth it for winter. It can get brutally cold on the Canadian prairies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2B15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2B15
- eqdw 12y agoWinnipeg has the same thing. My walk to work was about 3.5km, half of it inside. Winter? What winter! I laugh at your winter!
- cstross 12y agoWinnipeg has central Canadian weather, going down to -40 celsius wind chill. Brr. Skyways and subway walks are about the only way to go for pedestrian access in a city where the climate for half the year threatens hypothermia within ten minutes of exposure to surface temperatures. In contrast, I live in Edinburgh. The all-time high temperature was around 30 celsius, but it only drops below freezing at night during a couple of months. The city predates the automobile; as a result, unless you move out to the suburbs, it's entirely walkable. And guess what? The Council is currently holding a consultation on a blanket reduction in the vehicle speed limit to 20mph except on designated high-volume routes.
- megablast 12y agoWhat an absolutely awful idea.
- justincormack 12y agoThere is a good article about the failure of the plan to make the City of London pedway-based http://vimeo.com/80787092 http://vimeo.com/80787092
- WWLink 12y agoMy alma mater needs those. It's not cars, but the bikers on campus are downright vicious and will run you down if you happen to be in their way when crossing the street. That town also had a problem downtown of people that would cross the street without looking, and glaring at people driving cars. Pretty much the people posting in this thread lol.