AHC: Have American cities be among the most pedestrian-friendly in the world

[Joe Bonkers]

Regardless of how true all of those things are Doug, it is entirely possible to make American cities much more pedestrian-friendly.

Use of scramble intersections and timing traffic lights for them. Covered pathways for pedestrians, either above-ground (like Calgary's +15 system) or underground (like the Toronto PATH system). A strong transit system (New York does well at this already) that includes both local transit (buses, streetcars) and higher-capacity regional transit systems (subways, commuter trains, ferries where appropriate). Canopies at as many transit stops as possible. Well-maintained sidewalks. Shopping destinations that are more easily walkable, as opposed to 'power centers' that are stores arranged around a parking lot.

I think what the OP is looking for is more of the above. Fewer cities like Houston and Detroit and Los Angeles that sprawl across vast territories of land, more cities like New York and San Francisco and Seattle that recognize the value of public transportation on a human scale.

Well put. It's entirely possible to create more of a balance. By doing so, and by thereby freeing up highway congestion, one actually makes highway commuting MORE agreeable for those who choose to do so. The point is to allow a CHOICE - options - rather than essentially forcing people into a mold of "I want to do it this way, so everyone should want to do it this way too."

DougM's horror-show scenarios, after all, could just as easily be reversed in order to try to provoke the same sort of emotional response (I'd personally start with the time my wife's car got clobbered by the goon in the garbage truck who wasn't paying attention to what he was doing; fortunately, she was unhurt). But I'd rather take the approach of allowing for reasonable allocations of either (or both) public and private funding to allow for as many transportation options as possible. Getting rid of cars is indeed ASB; making it more possible to get around with them isn't.

 

[interpoltomo]

You can get better public transportation but the US is far too recently-founded as a society to be on the top end of pedestrian friendly.