How do you fix a stroad? • Hacker News Board

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#101

Post by JetAlone » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:34 AM UTC

JetAlone wrote: post #48

jimmaswell wrote: post #3

I find the premise questionable that stroads are bad. Give a stroad good sidewalks, crosswalks with signs that light up when you hit a button, and a bike path and everybody is well-served. That or just let car people (majority) have these areas that are good for cars and let the anti car people have their crowded little streets with no parking elsewhere.

Anti-stroadism is a deluded locus of control for detached intellectuals that will lead us into the fresh horrors of a dark age yet unseen. Without the strong stroadlandians to remind us of the importance of danger and adversity, we would have small walking communities of sensitive, dependent pedestrians who gradually get cut off from one another as the roads fall into disrepair.

I will never forget what I learned from my time living with the Stroadlandians as a pedestrian. I shall wear your downvotes as badges to their honour. Long live Stroadlandia and her humble denizens.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#102

Post by quadrangle » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:37 AM UTC

ReaLNero wrote: post #89

trinovantes wrote: post #75

The Not Just Bikes youtube channel was quite the rabbit hole. It has convinced me that I really hate North American car-centric cities. It's a shame there's basically no country in the anglosphere designed for pedestrians like most European countries.

If you draw the line at country, sure. But America is huge compared to European nation-states. NYC is very public transportation-oriented. The Northeast corridor Amtrak line also is a big boon!

but NYC and Amtrak aren't dramatically better than Toronto and Canadian rail issues that NotJustBikes constantly bashes as pathetically mediocre compared to the Netherlands.

The U.S. definitely has a range of insanely-awful to decent-enough with small now-premium-priced pockets of great bits (which are almost always pre-car neighborhoods that somehow were spared destruction).

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#103

Post by Animats » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:38 AM UTC

The Strong Towns people want to go back to 1950s midwestern America - small towns strung out along roads, with farms in between.

What were all those small towns for? They were built, mostly, as service centers for the surrounding farms. Today, only 1% of the workforce works on farms, and they can get their stuff from Amazon and Walmart. The need for most of those towns is gone. So they're decaying and disappearing.[1]

That's the problem. The Strong Towns vision no longer matches what people do.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_the_Uni...

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#104

Post by quadrangle » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:45 AM UTC

JetAlone wrote: post #48

jimmaswell wrote: post #3

I find the premise questionable that stroads are bad. Give a stroad good sidewalks, crosswalks with signs that light up when you hit a button, and a bike path and everybody is well-served. That or just let car people (majority) have these areas that are good for cars and let the anti car people have their crowded little streets with no parking elsewhere.

Anti-stroadism is a deluded locus of control for detached intellectuals that will lead us into the fresh horrors of a dark age yet unseen. Without the strong stroadlandians to remind us of the importance of danger and adversity, we would have small walking communities of sensitive, dependent pedestrians who gradually get cut off from one another as the roads fall into disrepair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#105

Post by dghughes » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:47 AM UTC

My city just installed three roundabouts each about 500m from each. Three in a row on a four land (two each way) road. I'm all for roundabouts but it looks a mess. Some of the outer lanes end too without any sign to indicate that it ends. Stroads are designed by busybodies who are given too much money.

I used to be able to go over a small bridge that's over a small stream and turn left to get to my aunt's house. The bridge is now 10m higher has four lanes. Plus I have to drive 2km down the road go through two roundabouts come back the way I came just to get back to where I would have turned left in the old days.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#106

Post by wetpaws » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:55 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #103

The Strong Towns people want to go back to 1950s midwestern America - small towns strung out along roads, with farms in between. What were all those small towns for ? They were built, mostly, as service centers for the surrounding farms. Today, only 1% of the workforce works on farms, and they can get their stuff from Amazon and Walmart. The need for most of those towns is gone. So they're decaying and disappearing.[…

Tokyo is not a small town by any measure, and neither is the most of Europe.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#107

Post by dougmwne » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 3:59 AM UTC

ReaLNero wrote: post #89

trinovantes wrote: post #75

The Not Just Bikes youtube channel was quite the rabbit hole. It has convinced me that I really hate North American car-centric cities. It's a shame there's basically no country in the anglosphere designed for pedestrians like most European countries.

If you draw the line at country, sure. But America is huge compared to European nation-states. NYC is very public transportation-oriented. The Northeast corridor Amtrak line also is a big boon!

The itty-bitty bits of America that have any kind of walkable community are incredibly expensive. It’s basically the equivalent of avoiding mediocre American factory food by doing all your shopping at Whole Foods. Why does it have to be a rare luxury to taste what the Europeans have in overflowing abundance?

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#108

Post by aeharding » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 4:00 AM UTC

I highly recommend the film "Together we cycle" for those that are interested in learning about the Netherlands' struggle with car dependency in the 20th century.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#109

Post by joshuamorton » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 4:00 AM UTC

rcpt wrote: post #98

pcmoney wrote: post #79

Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Of course not. It is the McDonald’s of city planning. Cheap, ugly, bad for you but also shockingly expensive once the medical/infrastructure maintenance bill comes due. Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesth…

People unironically put up photos of the Painted Ladies and their stroad all the time

In what way are the painted ladies on a stroad? Steiner is a 2 lane street with parking and I think like a <25 mph speed limit. Most of it has bike lanes (although the particular piece in front of the ladies doesn't, or at least didn't until recently). It's very much a street, although it could be a better street.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#110

Post by seized » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 4:10 AM UTC

rcpt wrote: post #98

pcmoney wrote: post #79

Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Of course not. It is the McDonald’s of city planning. Cheap, ugly, bad for you but also shockingly expensive once the medical/infrastructure maintenance bill comes due. Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesth…

People unironically put up photos of the Painted Ladies and their stroad all the time

Based on the page in the OP, the SF Painted Ladies are about as opposite of a stroad as possible.... No strip malls, giant park across the street, houses all around, low speed limit, characteristic narrow SF street/road... How does that fit the graphic in the OPs link?