Highway Median Stations: The Worst Type of Train Station
Highway Median Stations: The Worst Type of Train Station
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I live about 100m away from a city metro station and I love it. On my way to the station, I walk past:
- a wellness studio
- 3 fast food restaurants of different types
- a bakery
- a small supermarket
- a hair studio
- an ATM
- about three other businesses which always make me wonder why they exist
Now I could have this walkable neighborhood or I could walk past six lanes of high speed traffic. And up and down the street I have more destinations to visit or I could count SUVs zooming by on a freeway!
I have a 500m walk to my nearest station in a residential area, and my list of places looks very similar:
- 2 hairdressers and a barber
- 3 regular restaurants and 2 fast-food places (both Döner lol)
- 2 bakeries
- a small supermarket
- a drug store
- a pharmacy
- a bank branch
- a flower shop
- a book store
- a few other shops I've never really paid attention to and genuinely couldn't tell you what they sell
All of that is there because about half of the apartment buildings have a shop on the ground floor. It's great, and I don't even live in a fancy part of the city.
I live off of my cities dilapidated ass """Main street""" that runs parallel to the halfa-interstate-A-to-b thing (not sure what it's called, runs straight down the middle off the real interstate I-81)
4 lanes of car hell, half car lots/dive bars half empty decaying buildings. They talked about making it 2 lane w/ a center turn lane and expanded ped/bike infrastructure. Got shut down because "I-_____ is always backed up" (it never is) and the BuSiNeSsEs WiLl DiE wItHoUt 4 LanE aCcEsS (even though those same people admit they don't SHOP at any of said businesses and just use it as an interstate bypass translation: no state cops to bust them for blasting down the strip residents of the area be damned)
Bikeped infrastructure increases business visibility and boosts economic activity pretty much without fail. Ditto for eliminating off-street parking requirements and even trimming down on-street parking.
Even if it does increase congestion -- which there's really not very strong evidence it would -- it's good for those businesses & the city's ledger to do so.
So if you ever get a chance to speak in those meetings, come armed with the counterarguments. MPCs are more persuadable than many think.
I wish I had the mental fortitude, but I'm a banged up vet with fucked nerves smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt - where bumfuck conservatives too broke to live in the country can shout over you about how taking away eagle pussy is communist but you'll be arrested for firmly but politely saying "I disagree."
Just happened in the county school board, some dude in the audience stood up and shouted anti trans nonsense for 20 minutes to no consequence, then at the next meeting quiet activists holding a sign in the back row were forcibly removed, roughed up by the cops, and arrested for disturbing the peace.