Fuck Cars @lemmy.world Fried_out_Kombi @lemmy.world 1 yr. ago

[meme] Just one more lane bro

Image transcript:

caption: "state DOTs presenting their groundbreaking solutions to traffic"
image: stock photo of people in business attire holding up a poster together with the text "just one more lane bro"

31 comments

I love this logic.

How do we fix traffic in our city? Add another lane to the freeway. Okay, but to do that we'll need to shut down 3 of the 4 existing lanes for traffic. During rush hour, of course. Yes, the traffic will be even worse during this time, but we'll have the traffic fixed once the new lane opens up! We project that the construction will be finished in 5 years. But rest assured, it'll take 10 years. And that new lane will be a toll lane, so nobody will even be using it.

Austin is an absolutely terrible city when it comes to this sort of nonsense.
- Welcome to Texas.
  
  Yep, it's just one more reason on the ever-growing list. I'm getting out of this failed state as soon as I can.
My state’s DOT measures success by Vehicle Miles Traveled. The more driving people do, the better the DOT is doing. Sprawl? Line goes up! One more lane? Line goes up!
- Honestly, that would explain a lot about why state DOTs are often so garbage. Sounds like a good example of Goodhart's law:
  
  When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure
  
  In this case, trying to use VMT as a measure of success just means they'll favor projects that needlessly sprawl, instead of more compact or transit-oriented options.
Hide the Pain Harold knows.
"This time it's gonna work bro"
Hey, it’s Hide the pain Harold!
They are in the process of doing this in NJ and it's infuriating. The approach to the Holland Tunnel, which is busy (understatement), they're adding another lane, as though that will somehow be the solution. And I can say with some authority that anyone who drives the Turnpike Extension through Jersey City, majority of those people are going to continue on if their destination is Manhattan. It is an absolutely boneheaded move, with plenty of public opposition, but they are chugging along. Smells like corruption to me.

At the very least there are funds allocated and ground has broken building new train tunnels into NYC, but it's bittersweet knowing billions are being wasted widening a road that doesn't have a capacity problem so much as it has a 100 year old tunnel at its termination.
“We’ll just put roundabouts instead of stop lights, it’s how Europe does it.”
- At least roundabouts are significantly safer than stop lights!
- Serious question though.
  
  How do people deal with exiting these roundbaouts in Europe?
  
  Nobody in america uses them (edit in: turn signals) when exiting and im stuck there waiting for a spot to clear, or until someone decides to let me know theyre exiting. It doesnt help theyre the smallest roundabouts they could possibly make. Everyone behind me gets mad, but just entering is like playing a game of chicken.
  
  Do people in europe have the same issue, and they've just learned to time it better / have more space between entrances and exits, or are people more courteous, and use their damn turn signals.?
  
  We use our god damn turn signals.
  
  What kinda neanderthal wouldn't????
  
  You just exit them? It’s the people getting onto a roundabout that have to wait.
  
  People should be signalling before they leave, but I'll give you a tip from a country that uses roundabouts.
  
  Look at the front wheels. Where are the front wheels pointing?
  
  The front wheels will tell you where they are going quicker and more often than people's turn signals (which are unreliable).
- Roundabouts are actually safer and generally better for traffic flow.
In the style of the "aliens" guy: "Roundabouts!"
The chode theory of urban planning

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