DailyDirt: Looking To Improve Infrastructure Designs

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Jan 20th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

The car culture of America has far-reaching effects that have numerous unintended consequences for how Americans live and work. So, it's good to see folks who are trying to quantify some of the effects -- and hopefully, someday we'll be able to improve the designs of our cities and suburbs. Maybe we'll even have revolutionary new vehicles to take us around more efficiently... Segways for everyone! Or maybe not.

Driving without making any left turns could be safer AND more efficient. Just out of curiosity, I had to check to see if the author of this study was named Zoolander.... [url]
Cul-de-sacs are evil and slowly killing you. Ok, that's not exactly true, but neighborhoods with more interconnected streets generally have better walkability scores -- which correlate to lower body mass indexes. [url]
Next time you're waiting for a parking spot, here's a long paper on parking infrastructure to keep you busy. But it'll be somewhat irrelevant when most of the cars are electric or hybrids. [url]
Bike enthusiasts report that bike/pedestrian infrastructure construction projects create almost twice as many jobs (per million dollars spent) than regular road construction. Hmm. But I don't think "job creation" is a very good metric for construction projects. Digging holes and filling them back in could create a lot of jobs, too. [url]

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Filed Under: cul-de-sac, infrastructure, streets
Companies: segway

9 Comments

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Rose M. Welch (profile), 20 Jan 2011 @ 4:28pm

I've been a long advocate of newer street designs, like this and roundabouts. It's nice to see them getting some press play. :)
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Michael Ho (profile), 20 Jan 2011 @ 5:06pm

Re:
I think it'd be nice to replace certain stop signs with yield signs...

Roundabouts are cool... unless you get stuck going round&round in one like Chevy Chase...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2011 @ 5:30pm

Flying vehicles were invented quite some time ago, but so many people wanted them that the FAA banned them. There was a somewhat recent article on techdirt about them finally approving something. Had something been approved a long time ago, perhaps we would have better infrastructure today. Then again, I imagine a flying vehicle would cause more pollution than a car (though technological advancements could have improved that to some extent, if the FAA gave more opportunity earlier), and sure, safety is a valid concern.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2011 @ 5:31pm

Re:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091015/1106246548.shtml
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2011 @ 6:13pm

On the transportation side some people are looking for test pilots for their personal air transport suit, any brave man want to volunteer?
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 20 Jan 2011 @ 7:36pm

Re: Driving without making any left turns could be safer AND more efficient
Only to those who drive on the wrong side of the road.
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Esahc (profile), 20 Jan 2011 @ 8:15pm

Re: Driving without making any left turns could be safer AND more efficient
UPS redesigned routes in order to minimize left turns, apparently it saves on gas as-well
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09left-handturn.html
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Jon Lawrence (profile), 20 Jan 2011 @ 8:38pm

Vote for Roundabouts
Seriously. After spending enough time in the UK to get over being terrified, those things are the best.
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Chris-Mouse (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 5:54am

Flying cars would be a nightmare.
If you think traffic jams are bad now, imagine what it would be like if the drivers have to watch for cars above and below them as well as beside them. Oh, don't forget that there's no such thing as a minor accident for an aircraft in flight. Even a minor fender bender will kill everyone on board when the flying car stops flying and falls out of the sky.
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