Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/u...s-traffic.html

To be fair I would agree with him only because the Oklahoma City and Milwaukee streetcar projects have not been very successful.

Kansas City and Cincinnati's worked because those cities have a lot more than just parking lots and vacant office buildings in their downtown. KC has a somewhat urban "corridor" from Downtown to Country Club Plaza that is a line of relative density and lots of destinations people want to reach.

the free movement:


Free transit: Is it a public good, like libraries or schools?

By Sophie Hills Staff writer
January 18, 2023
WASHINGTON


more:
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Societ...ies-or-schools

Spanish transport secretary resigns after new trains too big for tunnels

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ig-for-tunnels




https://i.imgur.com/JcLOKsz.jpg

In defence of trackless trams.



• Video Link

• Video Link

:haha:

^ busbahn! :haha:

I think the trackless tram is kind of cool but the arguments both in favor and against it both seem to miss the point.

I don't think it's a gadgetbahn because it's just a bus, and any service that the trackless tram can offer could probably be substituted with a normal bus if the tram broke down.

But it's also not a replacement for rapid transit. The point of rapid transit is not steel wheel on steel rail, it's bridges and tunnels and stations with platforms and ticket collection. It's certainly possible to build a rapid transit system but with buses as that does exist obviously, but then it just needs wider paved road space and more stuff vs tracks that are smooth and last a long time.

Also because it's not on rails it has tires which have to be changed and also the road surface needs to be very well maintained. That's probably the one big flaw this thing has - nonexistent ground clearance combined with length, I would be willing to bet it would get stuck in dips, speed bumps, or railroad grade crossings. Hitting a curb or some debris in the road would do a lot of damage.

more road dieting broadway northward from 23rd st:



NYC begins new phase of ‘Broadway Vision,’ street improvements from Madison Square to Herald Square

Published: Mar. 12, 2023

By Jillian Delaney | jdelaney@siadvance.com


MANHATTAN, N.Y. — Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez have big plans for the streets from Madison Square to Herald Square. As per a press release, the mayor and commissioner began construction today in the next phase of the “Broadway Vision.”

“Two years ago, the pandemic devastated Midtown and our business districts, but it gave us the opportunity to reimagine our public spaces,” said Mayor Adams. “Beginning this week, our Broadway Vision will come to life with vibrant, new public spaces and safer streets from Madison Square to Herald Square. Midtown is back, and New York City is back.”


more:
https://www.silive.com/news/2023/03/...ld-square.html

https://www.silive.com/resizer/xpfBo...HK7YODVKU.jpeg
Rendering of Greeley Square after capital construction work is completed. Credit: “New” New York Panel

the scramble or barnes dance is ordered back in nys for school crosswalks in nyc and buffalo:



State Senate passes bill to establish ‘scramble’ crosswalks outside NYC schools

By Ben Brachfeld
Posted on March 14, 2023


A bill that the state Senate passed on Monday would require New York City to implement “scramble” crosswalks outside all of its schools, allowing little ones to safely cross the street without the specter of auto traffic.

The legislation, passed unanimously by Albany’s upper chamber, requires cities with populations of over 250,000 — a threshold met only by New York City and Buffalo — requires intersections outside schools to be converted into scramble crosswalks, where vehicle traffic is stopped on all sides and pedestrians can cross in any direction, including diagonally.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/state-s...s-nyc-schools/

No suprise
 

March 18, 2023

AP Report: ‘Pro-Moscow Voices Tried to Steer Ohio Train Disaster Debate’

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief


“Soon after a [Norfolk Southern] train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio last month, anonymous pro-Russian accounts started spreading misleading claims and anti-American propaganda about it on Twitter, using Elon Musk’s new [Twitter Blue] verification system to expand their reach while creating the illusion of credibility,” Associated Press reporter David Klepper wrote on March 18. “The accounts, which parroted Kremlin talking points on myriad topics, claimed without evidence that authorities in Ohio were lying about the true impact of the chemical spill. The accounts spread fear-mongering posts that preyed on legitimate concerns about pollution and health effects and compared the response to the derailment with America’s support for Ukraine following its invasion by Russia.”

Klepper reported that some of the claims pushed by the pro-Russian accounts “were verifiably false, such as the suggestion that the news media had covered up the disaster or that environmental scientists traveling to the site had been killed in a plane crash. But most were more speculative, seemingly designed to stoke fear or distrust. Examples include unverified maps showing widespread pollution, posts predicting an increase in fatal cancers and others about unconfirmed mass animal die-offs.”

Rest of story

If the MTA can place a bus lane along much of Flatbush Ave, great! I also believe that the bus lane should also be opened for taxis, ride shares, and carpools. I don't believe that Grand Army Plaza will be car free, especially since cars utilize GAP to get to and from wherever they have to go.

While I'm no fan of closing GAP to cars, I do agree on placing bus lanes along Flatbush Ave. Flatbush Ave isn't Broadway in Manhattan, in which Broadway is actually a tourist attraction, while Flatbush Ave is like Broad St in Philadelphia, Woodward Ave in Detroit, Michigan Ave in Chicago, and New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia Aves in DC in that those arteries serve to circulate all traffic into their respective downtowns, whether you like car traffic, or not.

You can reduce the amount of lanes, which is fine, but completely removing all car lanes from those streets is a pipe dream. The automobile will change and if there's a wheel-less hovering car, so be it, but automobiles will stay in the conscious of the America mind.


Another unrealistic pipe dream, at the most! Even if you was able to combine Flatbush Ave, Eastern Pkwy, & Vanderbilt (what's Vandy?) Ave into one seamless tunnel, do you know how much money that's going to take just to build an underground tunnel, as well as maybe rerouting the IRT & BMT tunnels & replacing the Grand Army Plaza IRT station?

It's way too much to do all that and the price tag would be in the hundreds of billions and it would be shot down in the NYC Council just because of the expense alone.

I'd rather reduce the amount of car lanes than completely close off GAP to auto traffic. Like it or not, the car traffic does give GAP some life and some personality. I say this as a former Brooklynite. I'd rather look into adding bus lanes on Flatbush Ave than a superfluous pipe dream such as closing GAP to auto traffic.