Stroad vs. Stroad: Land Use, Traffic Engineering, and What Happens When Suburban Arterials Intersect

Рет қаралды 197,652

2 жыл бұрын

Today we're looking at what happens when stroads, or suburban arterials, intersect, and how the design of suburban intersections is a microcosm of the kind of planning and engineering that plagues the US, particularly suburbs that developed in the latter half of the 20th century.
Our exploration will take us on a tour of:
- Suburban land uses, including big box stores and the scourge that is drive thrus in America
- Intersection operations, including signal timing and how people walking, biking, and rolling are often afterthoughts
- Pedestrian signal countdowns and push-button operations, and related frustrations
Enjoy (or loathe) this trip to the heart of terrible land use planning and traffic engineering in suburban Las Vegas!
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Twitter: @nerd4cities
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Other CityNerd Videos referenced:
- Ped Bridges: • Pedestrian Overcrossin...
- The Stroad Ecosystem: • The Stroad: A Case Stu...
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Resources:
- ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications...
- www1.coe.neu.edu/~pfurth/Furth...
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Image Credits:
- Confetti Video by Ranieri Alves de Araujo Ranieri from Pixabay
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Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (KZfaq music library)
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Inquiries: nerd4cities@gmail.com

Пікірлер: 1 100

@simoneh4732 2 жыл бұрын

When I moved from urban area of Toronto to the suburban area for work, a subtle change creeped in to how I treated intersections as a driver which I didn't notice until I drove in the urban area again after a few months. I had stopped regularly checking for pedestrians at intersections because I subconsciously started assuming they didn't exist. On suburban roads pedestrians are relatively rare so you get used to driving in absence of them. This results in drivers only checking for other cars to see if the way is clear for turns, and this is without slip lanes with yield signs. The hazardous design of suburban stroads is so insidious that it goes beyond physical danger and affects our psychology to make us more dangerous drivers.

@marcelmoulin3335 2 жыл бұрын

When I grew up in California, I absolutely loathed these hideous, depressing stroads and their outrageously off-putting intersections. I hated crossing the street because I felt as if I was crossing a stage in front of hundreds of spectators. Fortunately, I have returned to my fatherland, the Netherlands, where I live in a charming, historic, and inviting city--Middelburg.

@murdelabop 2 жыл бұрын

What's worse is that car drivers are programmed to blame pedestrians for the obscenely high pedestrian death rate these stroad collisions have. And you just can't convince them otherwise.

@evantomlinson3761 2 жыл бұрын

Its enough to make you sick to your stomach when you experience these expensive wastelands in person. Like not only is it all terrible, we're paying a fortune for it to be like this. smh

@davidbarts6144 2 жыл бұрын

The #1 reason why I hate driving on stroads is how the intersections always always always just stack up the queued vehicles. You always end up sitting in traffic in Stroadville! Stroads are built for cars, yet it sucks to operate a car on one. They fail even at their intended purpose.

@Patrick_from_Youtube 2 жыл бұрын

When I look at the stroad infrastructure in the US, I fully appreciate how much we deserve the coming climate collapse

@calvinbarr6919 2 жыл бұрын

As someone who has worked at a manager at a double lane drive through restaurant, the madness doesn’t end at that. Every target they tell us to hit is based on car count, drive through times, door dash and mobile orders from parking spots. Maybe a couple times a year is our lobby mentioned as target, which is ofc the only place someone outside of a car can order.

@Benz2112 2 жыл бұрын

That is one hideous piece of car infrastructure. It makes me think of the times when I want to leave my office for a coffee break. I can take a 5 minute drive to Dunkin, or walk about 5 blocks to a nice local cafe. More often than not I pick the latter, and I am punished for it. Between crossing one side of the street to the other, and then crossing a stroad, my walk becomes this sad journey. This kind of land use is a combination of ambivalence, self loathing, and maybe nihilism.

@Batcountry_tb 2 жыл бұрын

Now this is what it's like when STROADS COLLIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!

@MaydayAggro 2 жыл бұрын

"Can you imagine even trying to bike through this intersection?" Well, hey, it has a bike lane, so it should be easy, right?

@augustvonmackensen3902 2 жыл бұрын

Intersections like this also make high speed vehicle-on-vehicle collisions much more likely (compared to using a roundabout or just designing the street differently)

@Colaholiker 2 жыл бұрын

This is something that I (German) had to learn the hard way when I was in the US.

@stink1701 2 жыл бұрын

Despite the terrifying subject matter, I think this may be one of your best yet. It really puts on full display the absolute car dependent madness that is the typical US sprawling suburb, and what is the prevailing culture that most Americans seem to be aspiring to.

@kuyshina 2 жыл бұрын

Las Vegas has so much potential to build out an efficient light rail system to connect the city together.

@MrChristheWise 2 жыл бұрын

That was a very good ending. I'm a transportation engineer, who's worked in TN and NC. I came into this industry to try and make the world better, but to do that it feels like I have to fight this entire industry.

@bonecanoe86 2 жыл бұрын

As an East Coast person these massive roads out west are a bit shocking to me. Here in the Philly area it's very rare to have a road with more than two lanes on each side. We still have stroads of course, but they're a lot narrower and smaller than those in other parts of the country.

@mada9891 2 жыл бұрын

The business park intersection in the Not Just Bikes video a couple months back blew my mind. Incredibly interesting technical breakdown. I'm looking forward to more.

@bretdunham2245 2 жыл бұрын

I lived in the Las Vegas area from 2001-2010 and would drive through this intersection regularly. I remember when St Rose Pkwy had one lane in each direction. I absolutely hated living in Las Vegas suburbia; since then I've lived in a very transit friendly neighborhood in Seattle and am glad I moved.

@NatiiixLP Жыл бұрын

Living in the centre of Tokyo has taught me a simple fact of urban transportation design. If going by car is the most convenient option, you've already lost. I don't even think I've ever seen a road with more than 4 lanes here, and those are almost always one-way streets. The US have a serious transportation problem.

@AlecLomas 2 жыл бұрын

having grown up in a place like this (suburban Phoenix -- lol like a urban Phoenix exists), your comment about entering the intersection during a yellow light