Found here: https://twitter.com/CarsRuinedCity/status/1677005785862406144?t=Xolo43mUk4GnegFQE19q3g&s=19

Caption: Photo collage of a beach in Alexandria, Egypt, showing a progression in 3 images:

  1. Alexandria “Problem” - empty beach + walking street + 6 lane road with medium traffic + dense mid-rise buildings (likely housing)
  2. Alexandria “Solution” - empty beach (doesn’t seem to matter) + narrower walkway or sidewalk + 10 lane brand new and empty road + tiny sidewalk + the same buildings
  3. Alexandria “Results” - crowded beach + crowded beach walkway + traffic jam on the 10 lane road
  • saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    55·
    1 year ago

    There’s a few good mini-documentaries on YouTube starting from 1950s America through to now and how the USA is a robust, evidence-rich, long-term case study of why this is bad infrastructure. It’s basically a modern no-brainer now. Thanks to the US we know not to do this. US cities are now slowly trying to undo decades of deep-rooted bad infrastructure choices based around reliance on big road networks.

    Surprise, surprise, car manufacturers were a big player in influencing the initial decision 🤣

    Having lived in metro areas that have worked on alternative transport solutions, I can tell you it’s sooo much better and easier to live with. And I love cars—own three. But they’re just not the convenient option quite often.

    • herescunty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      I’d love for my car to be the inconvenient option but we’re just miles and miles away from that. Sure I could take the metro, it’d cost me more and I’d still need the car to drive to the metro station. Add an hour or so to what any given journey would have taken by car, throw in a handful of sweaty, rude and aggressive co-travelers and you have the answer as to why I drive everywhere.

      • luca@lemmy.eic.luEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, but thats exactly the problem. We know stuff like that is bad, but American cities were built so fundamentally flawed, that we cannot fix the car dependency without completely rebuilding them, which is obviously not an option

      • saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, that’s the poor infrastructure summarised right there. There are minimal alternatives and they’re shit ones. It forces the car to be the only choice, which is fucked if the roads are fucked because there’s no other option to go with.