I wanna issue a correction on 2:28 - people do check in with their loved ones to make sure they get home safely in places that are not car dependent, mostly due to the externality of crime, rather than the fundamental physical danger of the only available transportation system. I should have been more specific, I still think it's insane to have a high likelihood grave physical danger built into the basic structure of our urban mobility, and I think that's what we're referring to when we want people to "get home safely" in the car dependent areas of the USA. We don't purposefully design places for criminals to hurt people in the subway station, but we do design 55mph roads with traffic lights on purpose - the danger is built into the very structure of the design. I didn't state this specific point very well in the video, but that's what I meant!
No you are right I’m in my early 40’s and this just wasn’t a thing when I was growing up in the 90’s for a few reasons. Violent crime was actually slightly higher than today but obviously the internet was in its infancy and we didn’t have this 24 hour news cycle. Unless it was a major story we didn’t hear much about crime outside our area. Second, and more important, we all have phones and could text “hey I’m home.” Rather than pick up the family phone and call.
I wanted to mention that when you were talking about the cost of owning a car: mention law enforcement: Speeding Tickets! Especially if you’re caught in a speed trap county. They’ll always tell you it’s for your safety, in reality it’s not! It’s all about the revenue $. I’m dealing with a situation now. I live in Murfreesboro TN. Metro Nashville. We have one county next to us that is a speed trap. 2000.00 for an attorney, 200.0 for the traffic school. Nashville, and the other counties you don’t need a lawyer, and traffic school is only 29.00. So, If they say safety to you would you believe them? Your subject matter, some great examples you would find here in Nashville and Metro area. Nashville is known as a nightmare. Worst traffic jams, traffic engineers nightmares, the FEDS even studied Nashville streets and the Horrible Interstate connections problems. I-40/I-24/I-65/I-440/I-840/ One single accident causes traffic jams on adjacent highways, and floods streets In Nashville and not clear out until Lunch. Hospital workers are 3 hours late to their shifts, other workers are too. The FEDs offer to help but stubborn, obtuse, Tennessee conservative Gov. State legislature. and senators refuse to accept the money; because they want to play adversarial politics with DC. The pain of a Republican Supermajority state government. I’m sure you have plenty of samples there. But if you happen to pass through here, you’ll find more for sure, especially during rush hour coming into the city, and most certainly in the city. Their in metro areas too.
Well, there is Uber. But if you want some real stress, trying driving 15 hours a day. That makes a reasonable income, but an accident can easily end one's career, and never mind the drunks. On another note., don't forget that many major roads were built to either destroy an unwanted neighborhood or to isolate an unwanted neighbor hood. Read unwanted as "minority."
Appreciate the correction. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do here, as someone down in Macon County who loves all of Western NC and would love to see Asheville take a pause and build a growth strategy that protects the city better from postmodern dystopian hellscape aesthetics. It is possible, but will take real pressure to make happen.
@@thomasjamison2050I drive for a living as a widowed mother of two kids. I have a $250,000 life insurance policy, thank goodness, but it is always in the back of my mind that I’m just waiting for a drunk and/or distracted driver to end my functionality/life, and for my kids to lose their mother, get split up, and be raised by their grandma and aunt (they have different fathers). 😰
It's amazing how your completely surrounded by hundreds of people at any given time, but you are completely alone because they're all driving around in a bubble.
This is exactly why living in suburbia makes me feel crazy! It's not normal to limit your interactions with other human beings in this way. I'd love to live in a place with greater chances for contact with other people and serendipity, it feels much more natural and human to me.
@@rob_nsn I live in Philly. The last affordable walkable area in the Northeast. Rent only 750/mo in a very safe neighborhood. I remember moving out to central PA for work and absolutely HATING it! I get it, it's America, you need a car no matter what. But the fact I needed to get in the car just to drive to a damn 7-11 just pissed me off so much. That, and 2 years out there and I never knew my neighbors. I told the company to transfer me back to Philly or I quit.
@@Slaythehippies Not everyone wants to live in a hive city surrounded by facsimiles of real people. I am from Philly myself and moved to Texas years ago, and I hate it anytime I go back to visit. I learned how much I hate living on top of and being surrounded by other people, and that is in conjunction with being subjected to the bone crushing crime it brings. I also hate the general hostility and politics in large cities, and how people from them think they are better than people who are not.
@Pleasiotic1 how many Iaughable generalizations of urban living can you cram into one comment, like "bone crushing crime" lmao what does that even mean. I get not wanting to live in apartment buildings your whole Iife, but there are plenty of townhouse, duplexes, or single family homes in the walkable areas of the big city too. Plenty of small towns are mostly single family homes with sidewalks and gridded streets for an easy walk to main street too.
@@GirtonOramsay So I don't know anything about the city that I was born and raised in? I didn't have a double murder 3 doors down from my aunt's house? They aren't running every major business out of town due to theft and crime? Save your liberal fantasies for someone else. I own multiple vehicles and love driving. I will never use public transportation unless I am forced too. Just because you enjoy breathing everyone else's stink doesn't everyone else has to live according to your totalitarian views.
I am happy to see how many Americans realized car-dependent suburban sprawl is not a freedom but it a bad product of automotive and oil industry greed. I don't hate cars but car-dependence. As a European, every time I visited US suburbs I felt something was weird there and then I heard about stroads and suburban sprawl. It was more shocking that before WW2 US had very good train and public transit network, US was literally build on railway networks. Very good video, greetings from Switzerland.
The biggest difference between the US and Europe are the cities. In Europe they are usually the best place to live, while in the US they tend to be the worst. Much of the suburban sprawl were due to those in the cities fleeing the core and those from rural areas refusing to move into the core. The opinion of the younger generations in America are changing because they only know cities that have been gentrified. Those places are really nice, though they also tend to be extremely expensive.
@@BulletRain100the opinions of the newer generations are changing because they are being groomed to change in that direction. Humanity is nothing but domesticated sheep don’t think this new generation is so much more enlightened you’ll be disappointed.
@@BulletRain100 I use Louis Rossman as example. He lived in New York, used public transport and electric bike. Pushed out to Dallas / Texas to drive his Tesla everyday. He finally can live in huge home, have much bigger business. Better government, but it's imprisoned in traffic every single day. He escaped from overpriced bubble of city - mostly office space, pushed out by same people who want "save world". The problem is - missing middle. Stakes are high, you either live in small apartament on "top of the world" or you are kicked out far out to New Jersey. Forced do drive car just to have job good enough to be owner of home. And actually inprisoned. I remember time when everyone dreamed to live in New York, not that big apartaments next to others, go to cafee, go to park, or go to country side on weekends. Something happened, something is missing. Investments in certain types of buildings that are present in Euorope. Been there for ages, and lated built to accomodate more people bring close to city.
I myself used to assume that this model was what made sense in an economic way, otherwise, why would they keep doing it? Turns out it only makes economic sense for land developers, box stores, and car makers, but for the population as a whole is the most expensive way of living. That's why infrastructure has to be heavily subsidized by the federal government.
The maintenance of these roads is too expensive, cities can't afford the up keep... So the roads get really bad and so does the rest of the city, because there isn't enough money to pay for other things that would benefit the community more. Transit and bicycle infrastructure is much cheaper to build and maintain. If more people get out of cars, they don't need so many lanes... But as you said, some people in the car industry and in politics benefit from the stroads, so they keep getting build...
I think there are many missing steps in there. What if those people in the back pockets of the government are those people profiting off this problem now? Subsidies on their own need direction, and more than that.
@Window4503 a few years ago I was homeless in the middle of vinter in Sweden, but I didn't want to hang out it library, too noisy to think and there was lots of violent drug addicts there that I was afraid of. Last 3 times I've been there it was chill. 2 times it was because gf needed to charge the phone and on time I helped a friend with the Xerox. :) So maybe it has somehow been changed what kind of person goes there now.
The woman yelling at you is absolutely a product of this too. Most of your exposure to people is when they're in vehicles, so when they are out of one doing anything that's odd. They're different, and threatening. Obviously I don't know the full context, but in places where there are people, not just vehicles, someone filming isn't weird.
This is, how we prevent this in Germany: New development alongside a through-road is illegal. Instead a side street must be build; usually with a roundabout as the intersection. If you sit on the corner of two through-roads, the driveway must be on the smaller one. This is even valid for private homes. The Netherlands are even more radical about this and try to retrofit it where ever possible.
That's a good idea but it's not a panacea. Houston, Texas has something similar in its central downtown area, where the city is divided into "superblocks" made up of small local roads, positioned inside a grid of major arterials. The city's a dream to drive in but nearly impossible to get around by any other means due to a lack of crossings and other non-car related infrastructure. Still, it works really well for the sole goal of reducing traffic congestion, it just needs to be used in combination with other things.
@@VestedUTuber the solution to traffic is to have no cars, or at least very few of them. In the Netherlands, you can just take the bike to your local store or walk, and if its too far use a train. these are both much more space, money, and overall efficient and more enviornmentally firendly. Quality of life also rises when you dont have to look at kilometers of concrete and asphalt every time you want to go somewhere, and you dont have to hear cars.
@@happysword258 Unfortunately, in the US things are too spread out and unevenly distributed to go _fully_ car-free like that. City centers can definitely be focused more towards pedestrian and transit infrastructure, but some people still have a reason to go to rural areas not connected to transit and so at least some road connections for cars are necessary. So you still have to optimize that to an extent. As for bicycle-focused infrastructure... you're really talking to the wrong person for that. Bikes are fine but as someone who's had serious injuries in the past that would have prevented me from riding one, forcing bicycle infrastructure at the expense of all other options is ableist. Look, I get the concept but not everyone can physically ride a bike, so it creates a similar situation to car-centric infrastructure where people who can't use that infrastructure become captive second-class citizens - for cars, that's anyone under the legal driving age and anyone who can't afford the cost of owning a car, where with bikes that's anyone who might have a bad leg or other reason they can't ride a bike, as well as temporarily anyone recovering from an injury. So the route for the US is to reduce car reliance and streamline what's left, rather than just banning cars outright. This would be the same route that Japan already took.
@@VestedUTuber you can still get everywhre my car in the netherlans, they just have viable alternatives. i know that suburban sprawl makes it nearly impossible to have good public transit, but they could at least make it not illegal to build good cities. The netherlands arent fully car-free and never will be, because cars are the best solution for things like deliveries
In Europe, some cities removed traffic lights and signs to make car drivers have to move slowly and to watch out each other. Result: Dramatic reduction of accidents and fatalities. Many downtown areas in the Netherlands do this now.
Dude yes please for the love of god make more of this... There is nothing I love more than complaining about and learning the horrible depths of misery that car dependency have thrust the nation into. This is really the most important issue in the country right now for me. Please keep it up! You have such a fresh take and personal perspective with how you broach the topic and I would love to see more of your view on things. Really you have the greatest presence for presenting information or opinions about this kind of stuff, I love your delivery and personality. THIS VIDEO WAS SUUUUPER FUN, FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE!!! You were not boring to listen to at all. I loved every minute of this. You're great!!!
I love the fact that when you were talking about drivers using a four way stop safely the white pickup truck coming from the top at 10:10 just blows through the stop sign. And yeah the car from the right was definitely paying attention for their own safety.
A native Texan, I relocated to my ancestral homelands in Central Europe in my 50s. For 37 years, I drove a car in the US. I do not have a car here, and I will not get one. We have a great pubic transportation system, and we have a good infrastructure for walking and biking. I pay about 50 cents a day for unlimited trips on our public transportation system, as I bought an annual pass. I would love for US cities be reorganised to be more like those in my new country. We also have a comprehensive national train and bus system, as well. I encourage those who are inclined and able to do so to consider relocating to an EU country. You are unlikely to regret it.
I get you. People that live in the US are so brainwashed. Living and loving life in China now. Don't listen to the propaganda, it's amazing....truly amazing. 300k foreigners in my city alone can't be wrong.
Well, as a 20 y.o. native european living in central Europe i can say that it all depends on a personal preferences and priorities, maybe for 50+ y.o. these cities are good to live (but i still wouldn’t live here), everything is close enough, shops, parks, entertainment stuff etc. so you can just go anywhere on foot or just ride few stops by bus, i know many IT specialists from the US who like the city and it’s model, but for me personally, i don’t have enough personal space, and overall these cities are depressing and boring, despite the architecture that is still pretty depressive, driving here is aggressive, if you ride a bicycle you feel endangered, because of crazy car drivers, they can easily go 50+ km/h (30+ mph) on a 3 meter wide road (two directional) it’s like a rally from the 90s. I have few bicycles and a scooter, i already had few situations where i had to brake few road ragers a mirror. maybe i got too far off top but still, people are not happy here, the number of friendly people decreases in front of your eyes… like… it depends… on your preferences as i said, but i’m planning to go to the US this year, and many of my friends that did it will never come back, so will i. There are so much more positive features than negative in the US, you begin to understand this when you have lived somewhere else in the world, every country has its own system and business network that functions and grows, thanks God America is indeed free country where if you want you can change anything for yourself. Pozdrawiam 👋
I enjoyed your take on American infrastructure and your contribution to the urbanists community. As an American it pains me that our country has gone this car dependent route
@@GGWP-nx3kn I have a small correction: It wasn't built with cars in mind. American cities were built in a sensible way before urban renewal, when we bulldozed our most valuable assets to redesign them for the car.
That comment you made about not being able to go anywhere unless you have someone drive you there is too real. It always surprised me when I see kids in other countries walking to school or going to visit their friends by themselves. Meanwhile if I were to step outside to walk here in Vegas it sucks. No infrastructure for walking means no shade in 100+ weather, very thin sidewalks with vehicles going 30+mph right next to you, or sidewalks just ending out of nowhere, if I wanted to bike it would mean sharing the road with the same vehicles, constantly breathing in smog, etc. I've always kinda mocked Europeans for complaining about USA infrastructure and me saying "just walk tf?" when I was younger but man, they werent wrong.
I can relate so closely to everything you are saying. I moved to Florida a few years ago and descended into car - centric psychosis! Once you see the car problem you can’t un-see it! It blows me away that most people are completely oblivious to it. They don’t know there are other ways to build the environment. The built environment has such an impact on almost every aspect of our lives.
Cope, blissful ignorance, and depression are all one could reasonably afford after corporations and their lapdogs in congress/senate (am not murican) unscrupulously take huge chunks of labor, time, money, emotion, and hope out of the masses and call it a day.
Charlotte area resident here. North Carolina cities are some of the most frustratingly car dependent, stroad loving, hellholes. There are some nice spots here and there, like South End here in CLT, but they are few and far between. But on the plus side, whenever I feel frustrated by Charlotte's car obsessed infrastructure, I always remind myself AT LEAST we are not Raleigh!
@@ab8817 No one is going to pay $3000 per month to live in the same small apartment in a rural town when they could get the same in Chicago or somewhere.
@@ab8817 what investor developer do you think is funding me?? lmao I have not made a single cent off of this video. Also, if a developer was paying people to say these things, wouldn't it make way more sense for them to spend money on advertising further suburban development, which is much cheaper and easier to build because of our current public policy in cities nationwide? It's not a conspiracy, people just want to live in sensible, safe, walkable places, and that's hard to find in the United States.
It gives me hope that your generation is recognizing how awful and unsustainable these places are, and you have the critical mass to maybe actually affect change. I'm a Gen Xer, from right around the point where the birth rate bottomed out. There just aren't enough of us… plus, the generations that caused all of these problems are our parents and grandparents, and they wouldn't listen to us anyway. I'm sorry it's falling to the next generation to fix a mess left to them, but I'm also inspired seeing that something is actually starting to be done about it.
Yo your video is fire! I lived in Japan for a few years then came back and wow! I never fully realized how f*cked-up our transportation system is. Its like American worldview is behind a windshield, and has absolutely warped our perspective.
Oh, honey, I lived in North Carolina for 20 years, and this just runs the limit of ridiculous. I lived in Greensboro for the last 7 of those, and when I moved there, I tried to get my son into a YMCA after school program even though I worked a 9-5 job. So, there was the YMCA downtown, and then the YMCA at the North end of the city (where I lived and where my son went to school) However, the program for middle schoolers was ONLY at the one north of the city, but the YMCA bus that picked up kids was ONLY for the downtown elementary school kids. So, there was NO way for my son to get into that program or get TO it. EVERYTHING about how this oversized suburb is designed is just dumb, dumb, dumb. Also, at the time, people who wanted to ride a bike in the park had to put their bikes on the back of the car and DRIVE to the park. Explain the logic. I moved BACK to New York City 11 years ago, sold my car, and have never looked back.
i'm considering taking the risk and moving to NYC to get away from car dependency. I'm already right outside of the city tho lol. It's great to hear stories of people who come here from all over for similar reasons!
Greensboro actually is not terrible compared with other places I have lived.(Norfolk,San Jose,Port Charlotte...)The bike lane routes and dedicated park trails make it reasonable for getting around. If you don't mind hills or rain. I've heard it said you not in traffic. You are traffic. So. Pick your times to drive. Keep your head on a swivel. Try to plan your moves accordingly.
@@JamesPilkenton-se5cx I used to live off of Lawndale Drive and the park is North of there. Have they since installed bike lanes in that part of town? When I lived there they had NONE.
Car dependency is such a horrible thing because it causes disadvantaged and disabled peoples to be unable to become independant. for example blind people cannot drive so that means in alot of cases they just straight up cannot get to a job without being escorted there by another person every single time. thats awful. the cost of maintaining a car is also just absurd repairs, insurance, gas the initial purchase... absolutely nuts
What’s really crazy is that a cities of 90,000 especially don’t need an 8 lane roads. here in Washington I’ve noticed that these horrible strodes are on the outskirts of cities. It always baffled me that Seattle has very few 5 lane roads but it’s suburbs with much lower density have 7 and 8 lane roads
Thank you for your service, great crosser of Patton Ave. My car broke down bad and I sold it for an e-bike. Mind was really in the dumps for a while, especially working a delivery job through and after the lockdown. Riding that thing around really cleared my head, even though it SUCKS lmao. All the neighborhoods that have been built in the past 30 years have been totally segregated by home price here, so there's no connections, not even for pedestrians. I've gotta ride on a 50mph or 70mph road for at least 5 miles to get anywhere, in traffic. Almost never see anyone outside, even on perfect days... I wonder why!
Banger-ass video. I yearn for a world where the only drivers are the people that like to drive (like me) and the people who really actually *need* to drive. These stroads and people who should not be driving but have no choice make driving a terrible experience
This is why I don't understand pro-car resistance to viable transportation alternatives like... getting more people off of the road makes the experience of driving BETTER for those who do it! You're absolutely correct.
@@rob_nsn It seems people feel threatened that their car will get taken away by those pesky "urbanists" and "hippie cyclists" lol... They want to force everyone to drive just because they want to drive.
Plus since everyone is compelled to drive the driver's licensure requirements are far more lax than they need to be. UK or European standards should be adopted!
I’m old, in my sixties, and when I was old enough to drive it was upsetting because I realized that I was FORCED to learn to drive and to own a car in order to live in this huge metropolitan area. I have an eye condition called strabismus, which means I can’t see in 3-d and makes it difficult to drive and to park. So I resisted driving, but could not get to and from work using mass transit without spending hours a day waiting for connecting bus routes. But all my life people ridiculed me for my aversion to driving. The worst road here in the DMV is route 270, which has become a nightmare of gridlock. Fifty years ago, when it was first completed, it was almost empty on Sunday morning drives. Now it’s almost impossible to drive on during daytime, and at nighttime the cops don’t pull over extreme speeders, so it’s very dangerous. Even cops get mowed down along 270.
This is the first of your videos I've seen, and I liked it. I'm in Canada, but I've got friends in Chapel Hill, and whenever I visit you're... spot on. Keep it up!
hi aspiring city planner one day. seeing content like this really inspires me to keep going with my studies. hopefully i can make a living doing what you’re doing one day
It is young people like you who need to keep thinking critically, move others, and change this shitbox excuse for a world. You have to fight. Every aspect of our lives in the US is coerced by corporate forces who ceaselessly remind us the current status quo is the only way. It is not the only way, nor is it the right way. You, and others like you can and must lead the way. Keep up the good work young man!
Oh my god this was so well done 😭 thank you for saying all the things I wish I could convey to others in 3 seconds when they spit on me in the bike lane for just existing. Bravo, thank you, we can change this!
Not antagonizing cars and causing mayhem in traffic with your bicycle will give you a sense of acceptance and comradery on your commute. If you are having problems, you should examine how you deal with and interact with cars. Stay out of the way and keep moving. No one will bother you if you are not stirring up BS with other traffic. I ride a motorcycle and the bicycles start their crap with me when I am making a right turn or pulling over to park. They are obnoxious and self righteous. Be nice. Trust me it works.
@@KlodFather I am traffic, just like everyone else who uses the roadway. So no, I will not move, I will continue to ride in a way that is safest, and legal to do so. edit: especially when I'm in a fucking bike lane where they shouldn't be. Victim blaming is a shitty look, you should think about not doing that anymore.
A full serving of truth. Automobiles ruined our planet and it's getting worse if that is even possible. The farm where I grew up is one of those places that was destroyed by the completion of a new highway. Burnt gasoline killed everything, including the fish in our lake.
One small quibble. The businesses along a stroad are never there for local residents. Business owners do (and have always) realised that to attract customers, you need to locate yourself where a lot of people spend a lot of their time. In a small market town, this probably means a shop along the street that connects to the district where the market is held, because this is the one street that every person in the district will reliably walk down at least a few times each week. In a streetcar suburb, this means a shop on one of the street corners where the streetcar stops. In an auto oriented subdivision, where most people spend most of their free time in their car, the best place to find them is out on the roads that funnel high volumes of cars from one place to another. Businesses along a stroad come chasing the cars. They aren't there for whichever locals might happen to live nearby. That's also why stroads have a particular look. Because there's no point having a premises where drivers might see it if it's small and innocuous and flies right by the driver before they can notice it. If you are going to be on the stroad, you need a sign that can be seen from a mile away, a wide driveway that can be turned into at speed, ideally a drive thru, and a carpark that looks predominantly empty, even when business is brisk. In short, a stroad is what a main street or shopping mall looks like in the transformers universe, where everyone is a sentient two tonne death machine. Stroads bloat into ten lane traffic canyons because of induced demand. But they exist in the first place simply because cars.
This is what I was trying to articulate at 9:20, I'd be interested to know more about how I could convey this more clearly if you have any feedback. Thanks for watching!!
the strangest and most chaotic road in NC (that i can think of) is Independence Blvd in Charlotte. Between I-277 and the Lambo Dealership, the road has sidewalks and driveways, but yet the road is built like a freeway. Its truly strange
I live in a city that I like to call a recovering car-dependent suburb. If you look at photos of the place in the 70's until the 90's in particular, it was just a wasteland of malls with massive parking lots. We used to have an intercity tram line until the 60's even though the population was low and we just had lots of farms and a fishing village with a cannery. These days we have a rapid transit rail line into Vancouver proper once again, buses are basically adequate, our city centre that people were once reluctant to call a downtown is actually becoming a real downtown, and I can get around on my bike even if it's a bit scary sometimes - things are close enough that it's naturally attractive. Council debate is still frustrating and not every step is forward, but things are looking better. I actually did try to learn to drive when I got old enough, but for the reasons you gave and because public transit here is somewhere between okay and very good depending on where you need to go, I was never very serious about it and basically gave up. I honestly don't regret it. It's a little inconvenient sometimes but also better in many other ways, and now I try to convince others of that too. Great video, reminded me of how I first realized these things too
Hey! Kudos on your first couple of videos about urbanism! What you’ve made is super watchable, funny, thoughtful, insightful and necessary. I hope you make more of these and show us more about what’s good and bad in your home city. America needs someone like you in every city and town, in local, state and federal government too.
Hey, great video. We need more people speaking up about car dependency, how it’s literally killing us, inside and out. And your experience is not unique. I live on Long Island NY. It is ridiculously car dependent here.
bro this is so true, I am getting so deep into this rabbit hole that I literally hit the bottom of content on RUclips and get epic videos like this one on my front page
It's not deep, it's not a rabbit hole. It's a genre on social media almost entirely fueled and consumed by people who... don't own a car. We don't need a new nationwide conspiracy to explain why you don't have a car yet. Seriously, it's the same video every time someone makes it. A guy aged 16-24 goes to some very crowded intersection in a city during rush hour, and pretends that they are somehow being... suppressed by this and that it's intentional and typical. Okay, so you can't *walk* across busy vehicular infrastructure during rush hour without waiting for a red light first. Life sucks I guess?
@@davemccombswhy would you watch and comment on a video you didn't watch? This guy drives. I drive. I hate stroads and car dependency. They suck to drive on and they ruin places. Fight me.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I want to note that it would be to your advantage to support this cause. Viable alternatives to driving take drivers off of roads, therefore improving the experience of driving for those who actually want to drive. Well designed, safe roads are better for drivers because it lowers your likelihood of getting in a serious accident. Financially sustainable auto infrastructure improves the quality of roads for drivers. Changing our approach towards transportation infrastructure would make things better for everybody, including drivers. (Also, I've been driving my car for eight years because there is no viable alternative where I live 😉) If you're interested in learning more about this issue, I would suggest reading "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" (published 1961) by Jane Jacobs, or "Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity" (published 2019) by Charles Marohn, a former DOT traffic engineer and expert on the subject. They are lively and riveting texts that are definitely worth your time!
@@davemccombsIt's people that don't like the fact that our society demands that they must be responsible for the cost of owning a car that then has to be operated in an dangerous and inefficient environment that often amounts to gridlock rather than offering viable alternatives. Offering those viable alternatives would not only make owning a car an option (rather than an obligation), it would make it a much more attractive option since the gridlock would be much less frequent (if not non-existent). And then there's the icing on the cake, which is the billions upon billions of dollars that we tax payers cover in order to create such an ineffective and undesirable transportation system. The rabbit hole is the fact that the internet is creating the awareness about how much more efficient and enjoyable transportation is be in much of the world, outside the US and Canada. It's understandably mind-blowing for many people who thought they lived in the greatest country in the world.
What makes me sad/depression is that US had something really good going on with our cities in the past. We were building beautiful infrastructure that had a mix of European and American western style, good examples of some cities would be Faneuil Hall Marketplace in MA or King Street in VA. Instead it went all down hill after WW2, and government was pushing more towards suburban sprawl, the after math is this ugly unsustainable mess and abandoned down towns.
This is actually incredible informative and an absolute deep dive that I didn’t know I needed… and you know what? You’re so right bestie! Points were fucking made! I live in Washington state and we have so many of these “stroads” here too and they’re awful! Would absolutely love to hear your take on the “normalization of car crashes” because that is something that just blows my mind. Driving on the 405 I see MULTIPLE crashes in a DAY. WHY. I do not understand. Can’t wait to see more of your videos ✨
I've also been increasingly interested in urban development and the like in the past couple years. Cities all over North America are full of these shitty stroads and abandoned shopping centers. It's always heartbreaking and it seems like just another way normal people get broken down to feel more alone.
Preach!! Very great video! When I was traveling abroad I always had a sensation that something was off with the infrastructure, some weird feeling that you just want to get out of that place your walking in, but I could never put my finger on it, I always thought that it was because I was not used to it. Then some Canadian guy on the internet told me that my country has one of the best infrastructure in the world and it made sense all of a sudden. Greetings from the Netherlands!
Jason from NotJustBikes might have a bit of a condescending tone to his videos (it's why I kinda stopped watching after that comment he made about north america being lost) but that doesn't change the fact that he's right about everything regarding urban design.
Great video! I live in the Number 3 most sprawling city in the US and it sucks. I grew up in Europe and the level of mobility that I had as a teenager was incredible. I could choose between my moped, bus, or train whichever was the most convenient. I hope you'll have a chance to visit cities built for people in the Netherlands, Germany or pretty much anywhere in the EU. Even though it is far from perfect having options is nice. Unfortunately most Americans are unaware that life is more enjoyable if you are not forced to spend hours of your day inside a metal box. I
I'll take that back I love cars too 😂 but if the all system is so exasperated that I cannot even bike or walk to get some milk then I think something needs to be revised.
Pro tip: honestly NEVER cross at intersections. Especially if you're gonna end up waiting for 4+ minutes anyway, you're a million times better off finding a spot in the middle of the highway, wait for there to be no cars coming from the one direction, cross to the median, and then do the same on the other side. If you keep crossing at intersections like you're doing (regardless of the fact that you have the signal to go), you will most likely at some point come close to being hit by a car or actually get hit by a car. At any intersection there are 4 directions for cars to come at you from. It's impossible to keep track of. And even when you have a walk signal, there are cars trying to make a right on red or a left on green (most people driving don't even realize that when they're making a left on green with no arrow that pedestrians simultaneously have a walk signal THROUGH their left turn path). Seriously, avoid intersections. Jaywalk your way across stroads and highways. And even city streets when you can. I've never had an issue with cops messing with me for jaywalking.
I had the same thoughts as you on stroads and the suburbs, which led to me getting a bachelor’s and a masters in geography. I was curious, why do I love going to NYC and Philadelphia, but hated being in NJ.
as a person who grew up in the suburbs as a POC…plsss keep making more vids, i’d watch them all! we NEED to start talking more abt the affects of urbanism and why it’s so shitty that every single non-mega city is unlivable without a car
2:28 Growing up, my parents would literally pray every time we got in the car that we’d travel safely. Like literally ask God that we wouldn’t get killed or injured in a collision…
Great video that affects all of American’s lives. We have beautiful nature here in America but we make our cities and towns so ugly for no reason. It really makes me sad and frustrated. I hope the people who make these places realize that the way all of our cities and towns are built make our lives so much harder and scary. No wonder so many people just stay inside their homes all day. Disgusting.
I grew up in Queens (NYC) in the 60s, 70s & 80s. It was dense, packed and full of traffic. That never kept us locked up inside all day. In fact we were out all the time when we weren't in school, eating or sleeping. Seriously, what a bunch of complaining cry babies. You have luxuries that couldn't have been dreamed of back when I was growing up and all you do is complain. That's what is disgusting.
It's a very strange feeling to be recommended a video only to find out that it was made by a musician that I really enjoy, one who only has thousands of listeners. Great video, I'm looking forward to more if you decide to pursue it!
ayye glad to hear it! I'm actively working on both music and youtube videos, trying to get on my content creator grind so I can afford to move to NYC lol
@@rob_nsnWhy not move to Europe so much better than New York just an idea?😊 This was an awesome video keep up the great work👍 And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱
@@DidierWierdsma6335 The honest answer is that I can't afford that yet, and I have career aspirations that I need to spend a couple of years workin on in NYC where the US live electronic music scene is centered. I'll get to the EU eventually!!
The way my jaw kept dropping as you had to wait longer and longer for the pedestrian light to turn green, oh my god. We have a main road that connects our town to the outside world, and there are a couple of businesses that have a intersection connected directly to said businesses in a stroad-like manner. However, the road's speed limit is just 31mph, in fact it used to be 37mph, but got changed as the people deemed it unsafe speeds due to many kids having to cross the street in order to get to their schools. It also has a complete sidewalk with a ditch between them, and the sidewalk follows the main road out of our town and all the way to our neighbouring city. I personally ride a motorcycle as it's my only form of long-distance transport, however I could ride a bike with no problem out of my town to the main city in an hour without having to share the road with a single car. There is no excuse to the creation of such infrastructure, I've read about European cities being bombed to hell and back and instead of building their same old roads for cars, they chose to rebuild it for trams, busses, trains and etc. I know these infrastructures are for cars, but why do they keep building these unfriendly structures where the actual humans inhabiting it comes not even second?
Just wait until I release my video about how speed limits are totally ineffective! Thanks so much for watching and it's sick to hear your experience of stroads in your city :)
In the particular case of Patton Avenue west of the French Broad River, the local infrastructure was actually intentionally designed to be shit. There was a falling out between the civil engineers designing the road network and the city, and when it finally came time to hand the blueprints over to the construction teams, the engineers gave the city a design that was intentionally completely unviable out of spite.
@@VestedUTuber TELL ME MORE! I've done a ton of research about Patton Ave through West Asheville, I-240, and I-26. Here's what I know: - Originally Haywood Road was the primary route from downtown to West - In 1951, rather than adding capacity to Haywood Road, they built the Smokey Park Bridge (now known as the Captain Jeff Bowen Bridge) to coincide with the creation of the Smokey Park Highway, which became the primary route through West Asheville. At that time, only one of the spans was constructed, two lanes of through traffic in either direction. - The Smokey Park Highway was built using a totally new route between the river and Haywood road. The remainder of the highway used to be Haywood road, which was widened. In its original iteration, the whole length of the highway was two lanes of traffic in either direction (total of four.) The beginnings of the grade-separated interchange with the Western portion of the highway was built, but the full highway was not built yet. They also built the New Leicester highway in a similar fashion. - The Westgate shopping center opened as Asheville's first strip mall in 1956 on the site of a former quarry, setting off the commercial development along the corridor. - The crosstown expressway (now I-240) through downtown opened in 1960, terminating on one end at the original bridge span and at the Beaucatcher tunnel on the other end. It destroyed a large number of houses and businesses, and historically black communities were most affected, especially the Hill Street community. If I recall correctly, many of those displaced by the highway were relocated to the Hillcrest public housing development, which was intentionally isolated by from the rest of the city by I-26. - At some point between 1963 and 1975, it was widened to have three lanes of through traffic in either direction between the river and Haywood road. I believe this is when the southern span of the Bowen bridge was constructed. I think this also coincided with the construction of the expressway through West Asheville, which also affected mostly historically black communities, especially the Burton Street community. - In 1980, the cut was completed along with the remainder of I-240 from Beaucatcher mountain to I-40. The decision to create the cut rather than construct an additional tunnel was heavily protested, but ultimately the cut won because it was cheaper and also it was a political favor from state highway commission member Ted Jordan to Baxter Taylor, with whom he was a real estate partner. Baxter Taylor owned the construction firm that built the highway. Also, he'd get to take possession of the millions of cubic feet of rock blasted from the mountain. Other than that, I haven't found any other details about Patton Ave through West Asheville specifically. I'd LOVE to know your sources to find out more about this road!! Thanks so much for watching and commenting :)
man that pedestrian traffic light actually took 4 minutes to become green? I have never seen that in my life before. i think the longest i ever had to wait for is like 2 minutes. People here would never accept it like that, not even at the worst stroads I know of. I became interested in urban planning when i wondered about a few very unhuman and dangerous places i had to pass through with my bike. I thought "why is it like that and is this really necessary"? after all there are places in my city where there are just as many shops and businesses and they feel much better to be in or go through. (even in a car btw.) Turns out what I'm talking about is a stroad, but the "light" version of it because here, things never become as big as they do in the US. (Im German) hope you continue this kind of videos, love it. Always something new to learn, even though I already watched all of RUclips around this topic. :D
Your views are right on the money. We have become a car-centric society. I live in a community designed to be difficult to get anywhere unless you drive (I bike, regardless). The city is taking baby steps to improve this but there's a lot to be done. They point with pride to the new "bike lanes" along a repaved road which are merely painted stripes along the shoulder. Keep making content and I'll watch.
Sometimes I wonder if those "painted bicycle gutters" are done on purpose, so they can prove nobody will use them and there's no need for bicycle infrastructure.. Sigh.. Nobody is going to cycle on a busy road with high speed cars, unless you're really brave (usually young and anbled men).
And how do people think they are going to change society to not be car centric? people usually resist when forced to live in new ways. I do no think it will go very smoothly. The harder you try to change society, the more society will push back. You can't get everyone on the same page, ever. Cars are here to stay. Just TRY to force us to live differently, I dare you folks.
@@peterbelanger4094 IMO it is impossible for the suburban experiment to last indefinitely. I think you're probably right that people will not be forced to live in new ways through sheer force of will alone - it will mostly likely be economically and physically forced. I obviously don't know the future, but here's my best guess about how it will go down: - The old city centers that have languished since the dawn of suburbia in the middle of the 20th century will become desirable again - These places will become gentrified, and the rich will occupy those spaces - The poor will be displaced into suburbia, which will inevitably fail due to deferred maintenance liabilities that are absolutely impossible to pay for (these first three steps are well underway) - Suburban decay will occur from the inside out, concentrically starting with the centermost rings of suburban housing outside of urban highway loops from the 50s, progressively moving all the way out to the mcmansions being built on the very edge of town as we speak - This will take the form of sewer, wastewater, fresh water, and road infrastructure becoming unusable with no financial mechanism in place to repair them - Slowly, the dense urban core of cities will begin to spread out into those first suburban rings after they fail, since this will be the new desirable paradigm and cities will have no choice but to build financially solvent infrastructure - The outer rings of suburbs and highways will become an apocalyptic hellscape, occupied by those who have been the most negatively affected by their creation in the first place, and who least deserved to be punished for it. Basically, over the next century, almost all American cities will meet the same fate as Detroit did. The main difference is that Detroit started their car centric suburban experiment decades before the rest. The end of car dependency and suburban sprawl will not be pretty, it will be painful, and it will leave the disadvantaged behind. It will probably leave our nation very poor in general. IMO, this will be the inevitable result of the land use decisions our country has made. It sucks. But maybe I'm wrong and we'll just keep building suburban hellscapes on purpose forever, minus the apocalyptic failure! Doesn't that sound great?
@@MonsieurRaki - Where I live, the cyclists still use the sidewalk even though there's a bicycle gutter, because on the sidewalk they have the protection of a curb and a strip of grass. Nobody wants to be on a bicycle next to a car that's passing them from behind at 45 mph.
@@arthurwintersight7868 Just the thought of biking on a Stroad with cars whizzing past me at 45 MPH gives me the heebie-jeebies, paranoid that someone might clip or hit me from there.
I love the way you made this video! The cutaways, the humour, the music, the shots; it's incredible, please keep going! Also, an obligatory “I live in Europe and we have it waay better here”
Good video! Can't wait to see more I had to stay in Raleigh for a few weeks last summer and yes, it's a stroad nightmare. Combined with the giant parking lots it felt just as hot, grimy and miserable as Houston. You're very correct that stroads take away the character of any area
I enjoyed your video! Many people are interested in this topic, so keep the video's coming! You have a great personality and you explained things well. I feel bad for (young) people with almost nothing to do and nowhere to go but their work and these mega stores. Plus all the danger you have to endure on a daily basis, that's just awful. Hopefully that will change eventually, if people demand it. Greetings from the Netherlands :)
I live in Utah and this video looks like something from a different country to me. Yikes! 80% of jobs on the Wasatch Front are accessible by transit. Our state devotes 25% of the transportation budget to non vehicle infrastructure (bike lanes, paths, pedestrian bridges, transit, etc)
Oh my goodness, thank you for actually mentioning the petroleum subsidies! It drives me crazy that people complain about gas being "so expensive" when it's on the same price point as milk... that's insane
@knrdvmmlbkkn it's not really. The issue is the price of gas... Milk just happens to be priced very similarly to the artificially low price of petrol fuels. It's just an extremely cheap liquid being sold in the same units of measurement. I guess I could have used fruit juice as an example? It's hard to think of any other liquids that cheap. Gasoline absolutely should not be one of them. What other explosives are that cheap? Just trying to point out some of the absurdity that lots of people are just willing to accept.
@@tay-lore"Milk just happens (...) of petrol fuels."" So it's just a coincidence. As such it's barely worth mentioning other than as a "fun fact". I have the same number of eyes as each of my dogs, but does that say anything about whether or not I ought to replace my glasses? "It's just an extremely cheap liquid" Which can become an extremely expensive liquid if you have to use a lot of it . Especially if you have trouble purchasing, storing or finding alternatives to it. "being sold in the same units of measurement." Which units of measurement it's sold in appear to be irrelevant. "I guess I (...) as an example? You could, but that would be just as irrelevant. "It's hard to (...) liquids that cheap." Or that expensive, considering how much we use of it. Well, liquid petroleum in general. Diesel might be more important than petrol (I refuse to use the silly term "gasoline") and then there's liquified natural gas, oil for lubrication etc. We probably spend more on that than on any other liquid. (The whole country, including businesses and government.) I find it unlikely that even poor and dry countries with a lack of potable water spends more money on water (probably the effectively second most expensive liquid) than liquid petroleum (probably the effectively most expensive liquid) "It's hard to (...) liquids that cheap." Which state of matter it is in (liquid, gas or solid) appear to be irrelevant as well. "What other explosives are that cheap?" I don't think that it's an explosive. "Just trying to (...) willing to accept." While I try to point out some of the absurdity I find in your comments. Don't get me wrong; I, too, think energy ought to be more expensive than it currently is. But there are several different factors at play... and some facts may be less than fully relevant.
Great video Rob. I just want to mention that the solution for car travel is often the same for pedestrian walking focused cities. To upgrade and enhance. Just look at tokyo, how congested their walkable city is, you literally sit in" traffic" as the massive amounts of people ahead of you slow you down. Also, going across the street with houndreds of people at once is also not a pleasant experience. The main issue here is not cars, walkable cities or such. It is moderation. When we are too many at once, things start to break. We need to sparce out. Cities have grouped us way too close than we naturally should be. We used to be farmes with great space between our small local communities, this just isn't the case anymore.
I think that "gross" feeling you mentioned was a feeling of dystopia. As humans (who are a part of nature and the natural environment) it is in our DNA to interact with the earth. Trees and other plants literally provide the oxygen vital to our existence. When we cut that down to pave over it with concrete and asphalt it feels weird and wrong because we weren't meant to live in such artificial environments. I'm not saying streets or even highways are inherently bad, but when more of a city's surface area is devoted to parking lots or 12 lane stroads than anything else, it is a problem.
Great video. Its not really new information, as I'm sure we're all familiar with the big channels covering these topics right now. What this does do really well, however, is summarize all of the talking points really quickly and effectively. I especially love that you included how long it took to cross the street in the top corner while you were talking, and later on in the video provided real examples of the roadside changing through time. More people need to be aware of how soul-crushing and dangerous car-centrism is to our cities. Also that lady getting mad at you filming is indicative of how everyone in these spaces is just utterly depressed and desperate for any form of control. Please, please, please, make more videos on those topics at the end. We need more voices on these issues! And good luck with your youtube channel.
Thank you so much for saying this - I dissuaded myself from making this video for months because I figured that it's already been done by other channels much better than I ever could. Luckily, some friends convinced me that I can talk about this subject in a way that is compellingly different from others, and that simply doing it in a different style would make it worth watching. Hopefully they were right. Thanks for watching and I greatly appreciate the encouragement!!!
It’s excruciating even for young, healthy people with good reflexes, good vision and hearing who are highly visible. But for people with disabilities? Even minor things like auditory processing issues, glasses, or just being elderly or a child? So sad.
I spent many a day at that abandoned Kmart in the 1980s, shopping with my mom and getting excited about the "blue light" specials (soon to be on their way out at that time)... nostalgia. Thank you for the memories of Asheville as well as the realism that is United States transportation.
I’m a fan. I live down below you in Greenville, SC and I see the stroad problem everywhere. We need more people like us advocating for better, safer, less congested roads. Please do a talk on transit!!
Hey Rob, you have an interesting style and make a pretty dry topic fun and engaging. Keep it up! My cousin lives in Asheville and it's got a pretty cool vibe downtown, but it's sad to see it's choked with the same stroady sprawl as everywhere else.
Stroads can be improved. There were several countries/cities in Europe that fixed it. Granted, I don't think they were necessarily stroads, but they suffered the same dehumanizing urbanization, and were able to fully recover.
How to improve a stroad the European (Dutch...) way? Doable! The main problem with "stroads" (hate that word) is that they are roads with mixed use while not being designed for either. Local and through traffic do not mix well so you: 1. Make a hard divisor down the middle keeping left and right separate. Maybe even something green with trees 2. Create two narrow car lanes on each side for through traffic. 3. Create on each far side a parallel lane for local traffic. Traffic calm the EFF out of it. 4. Optional: Lanes for buses, local buses use the parallel road ofc. 5. Optional: Bike lane. Note that if the parallel roads are traffic calmed and separated enough they should be safe for bicycles 6. Every few miles connect them all with (turbo)roundabouts. If you need more width take some of all that unused parking space. For through traffic the little interference with local traffic means there is more flow through. A road like this also does not need traffic lights. If you need to be somewhere local change to the parallel road where this is allowed.
@@DutchLabrat They do this in Belgium too though bus and bike lanes are not optional. Actually we are lucky if there is a lane for cars and other vehicles left.
Just came here from your brother’s lost Gameboy video and man I am glad he gave you a shoutout. Great video! You got the utter illogical nature of car-centric infrastructure spot on. There were so many topics condensed in this one video.
I stayed in Asheville for a single night for an overnight stay and I became absolutely irritated with the traffic. Tunnel Road angered me more than basically any other road I’ve driven on in North Carolina except maybe Independence Boulevard in Charlotte, where I live. I wholeheartedly agree with you and you have a very good presentation form. Keep it up!
Independence Blvd is so frustrating. It's like a stroad, and a major highway at the same time, with direct street connections?? Who designed that garbage??
Unprotected right and left turns on a road where cars are going 45 mph is, to put it lightly, and dumb stupid horrible idea. "I think I can fit in that gap" -Phrases said moments before disaster
I agree that we should stop building stroads. If you want a through road, build one that supports high speeds and no businesses. If you want businesses keep streets that support slow and safe speeds and access. I think the best solution fix the danger of stroads is the access road. It still sucks but it does make access into and out of businesses safer since no business is direct accessed from the main road. As far as making places more pedestrian friendly, that's another problem.
In the Netherlands we do have restaurants (mostly for truck drivers and tourists) and gas stations along the highway, but we have access ramps to get to them.. With a road designed for through traffic and high speeds it doesn't make sense to have many stoplights and traffic lights like in the US often is the case on these stroads. That will only slow down traffic, causing more congestion and longer commutes.
The first step to move past this is to invest in public transportation that is faster than driving. A bus in a dedicated lane zooming past all the drivers siting is traffic will encourage others to try it. If it's not faster than driving then few people who can afford to drive will bother with a bus or train.
Earned a sub, please do more of these videos, I advocate at my local meetings for moving away from car infrastructure in favor of bike infrastructure and content like this helps inspire the speeches I deliver and inform lawmakers about ways we can fix this crap because I too can't stand how much money gets flushed down the toilet to create worse places. Ideal video for me personally would be ways to roll back 4 lane stroads into more pedestrian and bike friendly places.
I live in a suburb of Seattle and any time I walk along the stroads I just feel unwelcome and afraid. Like any of these cars going in excess of 45 mph could be texting or otherwise lose control and kill me in an instant. I don't drive so I don't get out much as a result.
I live out in the middle of no where, closest grocery store is 35 minute drive so this is not even slightly relevant to me, or even all that interesting to my brain, but here I am at the end screen. I think it’s a testament to your passion and still to take something really quite boring to most and make an interesting enough video that someone sits through the entire thing. Mad respect, subscribed, can’t wait for the next vid!
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I wanna issue a correction on 2:28 - people do check in with their loved ones to make sure they get home safely in places that are not car dependent, mostly due to the externality of crime, rather than the fundamental physical danger of the only available transportation system. I should have been more specific, I still think it's insane to have a high likelihood grave physical danger built into the basic structure of our urban mobility, and I think that's what we're referring to when we want people to "get home safely" in the car dependent areas of the USA. We don't purposefully design places for criminals to hurt people in the subway station, but we do design 55mph roads with traffic lights on purpose - the danger is built into the very structure of the design. I didn't state this specific point very well in the video, but that's what I meant!
No you are right I’m in my early 40’s and this just wasn’t a thing when I was growing up in the 90’s for a few reasons. Violent crime was actually slightly higher than today but obviously the internet was in its infancy and we didn’t have this 24 hour news cycle. Unless it was a major story we didn’t hear much about crime outside our area. Second, and more important, we all have phones and could text “hey I’m home.” Rather than pick up the family phone and call.
I wanted to mention that when you were talking about the cost of owning a car: mention law enforcement: Speeding Tickets! Especially if you’re caught in a speed trap county. They’ll always tell you it’s for your safety, in reality it’s not! It’s all about the revenue $. I’m dealing with a situation now. I live in Murfreesboro TN. Metro Nashville. We have one county next to us that is a speed trap. 2000.00 for an attorney, 200.0 for the traffic school. Nashville, and the other counties you don’t need a lawyer, and traffic school is only 29.00.
So, If they say safety to you would you believe them?
Your subject matter, some great examples you would find here in Nashville and Metro area. Nashville is known as a nightmare. Worst traffic jams, traffic engineers nightmares, the FEDS even studied Nashville streets and the Horrible Interstate connections problems. I-40/I-24/I-65/I-440/I-840/ One single accident causes traffic jams on adjacent highways, and floods streets In Nashville and not clear out until Lunch.
Hospital workers are 3 hours late to their shifts, other workers are too.
The FEDs offer to help but stubborn, obtuse, Tennessee conservative Gov. State legislature. and senators refuse to accept the money; because they want to play adversarial politics with DC. The pain of a Republican Supermajority state government.
I’m sure you have plenty of samples there. But if you happen to pass through here, you’ll find more for sure, especially during rush hour coming into the city, and most certainly in the city. Their in metro areas too.
Well, there is Uber. But if you want some real stress, trying driving 15 hours a day. That makes a reasonable income, but an accident can easily end one's career, and never mind the drunks.
On another note., don't forget that many major roads were built to either destroy an unwanted neighborhood or to isolate an unwanted neighbor hood. Read unwanted as "minority."
Appreciate the correction. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do here, as someone down in Macon County who loves all of Western NC and would love to see Asheville take a pause and build a growth strategy that protects the city better from postmodern dystopian hellscape aesthetics. It is possible, but will take real pressure to make happen.
@@thomasjamison2050I drive for a living as a widowed mother of two kids. I have a $250,000 life insurance policy, thank goodness, but it is always in the back of my mind that I’m just waiting for a drunk and/or distracted driver to end my functionality/life, and for my kids to lose their mother, get split up, and be raised by their grandma and aunt (they have different fathers). 😰
It's amazing how your completely surrounded by hundreds of people at any given time, but you are completely alone because they're all driving around in a bubble.
This is exactly why living in suburbia makes me feel crazy! It's not normal to limit your interactions with other human beings in this way. I'd love to live in a place with greater chances for contact with other people and serendipity, it feels much more natural and human to me.
@@rob_nsn I live in Philly. The last affordable walkable area in the Northeast. Rent only 750/mo in a very safe neighborhood. I remember moving out to central PA for work and absolutely HATING it! I get it, it's America, you need a car no matter what. But the fact I needed to get in the car just to drive to a damn 7-11 just pissed me off so much. That, and 2 years out there and I never knew my neighbors. I told the company to transfer me back to Philly or I quit.
@@Slaythehippies Not everyone wants to live in a hive city surrounded by facsimiles of real people. I am from Philly myself and moved to Texas years ago, and I hate it anytime I go back to visit. I learned how much I hate living on top of and being surrounded by other people, and that is in conjunction with being subjected to the bone crushing crime it brings. I also hate the general hostility and politics in large cities, and how people from them think they are better than people who are not.
@Pleasiotic1 how many Iaughable generalizations of urban living can you cram into one comment, like "bone crushing crime" lmao what does that even mean. I get not wanting to live in apartment buildings your whole Iife, but there are plenty of townhouse, duplexes, or single family homes in the walkable areas of the big city too. Plenty of small towns are mostly single family homes with sidewalks and gridded streets for an easy walk to main street too.
@@GirtonOramsay So I don't know anything about the city that I was born and raised in? I didn't have a double murder 3 doors down from my aunt's house? They aren't running every major business out of town due to theft and crime?
Save your liberal fantasies for someone else. I own multiple vehicles and love driving. I will never use public transportation unless I am forced too. Just because you enjoy breathing everyone else's stink doesn't everyone else has to live according to your totalitarian views.
I am happy to see how many Americans realized car-dependent suburban sprawl is not a freedom but it a bad product of automotive and oil industry greed. I don't hate cars but car-dependence. As a European, every time I visited US suburbs I felt something was weird there and then I heard about stroads and suburban sprawl. It was more shocking that before WW2 US had very good train and public transit network, US was literally build on railway networks.
Very good video, greetings from Switzerland.
The biggest difference between the US and Europe are the cities. In Europe they are usually the best place to live, while in the US they tend to be the worst. Much of the suburban sprawl were due to those in the cities fleeing the core and those from rural areas refusing to move into the core.
The opinion of the younger generations in America are changing because they only know cities that have been gentrified. Those places are really nice, though they also tend to be extremely expensive.
@@BulletRain100the opinions of the newer generations are changing because they are being groomed to change in that direction. Humanity is nothing but domesticated sheep don’t think this new generation is so much more enlightened you’ll be disappointed.
@@BulletRain100 You just described white flight my dude. Everything you just said is a bunch of bullshit made up by racists.
Add me
@@BulletRain100 I use Louis Rossman as example. He lived in New York, used public transport and electric bike. Pushed out to Dallas / Texas to drive his Tesla everyday. He finally can live in huge home, have much bigger business. Better government, but it's imprisoned in traffic every single day. He escaped from overpriced bubble of city - mostly office space, pushed out by same people who want "save world". The problem is - missing middle. Stakes are high, you either live in small apartament on "top of the world" or you are kicked out far out to New Jersey. Forced do drive car just to have job good enough to be owner of home. And actually inprisoned. I remember time when everyone dreamed to live in New York, not that big apartaments next to others, go to cafee, go to park, or go to country side on weekends. Something happened, something is missing. Investments in certain types of buildings that are present in Euorope. Been there for ages, and lated built to accomodate more people bring close to city.
I myself used to assume that this model was what made sense in an economic way, otherwise, why would they keep doing it? Turns out it only makes economic sense for land developers, box stores, and car makers, but for the population as a whole is the most expensive way of living. That's why infrastructure has to be heavily subsidized by the federal government.
Right! It feels like it would be an economic inevitability, but in reality it is an economic disaster. So frustrating!!!
The maintenance of these roads is too expensive, cities can't afford the up keep... So the roads get really bad and so does the rest of the city, because there isn't enough money to pay for other things that would benefit the community more. Transit and bicycle infrastructure is much cheaper to build and maintain. If more people get out of cars, they don't need so many lanes... But as you said, some people in the car industry and in politics benefit from the stroads, so they keep getting build...
I think there are many missing steps in there. What if those people in the back pockets of the government are those people profiting off this problem now? Subsidies on their own need direction, and more than that.
lmao you think the f e d e r a l govt can do that? lmao do you even live on earth?
You forgot oil producers and banks that sell all that on credit.
7:00 basically, if you are not working or spending money, there are very few places you are welcome to be in this day and age
Honestly though, like, what? What was she motivated by? The privacy of the overpass???
Beware of wild Karens
The public library is the only place that doesn’t have that criteria for me
@@Window4503Too bad they’re in danger nationwide.
@Window4503 a few years ago I was homeless in the middle of vinter in Sweden, but I didn't want to hang out it library, too noisy to think and there was lots of violent drug addicts there that I was afraid of. Last 3 times I've been there it was chill. 2 times it was because gf needed to charge the phone and on time I helped a friend with the Xerox. :) So maybe it has somehow been changed what kind of person goes there now.
The woman yelling at you is absolutely a product of this too. Most of your exposure to people is when they're in vehicles, so when they are out of one doing anything that's odd. They're different, and threatening. Obviously I don't know the full context, but in places where there are people, not just vehicles, someone filming isn't weird.
Achievement Unlocked: Urban Realization
You nailed the points so well
Orange pilled W
Oh I think I’ve seen you before! :D
This is, how we prevent this in Germany: New development alongside a through-road is illegal. Instead a side street must be build; usually with a roundabout as the intersection. If you sit on the corner of two through-roads, the driveway must be on the smaller one. This is even valid for private homes.
The Netherlands are even more radical about this and try to retrofit it where ever possible.
That's a good idea but it's not a panacea. Houston, Texas has something similar in its central downtown area, where the city is divided into "superblocks" made up of small local roads, positioned inside a grid of major arterials. The city's a dream to drive in but nearly impossible to get around by any other means due to a lack of crossings and other non-car related infrastructure. Still, it works really well for the sole goal of reducing traffic congestion, it just needs to be used in combination with other things.
@@VestedUTuber the solution to traffic is to have no cars, or at least very few of them. In the Netherlands, you can just take the bike to your local store or walk, and if its too far use a train. these are both much more space, money, and overall efficient and more enviornmentally firendly. Quality of life also rises when you dont have to look at kilometers of concrete and asphalt every time you want to go somewhere, and you dont have to hear cars.
@@happysword258
Unfortunately, in the US things are too spread out and unevenly distributed to go _fully_ car-free like that. City centers can definitely be focused more towards pedestrian and transit infrastructure, but some people still have a reason to go to rural areas not connected to transit and so at least some road connections for cars are necessary. So you still have to optimize that to an extent.
As for bicycle-focused infrastructure... you're really talking to the wrong person for that. Bikes are fine but as someone who's had serious injuries in the past that would have prevented me from riding one, forcing bicycle infrastructure at the expense of all other options is ableist. Look, I get the concept but not everyone can physically ride a bike, so it creates a similar situation to car-centric infrastructure where people who can't use that infrastructure become captive second-class citizens - for cars, that's anyone under the legal driving age and anyone who can't afford the cost of owning a car, where with bikes that's anyone who might have a bad leg or other reason they can't ride a bike, as well as temporarily anyone recovering from an injury.
So the route for the US is to reduce car reliance and streamline what's left, rather than just banning cars outright. This would be the same route that Japan already took.
@@VestedUTuber you can still get everywhre my car in the netherlans, they just have viable alternatives. i know that suburban sprawl makes it nearly impossible to have good public transit, but they could at least make it not illegal to build good cities. The netherlands arent fully car-free and never will be, because cars are the best solution for things like deliveries
They did this to Baxter, Minnesota and Boomers still complain about roundabouts they almost never have to stop at, missing the point entirely. 🙄
In Europe, some cities removed traffic lights and signs to make car drivers have to move slowly and to watch out each other. Result: Dramatic reduction of accidents and fatalities. Many downtown areas in the Netherlands do this now.
What about when there is no other car around to regulate traffic?
@@Account.for.Comment As the roads are not straight and not wide - no one will speed.
The U.S. doesn't learn from the successes of other countries. It's the American way. 😵💫
@@CaribouEno in the end, it depends on how the street is designed. With most roads in the US, it is impossible not to speed.
Better yet, instead of changing everything in the US, they could just move to the Netherlands or Europe.
Dude yes please for the love of god make more of this... There is nothing I love more than complaining about and learning the horrible depths of misery that car dependency have thrust the nation into. This is really the most important issue in the country right now for me. Please keep it up! You have such a fresh take and personal perspective with how you broach the topic and I would love to see more of your view on things. Really you have the greatest presence for presenting information or opinions about this kind of stuff, I love your delivery and personality. THIS VIDEO WAS SUUUUPER FUN, FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE!!! You were not boring to listen to at all. I loved every minute of this. You're great!!!
thank you!!! 😭🫶
I love the fact that when you were talking about drivers using a four way stop safely the white pickup truck coming from the top at 10:10 just blows through the stop sign. And yeah the car from the right was definitely paying attention for their own safety.
Was just about to say this. 🤣
A native Texan, I relocated to my ancestral homelands in Central Europe in my 50s. For 37 years, I drove a car in the US. I do not have a car here, and I will not get one. We have a great pubic transportation system, and we have a good infrastructure for walking and biking. I pay about 50 cents a day for unlimited trips on our public transportation system, as I bought an annual pass. I would love for US cities be reorganised to be more like those in my new country. We also have a comprehensive national train and bus system, as well. I encourage those who are inclined and able to do so to consider relocating to an EU country. You are unlikely to regret it.
I get you. People that live in the US are so brainwashed. Living and loving life in China now.
Don't listen to the propaganda, it's amazing....truly amazing. 300k foreigners in my city alone can't be wrong.
Well, as a 20 y.o. native european living in central Europe i can say that it all depends on a personal preferences and priorities, maybe for 50+ y.o. these cities are good to live (but i still wouldn’t live here), everything is close enough, shops, parks, entertainment stuff etc. so you can just go anywhere on foot or just ride few stops by bus, i know many IT specialists from the US who like the city and it’s model, but for me personally, i don’t have enough personal space, and overall these cities are depressing and boring, despite the architecture that is still pretty depressive, driving here is aggressive, if you ride a bicycle you feel endangered, because of crazy car drivers, they can easily go 50+ km/h (30+ mph) on a 3 meter wide road (two directional) it’s like a rally from the 90s. I have few bicycles and a scooter, i already had few situations where i had to brake few road ragers a mirror. maybe i got too far off top but still, people are not happy here, the number of friendly people decreases in front of your eyes… like… it depends… on your preferences as i said, but i’m planning to go to the US this year, and many of my friends that did it will never come back, so will i.
There are so much more positive features than negative in the US, you begin to understand this when you have lived somewhere else in the world, every country has its own system and business network that functions and grows, thanks God America is indeed free country where if you want you can change anything for yourself.
Pozdrawiam 👋
too much off top, it was personal :)
I enjoyed your take on American infrastructure and your contribution to the urbanists community. As an American it pains me that our country has gone this car dependent route
It was literally built with cars in mind, exclusively, lel. It hasn't gone anywhere. It's like this by design.
@@GGWP-nx3kn I have a small correction: It wasn't built with cars in mind. American cities were built in a sensible way before urban renewal, when we bulldozed our most valuable assets to redesign them for the car.
That comment you made about not being able to go anywhere unless you have someone drive you there is too real. It always surprised me when I see kids in other countries walking to school or going to visit their friends by themselves. Meanwhile if I were to step outside to walk here in Vegas it sucks. No infrastructure for walking means no shade in 100+ weather, very thin sidewalks with vehicles going 30+mph right next to you, or sidewalks just ending out of nowhere, if I wanted to bike it would mean sharing the road with the same vehicles, constantly breathing in smog, etc. I've always kinda mocked Europeans for complaining about USA infrastructure and me saying "just walk tf?" when I was younger but man, they werent wrong.
I can relate so closely to everything you are saying. I moved to Florida a few years ago and descended into car - centric psychosis! Once you see the car problem you can’t un-see it! It blows me away that most people are completely oblivious to it. They don’t know there are other ways to build the environment. The built environment has such an impact on almost every aspect of our lives.
Cope, blissful ignorance, and depression are all one could reasonably afford after corporations and their lapdogs in congress/senate (am not murican) unscrupulously take huge chunks of labor, time, money, emotion, and hope out of the masses and call it a day.
Charlotte area resident here. North Carolina cities are some of the most frustratingly car dependent, stroad loving, hellholes. There are some nice spots here and there, like South End here in CLT, but they are few and far between. But on the plus side, whenever I feel frustrated by Charlotte's car obsessed infrastructure, I always remind myself AT LEAST we are not Raleigh!
How is this your first RUclips video?! Smart, insightful, and well done. I want more of this content.
investor developers and vc firms are funding "urbanist" youtube channels. enjoy your 600 sq ft apartment at $3k/month
@@ab8817 No one is going to pay $3000 per month to live in the same small apartment in a rural town when they could get the same in Chicago or somewhere.
@@ab8817urban living spaces are so expensive because they are so desirable but the supply is super restricted. Go sit in a traffic jam
@@ab8817Urbanism is done correctly everywhere except the US 😂😂😂😂😂
@@ab8817 what investor developer do you think is funding me?? lmao I have not made a single cent off of this video. Also, if a developer was paying people to say these things, wouldn't it make way more sense for them to spend money on advertising further suburban development, which is much cheaper and easier to build because of our current public policy in cities nationwide? It's not a conspiracy, people just want to live in sensible, safe, walkable places, and that's hard to find in the United States.
It gives me hope that your generation is recognizing how awful and unsustainable these places are, and you have the critical mass to maybe actually affect change. I'm a Gen Xer, from right around the point where the birth rate bottomed out. There just aren't enough of us… plus, the generations that caused all of these problems are our parents and grandparents, and they wouldn't listen to us anyway. I'm sorry it's falling to the next generation to fix a mess left to them, but I'm also inspired seeing that something is actually starting to be done about it.
Most parts of US and canada are car dependant. Cars are expensive to own and maintain, and thats how they keep us trapped in the 9-5 cycle.
Yo your video is fire! I lived in Japan for a few years then came back and wow! I never fully realized how f*cked-up our transportation system is. Its like American worldview is behind a windshield, and has absolutely warped our perspective.
Same, but China. Quickly went back, for good.
This video is a truth bombardment. Being on I-40 on those 1 million lane roads really is such a claustrophobic awful feeling
But... muh music
Oh, honey, I lived in North Carolina for 20 years, and this just runs the limit of ridiculous. I lived in Greensboro for the last 7 of those, and when I moved there, I tried to get my son into a YMCA after school program even though I worked a 9-5 job. So, there was the YMCA downtown, and then the YMCA at the North end of the city (where I lived and where my son went to school) However, the program for middle schoolers was ONLY at the one north of the city, but the YMCA bus that picked up kids was ONLY for the downtown elementary school kids. So, there was NO way for my son to get into that program or get TO it. EVERYTHING about how this oversized suburb is designed is just dumb, dumb, dumb.
Also, at the time, people who wanted to ride a bike in the park had to put their bikes on the back of the car and DRIVE to the park. Explain the logic.
I moved BACK to New York City 11 years ago, sold my car, and have never looked back.
i'm considering taking the risk and moving to NYC to get away from car dependency. I'm already right outside of the city tho lol. It's great to hear stories of people who come here from all over for similar reasons!
@@moisdawg I was born in NYC and lived here til age 12 and this is my second return to the city. Good luck my friend!
Greensboro actually is not terrible compared with other places I have lived.(Norfolk,San Jose,Port Charlotte...)The bike lane routes and dedicated park trails make it reasonable for getting around. If you don't mind hills or rain. I've heard it said you not in traffic. You are traffic. So. Pick your times to drive. Keep your head on a swivel. Try to plan your moves accordingly.
@@JamesPilkenton-se5cx I used to live off of Lawndale Drive and the park is North of there. Have they since installed bike lanes in that part of town? When I lived there they had NONE.
Even NYC I heard it has the one of worst public transportation systems in the world. I hope it improves
We really need to get over our collective fear of roundabouts, they would help a lot of these intersections.
Car dependency is such a horrible thing because it causes disadvantaged and disabled peoples to be unable to become independant. for example blind people cannot drive so that means in alot of cases they just straight up cannot get to a job without being escorted there by another person every single time. thats awful. the cost of maintaining a car is also just absurd repairs, insurance, gas the initial purchase... absolutely nuts
What’s really crazy is that a cities of 90,000 especially don’t need an 8 lane roads. here in Washington I’ve noticed that these horrible strodes are on the outskirts of cities. It always baffled me that Seattle has very few 5 lane roads but it’s suburbs with much lower density have 7 and 8 lane roads
"A precipitous descent into car-induced psychosis." God, I feel this so much lol. Once you see it, you really can't unsee it.
Thank you for your service, great crosser of Patton Ave.
My car broke down bad and I sold it for an e-bike. Mind was really in the dumps for a while, especially working a delivery job through and after the lockdown. Riding that thing around really cleared my head, even though it SUCKS lmao. All the neighborhoods that have been built in the past 30 years have been totally segregated by home price here, so there's no connections, not even for pedestrians. I've gotta ride on a 50mph or 70mph road for at least 5 miles to get anywhere, in traffic. Almost never see anyone outside, even on perfect days... I wonder why!
Banger-ass video. I yearn for a world where the only drivers are the people that like to drive (like me) and the people who really actually *need* to drive. These stroads and people who should not be driving but have no choice make driving a terrible experience
This is why I don't understand pro-car resistance to viable transportation alternatives like... getting more people off of the road makes the experience of driving BETTER for those who do it! You're absolutely correct.
@@rob_nsni hypothesize that these people who love cars also love their bubbles that are actually hard and cause harm
@@rob_nsn It seems people feel threatened that their car will get taken away by those pesky "urbanists" and "hippie cyclists" lol... They want to force everyone to drive just because they want to drive.
Plus since everyone is compelled to drive the driver's licensure requirements are far more lax than they need to be. UK or European standards should be adopted!
@@edwardmiessner6502 I agree. Some people are a danger on the road, they should not get a license that easily
I’m old, in my sixties, and when I was old enough to drive it was upsetting because I realized that I was FORCED to learn to drive and to own a car in order to live in this huge metropolitan area. I have an eye condition called strabismus, which means I can’t see in 3-d and makes it difficult to drive and to park. So I resisted driving, but could not get to and from work using mass transit without spending hours a day waiting for connecting bus routes. But all my life people ridiculed me for my aversion to driving.
The worst road here in the DMV is route 270, which has become a nightmare of gridlock. Fifty years ago, when it was first completed, it was almost empty on Sunday morning drives. Now it’s almost impossible to drive on during daytime, and at nighttime the cops don’t pull over extreme speeders, so it’s very dangerous. Even cops get mowed down along 270.
This is the first of your videos I've seen, and I liked it. I'm in Canada, but I've got friends in Chapel Hill, and whenever I visit you're... spot on. Keep it up!
hi aspiring city planner one day. seeing content like this really inspires me to keep going with my studies. hopefully i can make a living doing what you’re doing one day
It is young people like you who need to keep thinking critically, move others, and change this shitbox excuse for a world. You have to fight. Every aspect of our lives in the US is coerced by corporate forces who ceaselessly remind us the current status quo is the only way. It is not the only way, nor is it the right way. You, and others like you can and must lead the way. Keep up the good work young man!
Oh my god this was so well done 😭 thank you for saying all the things I wish I could convey to others in 3 seconds when they spit on me in the bike lane for just existing.
Bravo, thank you, we can change this!
Not antagonizing cars and causing mayhem in traffic with your bicycle will give you a sense of acceptance and comradery on your commute. If you are having problems, you should examine how you deal with and interact with cars. Stay out of the way and keep moving. No one will bother you if you are not stirring up BS with other traffic. I ride a motorcycle and the bicycles start their crap with me when I am making a right turn or pulling over to park. They are obnoxious and self righteous. Be nice. Trust me it works.
@@KlodFather I am traffic, just like everyone else who uses the roadway. So no, I will not move, I will continue to ride in a way that is safest, and legal to do so. edit: especially when I'm in a fucking bike lane where they shouldn't be. Victim blaming is a shitty look, you should think about not doing that anymore.
@@KlodFatherYou liked your own comment dude? lol
I like your vibe. Nice tone, nice tunes, great info. Glad this was suggested to me.
A full serving of truth. Automobiles ruined our planet and it's getting worse if that is even possible. The farm where I grew up is one of those places that was destroyed by the completion of a new highway. Burnt gasoline killed everything, including the fish in our lake.
Doubt you'll see this but "The Normalization of Car Accidents" sounds like a really good video + one the algorithm might like.
One small quibble. The businesses along a stroad are never there for local residents.
Business owners do (and have always) realised that to attract customers, you need to locate yourself where a lot of people spend a lot of their time. In a small market town, this probably means a shop along the street that connects to the district where the market is held, because this is the one street that every person in the district will reliably walk down at least a few times each week. In a streetcar suburb, this means a shop on one of the street corners where the streetcar stops.
In an auto oriented subdivision, where most people spend most of their free time in their car, the best place to find them is out on the roads that funnel high volumes of cars from one place to another. Businesses along a stroad come chasing the cars. They aren't there for whichever locals might happen to live nearby.
That's also why stroads have a particular look. Because there's no point having a premises where drivers might see it if it's small and innocuous and flies right by the driver before they can notice it. If you are going to be on the stroad, you need a sign that can be seen from a mile away, a wide driveway that can be turned into at speed, ideally a drive thru, and a carpark that looks predominantly empty, even when business is brisk. In short, a stroad is what a main street or shopping mall looks like in the transformers universe, where everyone is a sentient two tonne death machine.
Stroads bloat into ten lane traffic canyons because of induced demand. But they exist in the first place simply because cars.
This is what I was trying to articulate at 9:20, I'd be interested to know more about how I could convey this more clearly if you have any feedback. Thanks for watching!!
the strangest and most chaotic road in NC (that i can think of) is Independence Blvd in Charlotte. Between I-277 and the Lambo Dealership, the road has sidewalks and driveways, but yet the road is built like a freeway. Its truly strange
I live in a city that I like to call a recovering car-dependent suburb. If you look at photos of the place in the 70's until the 90's in particular, it was just a wasteland of malls with massive parking lots. We used to have an intercity tram line until the 60's even though the population was low and we just had lots of farms and a fishing village with a cannery.
These days we have a rapid transit rail line into Vancouver proper once again, buses are basically adequate, our city centre that people were once reluctant to call a downtown is actually becoming a real downtown, and I can get around on my bike even if it's a bit scary sometimes - things are close enough that it's naturally attractive. Council debate is still frustrating and not every step is forward, but things are looking better.
I actually did try to learn to drive when I got old enough, but for the reasons you gave and because public transit here is somewhere between okay and very good depending on where you need to go, I was never very serious about it and basically gave up. I honestly don't regret it. It's a little inconvenient sometimes but also better in many other ways, and now I try to convince others of that too.
Great video, reminded me of how I first realized these things too
Hey! Kudos on your first couple of videos about urbanism! What you’ve made is super watchable, funny, thoughtful, insightful and necessary. I hope you make more of these and show us more about what’s good and bad in your home city. America needs someone like you in every city and town, in local, state and federal government too.
-1 point for giving a Karen her power trip and stopping filming
Hey, great video. We need more people speaking up about car dependency, how it’s literally killing us, inside and out. And your experience is not unique. I live on Long Island NY. It is ridiculously car dependent here.
I noticed this too
And in spite of the Long Island Railroad!
bro this is so true, I am getting so deep into this rabbit hole that I literally hit the bottom of content on RUclips and get epic videos like this one on my front page
It's not deep, it's not a rabbit hole. It's a genre on social media almost entirely fueled and consumed by people who... don't own a car.
We don't need a new nationwide conspiracy to explain why you don't have a car yet.
Seriously, it's the same video every time someone makes it. A guy aged 16-24 goes to some very crowded intersection in a city during rush hour, and pretends that they are somehow being... suppressed by this and that it's intentional and typical.
Okay, so you can't *walk* across busy vehicular infrastructure during rush hour without waiting for a red light first. Life sucks I guess?
@@davemccombswhy would you watch and comment on a video you didn't watch? This guy drives. I drive. I hate stroads and car dependency. They suck to drive on and they ruin places. Fight me.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I want to note that it would be to your advantage to support this cause. Viable alternatives to driving take drivers off of roads, therefore improving the experience of driving for those who actually want to drive. Well designed, safe roads are better for drivers because it lowers your likelihood of getting in a serious accident. Financially sustainable auto infrastructure improves the quality of roads for drivers. Changing our approach towards transportation infrastructure would make things better for everybody, including drivers.
(Also, I've been driving my car for eight years because there is no viable alternative where I live 😉)
If you're interested in learning more about this issue, I would suggest reading "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" (published 1961) by Jane Jacobs, or "Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity" (published 2019) by Charles Marohn, a former DOT traffic engineer and expert on the subject. They are lively and riveting texts that are definitely worth your time!
@@davemccombsIt's people that don't like the fact that our society demands that they must be responsible for the cost of owning a car that then has to be operated in an dangerous and inefficient environment that often amounts to gridlock rather than offering viable alternatives. Offering those viable alternatives would not only make owning a car an option (rather than an obligation), it would make it a much more attractive option since the gridlock would be much less frequent (if not non-existent). And then there's the icing on the cake, which is the billions upon billions of dollars that we tax payers cover in order to create such an ineffective and undesirable transportation system. The rabbit hole is the fact that the internet is creating the awareness about how much more efficient and enjoyable transportation is be in much of the world, outside the US and Canada. It's understandably mind-blowing for many people who thought they lived in the greatest country in the world.
What makes me sad/depression is that US had something really good going on with our cities in the past. We were building beautiful infrastructure that had a mix of European and American western style, good examples of some cities would be Faneuil Hall Marketplace in MA or King Street in VA. Instead it went all down hill after WW2, and government was pushing more towards suburban sprawl, the after math is this ugly unsustainable mess and abandoned down towns.
This is actually incredible informative and an absolute deep dive that I didn’t know I needed… and you know what? You’re so right bestie! Points were fucking made! I live in Washington state and we have so many of these “stroads” here too and they’re awful!
Would absolutely love to hear your take on the “normalization of car crashes” because that is something that just blows my mind. Driving on the 405 I see MULTIPLE crashes in a DAY. WHY. I do not understand. Can’t wait to see more of your videos ✨
I've also been increasingly interested in urban development and the like in the past couple years. Cities all over North America are full of these shitty stroads and abandoned shopping centers. It's always heartbreaking and it seems like just another way normal people get broken down to feel more alone.
Preach!! Very great video! When I was traveling abroad I always had a sensation that something was off with the infrastructure, some weird feeling that you just want to get out of that place your walking in, but I could never put my finger on it, I always thought that it was because I was not used to it. Then some Canadian guy on the internet told me that my country has one of the best infrastructure in the world and it made sense all of a sudden. Greetings from the Netherlands!
Jason from NotJustBikes might have a bit of a condescending tone to his videos (it's why I kinda stopped watching after that comment he made about north america being lost) but that doesn't change the fact that he's right about everything regarding urban design.
great job on the video, didn't think it was your first one until you said it haha, keep it going :)
Great video!
I live in the Number 3 most sprawling city in the US and it sucks.
I grew up in Europe and the level of mobility that I had as a teenager was incredible. I could choose between my moped, bus, or train whichever was the most convenient. I hope you'll have a chance to visit cities built for people in the Netherlands, Germany or pretty much anywhere in the EU. Even though it is far from perfect having options is nice. Unfortunately most Americans are unaware that life is more enjoyable if you are not forced to spend hours of your day inside a metal box. I
how dare you insult my metal box! i demand u take it back!
I'll take that back I love cars too 😂 but if the all system is so exasperated that I cannot even bike or walk to get some milk then I think something needs to be revised.
@@YMGMagon walking is for little girls. real men drive big metal boxes with truck nuts!
@@sinyud LMAO
@@MilwaukeeF40C golf finalist?
You have been blessed by the RUclips algorithm. Subscribed, looking forward to seeing videos about topics in that list you showed at the end.
Pro tip: honestly NEVER cross at intersections. Especially if you're gonna end up waiting for 4+ minutes anyway, you're a million times better off finding a spot in the middle of the highway, wait for there to be no cars coming from the one direction, cross to the median, and then do the same on the other side. If you keep crossing at intersections like you're doing (regardless of the fact that you have the signal to go), you will most likely at some point come close to being hit by a car or actually get hit by a car.
At any intersection there are 4 directions for cars to come at you from. It's impossible to keep track of. And even when you have a walk signal, there are cars trying to make a right on red or a left on green (most people driving don't even realize that when they're making a left on green with no arrow that pedestrians simultaneously have a walk signal THROUGH their left turn path). Seriously, avoid intersections. Jaywalk your way across stroads and highways. And even city streets when you can. I've never had an issue with cops messing with me for jaywalking.
After not living in the US for many years, I’ve subconsciously nicknamed it “car hell.”
I had the same thoughts as you on stroads and the suburbs, which led to me getting a bachelor’s and a masters in geography. I was curious, why do I love going to NYC and Philadelphia, but hated being in NJ.
and the crazy thing is that Jersey has way better transit than huge swaths of the US!
as a person who grew up in the suburbs as a POC…plsss keep making more vids, i’d watch them all! we NEED to start talking more abt the affects of urbanism and why it’s so shitty that every single non-mega city is unlivable without a car
100% agree, I find myself taking back roads just to get away from the congestion.
2:28 Growing up, my parents would literally pray every time we got in the car that we’d travel safely. Like literally ask God that we wouldn’t get killed or injured in a collision…
Yup. Roads have become more and more deadly.
Great video that affects all of American’s lives.
We have beautiful nature here in America but we make our cities and towns so ugly for no reason. It really makes me sad and frustrated. I hope the people who make these places realize that the way all of our cities and towns are built make our lives so much harder and scary. No wonder so many people just stay inside their homes all day. Disgusting.
I grew up in Queens (NYC) in the 60s, 70s & 80s. It was dense, packed and full of traffic. That never kept us locked up inside all day. In fact we were out all the time when we weren't in school, eating or sleeping.
Seriously, what a bunch of complaining cry babies. You have luxuries that couldn't have been dreamed of back when I was growing up and all you do is complain. That's what is disgusting.
This is what happens when you let capitalists design and manage cities
It's a very strange feeling to be recommended a video only to find out that it was made by a musician that I really enjoy, one who only has thousands of listeners. Great video, I'm looking forward to more if you decide to pursue it!
ayye glad to hear it! I'm actively working on both music and youtube videos, trying to get on my content creator grind so I can afford to move to NYC lol
@@rob_nsnWhy not move to Europe so much better than New York just an idea?😊
This was an awesome video keep up the great work👍
And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱
@@DidierWierdsma6335 The honest answer is that I can't afford that yet, and I have career aspirations that I need to spend a couple of years workin on in NYC where the US live electronic music scene is centered. I'll get to the EU eventually!!
The way my jaw kept dropping as you had to wait longer and longer for the pedestrian light to turn green, oh my god.
We have a main road that connects our town to the outside world, and there are a couple of businesses that have a intersection connected directly to said businesses in a stroad-like manner.
However, the road's speed limit is just 31mph, in fact it used to be 37mph, but got changed as the people deemed it unsafe speeds due to many kids having to cross the street in order to get to their schools.
It also has a complete sidewalk with a ditch between them, and the sidewalk follows the main road out of our town and all the way to our neighbouring city.
I personally ride a motorcycle as it's my only form of long-distance transport, however I could ride a bike with no problem out of my town to the main city in an hour without having to share the road with a single car.
There is no excuse to the creation of such infrastructure, I've read about European cities being bombed to hell and back and instead of building their same old roads for cars, they chose to rebuild it for trams, busses, trains and etc.
I know these infrastructures are for cars, but why do they keep building these unfriendly structures where the actual humans inhabiting it comes not even second?
Just wait until I release my video about how speed limits are totally ineffective!
Thanks so much for watching and it's sick to hear your experience of stroads in your city :)
@@rob_nsn I found your video really interesting, will be looking forward to future videos:3
In the particular case of Patton Avenue west of the French Broad River, the local infrastructure was actually intentionally designed to be shit. There was a falling out between the civil engineers designing the road network and the city, and when it finally came time to hand the blueprints over to the construction teams, the engineers gave the city a design that was intentionally completely unviable out of spite.
Cars and oil make money. Banks make money on development.
@@VestedUTuber TELL ME MORE! I've done a ton of research about Patton Ave through West Asheville, I-240, and I-26. Here's what I know:
- Originally Haywood Road was the primary route from downtown to West
- In 1951, rather than adding capacity to Haywood Road, they built the Smokey Park Bridge (now known as the Captain Jeff Bowen Bridge) to coincide with the creation of the Smokey Park Highway, which became the primary route through West Asheville. At that time, only one of the spans was constructed, two lanes of through traffic in either direction.
- The Smokey Park Highway was built using a totally new route between the river and Haywood road. The remainder of the highway used to be Haywood road, which was widened. In its original iteration, the whole length of the highway was two lanes of traffic in either direction (total of four.) The beginnings of the grade-separated interchange with the Western portion of the highway was built, but the full highway was not built yet. They also built the New Leicester highway in a similar fashion.
- The Westgate shopping center opened as Asheville's first strip mall in 1956 on the site of a former quarry, setting off the commercial development along the corridor.
- The crosstown expressway (now I-240) through downtown opened in 1960, terminating on one end at the original bridge span and at the Beaucatcher tunnel on the other end. It destroyed a large number of houses and businesses, and historically black communities were most affected, especially the Hill Street community. If I recall correctly, many of those displaced by the highway were relocated to the Hillcrest public housing development, which was intentionally isolated by from the rest of the city by I-26.
- At some point between 1963 and 1975, it was widened to have three lanes of through traffic in either direction between the river and Haywood road. I believe this is when the southern span of the Bowen bridge was constructed. I think this also coincided with the construction of the expressway through West Asheville, which also affected mostly historically black communities, especially the Burton Street community.
- In 1980, the cut was completed along with the remainder of I-240 from Beaucatcher mountain to I-40. The decision to create the cut rather than construct an additional tunnel was heavily protested, but ultimately the cut won because it was cheaper and also it was a political favor from state highway commission member Ted Jordan to Baxter Taylor, with whom he was a real estate partner. Baxter Taylor owned the construction firm that built the highway. Also, he'd get to take possession of the millions of cubic feet of rock blasted from the mountain.
Other than that, I haven't found any other details about Patton Ave through West Asheville specifically. I'd LOVE to know your sources to find out more about this road!! Thanks so much for watching and commenting :)
man that pedestrian traffic light actually took 4 minutes to become green? I have never seen that in my life before.
i think the longest i ever had to wait for is like 2 minutes. People here would never accept it like that, not even at the worst stroads I know of.
I became interested in urban planning when i wondered about a few very unhuman and dangerous places i had to pass through with my bike. I thought "why is it like that and is this really necessary"? after all there are places in my city where there are just as many shops and businesses and they feel much better to be in or go through. (even in a car btw.)
Turns out what I'm talking about is a stroad, but the "light" version of it because here, things never become as big as they do in the US. (Im German)
hope you continue this kind of videos, love it. Always something new to learn, even though I already watched all of RUclips around this topic. :D
Your views are right on the money. We have become a car-centric society. I live in a community designed to be difficult to get anywhere unless you drive (I bike, regardless). The city is taking baby steps to improve this but there's a lot to be done. They point with pride to the new "bike lanes" along a repaved road which are merely painted stripes along the shoulder.
Keep making content and I'll watch.
Sometimes I wonder if those "painted bicycle gutters" are done on purpose, so they can prove nobody will use them and there's no need for bicycle infrastructure.. Sigh.. Nobody is going to cycle on a busy road with high speed cars, unless you're really brave (usually young and anbled men).
And how do people think they are going to change society to not be car centric? people usually resist when forced to live in new ways. I do no think it will go very smoothly. The harder you try to change society, the more society will push back. You can't get everyone on the same page, ever.
Cars are here to stay. Just TRY to force us to live differently, I dare you folks.
@@peterbelanger4094 IMO it is impossible for the suburban experiment to last indefinitely. I think you're probably right that people will not be forced to live in new ways through sheer force of will alone - it will mostly likely be economically and physically forced. I obviously don't know the future, but here's my best guess about how it will go down:
- The old city centers that have languished since the dawn of suburbia in the middle of the 20th century will become desirable again
- These places will become gentrified, and the rich will occupy those spaces
- The poor will be displaced into suburbia, which will inevitably fail due to deferred maintenance liabilities that are absolutely impossible to pay for (these first three steps are well underway)
- Suburban decay will occur from the inside out, concentrically starting with the centermost rings of suburban housing outside of urban highway loops from the 50s, progressively moving all the way out to the mcmansions being built on the very edge of town as we speak
- This will take the form of sewer, wastewater, fresh water, and road infrastructure becoming unusable with no financial mechanism in place to repair them
- Slowly, the dense urban core of cities will begin to spread out into those first suburban rings after they fail, since this will be the new desirable paradigm and cities will have no choice but to build financially solvent infrastructure
- The outer rings of suburbs and highways will become an apocalyptic hellscape, occupied by those who have been the most negatively affected by their creation in the first place, and who least deserved to be punished for it.
Basically, over the next century, almost all American cities will meet the same fate as Detroit did. The main difference is that Detroit started their car centric suburban experiment decades before the rest. The end of car dependency and suburban sprawl will not be pretty, it will be painful, and it will leave the disadvantaged behind. It will probably leave our nation very poor in general. IMO, this will be the inevitable result of the land use decisions our country has made. It sucks.
But maybe I'm wrong and we'll just keep building suburban hellscapes on purpose forever, minus the apocalyptic failure! Doesn't that sound great?
@@MonsieurRaki - Where I live, the cyclists still use the sidewalk even though there's a bicycle gutter, because on the sidewalk they have the protection of a curb and a strip of grass. Nobody wants to be on a bicycle next to a car that's passing them from behind at 45 mph.
@@arthurwintersight7868 Just the thought of biking on a Stroad with cars whizzing past me at 45 MPH gives me the heebie-jeebies, paranoid that someone might clip or hit me from there.
Ah, yes. the good ol' short term solution. gotta love chaining those up 300 years and then wondering what happened.
I love seeing people pull the mask off of the car dependency monster and ask "Why?" Great content. Immediate subscribe.
I love the way you made this video! The cutaways, the humour, the music, the shots; it's incredible, please keep going!
Also, an obligatory “I live in Europe and we have it waay better here”
Good video! Can't wait to see more
I had to stay in Raleigh for a few weeks last summer and yes, it's a stroad nightmare. Combined with the giant parking lots it felt just as hot, grimy and miserable as Houston. You're very correct that stroads take away the character of any area
Great topic! Super informative too! This is happening everywhere
I felt anxious and in danger watching you cross the avenue. I had to remind myself it was only a video for me.
that ending was so genuine lol keep going yo this was a great video
I enjoyed your video! Many people are interested in this topic, so keep the video's coming! You have a great personality and you explained things well. I feel bad for (young) people with almost nothing to do and nowhere to go but their work and these mega stores. Plus all the danger you have to endure on a daily basis, that's just awful. Hopefully that will change eventually, if people demand it. Greetings from the Netherlands :)
Yeah but businesses that are in charge of changing this have more money to keep it like this. We the people don’t matter
I live in Utah and this video looks like something from a different country to me. Yikes! 80% of jobs on the Wasatch Front are accessible by transit. Our state devotes 25% of the transportation budget to non vehicle infrastructure (bike lanes, paths, pedestrian bridges, transit, etc)
Yo, this isn't a bad video at all. For some reason the algorithm sent me this video. Big ups, well spoken, kid. Keep it up.
This is awesome and I love the ranting
Oh my goodness, thank you for actually mentioning the petroleum subsidies! It drives me crazy that people complain about gas being "so expensive" when it's on the same price point as milk... that's insane
I guess more precisely, it drives me crazy when people claim their "gas tax" is paying for roads
"It drives me (...) point as milk..."
How is the price of milk anywhere close to being relevant?
@knrdvmmlbkkn it's not really. The issue is the price of gas... Milk just happens to be priced very similarly to the artificially low price of petrol fuels. It's just an extremely cheap liquid being sold in the same units of measurement. I guess I could have used fruit juice as an example? It's hard to think of any other liquids that cheap. Gasoline absolutely should not be one of them. What other explosives are that cheap? Just trying to point out some of the absurdity that lots of people are just willing to accept.
@@tay-lore"Milk just happens (...) of petrol fuels.""
So it's just a coincidence. As such it's barely worth mentioning other than as a "fun fact".
I have the same number of eyes as each of my dogs, but does that say anything about whether or not I ought to replace my glasses?
"It's just an extremely cheap liquid"
Which can become an extremely expensive liquid if you have to use a lot of it . Especially if you have trouble purchasing, storing or finding alternatives to it.
"being sold in the same units of measurement."
Which units of measurement it's sold in appear to be irrelevant.
"I guess I (...) as an example?
You could, but that would be just as irrelevant.
"It's hard to (...) liquids that cheap."
Or that expensive, considering how much we use of it. Well, liquid petroleum in general. Diesel might be more important than petrol (I refuse to use the silly term "gasoline") and then there's liquified natural gas, oil for lubrication etc.
We probably spend more on that than on any other liquid. (The whole country, including businesses and government.)
I find it unlikely that even poor and dry countries with a lack of potable water spends more money on water (probably the effectively second most expensive liquid) than liquid petroleum (probably the effectively most expensive liquid)
"It's hard to (...) liquids that cheap."
Which state of matter it is in (liquid, gas or solid) appear to be irrelevant as well.
"What other explosives are that cheap?"
I don't think that it's an explosive.
"Just trying to (...) willing to accept."
While I try to point out some of the absurdity I find in your comments.
Don't get me wrong; I, too, think energy ought to be more expensive than it currently is. But there are several different factors at play... and some facts may be less than fully relevant.
Great video Rob. I just want to mention that the solution for car travel is often the same for pedestrian walking focused cities. To upgrade and enhance. Just look at tokyo, how congested their walkable city is, you literally sit in" traffic" as the massive amounts of people ahead of you slow you down. Also, going across the street with houndreds of people at once is also not a pleasant experience.
The main issue here is not cars, walkable cities or such. It is moderation. When we are too many at once, things start to break. We need to sparce out. Cities have grouped us way too close than we naturally should be. We used to be farmes with great space between our small local communities, this just isn't the case anymore.
Please keep making videos on this subject. Make so many that people know when you enter a room it's gonna be the car rant incoming.
I think that "gross" feeling you mentioned was a feeling of dystopia. As humans (who are a part of nature and the natural environment) it is in our DNA to interact with the earth. Trees and other plants literally provide the oxygen vital to our existence. When we cut that down to pave over it with concrete and asphalt it feels weird and wrong because we weren't meant to live in such artificial environments. I'm not saying streets or even highways are inherently bad, but when more of a city's surface area is devoted to parking lots or 12 lane stroads than anything else, it is a problem.
Great video. Its not really new information, as I'm sure we're all familiar with the big channels covering these topics right now. What this does do really well, however, is summarize all of the talking points really quickly and effectively. I especially love that you included how long it took to cross the street in the top corner while you were talking, and later on in the video provided real examples of the roadside changing through time. More people need to be aware of how soul-crushing and dangerous car-centrism is to our cities.
Also that lady getting mad at you filming is indicative of how everyone in these spaces is just utterly depressed and desperate for any form of control.
Please, please, please, make more videos on those topics at the end. We need more voices on these issues! And good luck with your youtube channel.
Thank you so much for saying this - I dissuaded myself from making this video for months because I figured that it's already been done by other channels much better than I ever could. Luckily, some friends convinced me that I can talk about this subject in a way that is compellingly different from others, and that simply doing it in a different style would make it worth watching. Hopefully they were right. Thanks for watching and I greatly appreciate the encouragement!!!
@@rob_nsn Yeah! I really liked your perspective. Your friends are right!
@@rob_nsn You're definitely right, Rob! I'd like to see more.
It’s excruciating even for young, healthy people with good reflexes, good vision and hearing who are highly visible. But for people with disabilities? Even minor things like auditory processing issues, glasses, or just being elderly or a child? So sad.
I spent many a day at that abandoned Kmart in the 1980s, shopping with my mom and getting excited about the "blue light" specials (soon to be on their way out at that time)... nostalgia. Thank you for the memories of Asheville as well as the realism that is United States transportation.
You Robinson brothers are all so amazingly talented. Looking forward to binging your content too
I’m a fan. I live down below you in Greenville, SC and I see the stroad problem everywhere. We need more people like us advocating for better, safer, less congested roads. Please do a talk on transit!!
You’re doing fantastic mate!!
Hey Rob, you have an interesting style and make a pretty dry topic fun and engaging. Keep it up! My cousin lives in Asheville and it's got a pretty cool vibe downtown, but it's sad to see it's choked with the same stroady sprawl as everywhere else.
Damn now I’m a fan of 3 Robinson brothers. Good job! Great video, reminds me a lot of Not Just Bikes
Stroads can be improved. There were several countries/cities in Europe that fixed it. Granted, I don't think they were necessarily stroads, but they suffered the same dehumanizing urbanization, and were able to fully recover.
How to improve a stroad the European (Dutch...) way? Doable! The main problem with "stroads" (hate that word) is that they are roads with mixed use while not being designed for either. Local and through traffic do not mix well so you:
1. Make a hard divisor down the middle keeping left and right separate. Maybe even something green with trees
2. Create two narrow car lanes on each side for through traffic.
3. Create on each far side a parallel lane for local traffic. Traffic calm the EFF out of it.
4. Optional: Lanes for buses, local buses use the parallel road ofc.
5. Optional: Bike lane. Note that if the parallel roads are traffic calmed and separated enough they should be safe for bicycles
6. Every few miles connect them all with (turbo)roundabouts.
If you need more width take some of all that unused parking space.
For through traffic the little interference with local traffic means there is more flow through. A road like this also does not need traffic lights. If you need to be somewhere local change to the parallel road where this is allowed.
They upgraded public transport to help
@@DutchLabrat They do this in Belgium too though bus and bike lanes are not optional. Actually we are lucky if there is a lane for cars and other vehicles left.
Just came here from your brother’s lost Gameboy video and man I am glad he gave you a shoutout. Great video! You got the utter illogical nature of car-centric infrastructure spot on. There were so many topics condensed in this one video.
I stayed in Asheville for a single night for an overnight stay and I became absolutely irritated with the traffic. Tunnel Road angered me more than basically any other road I’ve driven on in North Carolina except maybe Independence Boulevard in Charlotte, where I live.
I wholeheartedly agree with you and you have a very good presentation form. Keep it up!
real ones hate Tunnel road 💪
Independence Blvd is so frustrating. It's like a stroad, and a major highway at the same time, with direct street connections?? Who designed that garbage??
The fact that there's a driveway directly to Bojangles coliseum is disgusting
@@F4URGrantedan insane person designed it. It’s so annoying to drive on and I always feel that I’m going to die on it.
@@rob_nsnI knew I liked you for a reason. 😊
Unprotected right and left turns on a road where cars are going 45 mph is, to put it lightly, and dumb stupid horrible idea.
"I think I can fit in that gap"
-Phrases said moments before disaster
I agree that we should stop building stroads. If you want a through road, build one that supports high speeds and no businesses. If you want businesses keep streets that support slow and safe speeds and access. I think the best solution fix the danger of stroads is the access road. It still sucks but it does make access into and out of businesses safer since no business is direct accessed from the main road. As far as making places more pedestrian friendly, that's another problem.
In the Netherlands we do have restaurants (mostly for truck drivers and tourists) and gas stations along the highway, but we have access ramps to get to them.. With a road designed for through traffic and high speeds it doesn't make sense to have many stoplights and traffic lights like in the US often is the case on these stroads. That will only slow down traffic, causing more congestion and longer commutes.
The first step to move past this is to invest in public transportation that is faster than driving. A bus in a dedicated lane zooming past all the drivers siting is traffic will encourage others to try it. If it's not faster than driving then few people who can afford to drive will bother with a bus or train.
We should be investing in more bicycle and pedestrian friendly cities.
Earned a sub, please do more of these videos, I advocate at my local meetings for moving away from car infrastructure in favor of bike infrastructure and content like this helps inspire the speeches I deliver and inform lawmakers about ways we can fix this crap because I too can't stand how much money gets flushed down the toilet to create worse places.
Ideal video for me personally would be ways to roll back 4 lane stroads into more pedestrian and bike friendly places.
For sources and further reading, check the description!! TYSM for watching c:
I haven’t seen that smile in a second!
Kinda heartwarming, this guy c:
@@Zman44444 it's the best one IMO c:
You’re right! I’m so glad more and more people are realizing.
This is the first video I’ve seen from you and I’m subscribing.
As a social and cultural historian, this sort of analysis is fascinating to me. I greatly appreciate this kind of content and insight.
Great video!! It’s so great hearing so many RUclipsrs all share the same journey I also went through
I live in a suburb of Seattle and any time I walk along the stroads I just feel unwelcome and afraid. Like any of these cars going in excess of 45 mph could be texting or otherwise lose control and kill me in an instant. I don't drive so I don't get out much as a result.
I live out in the middle of no where, closest grocery store is 35 minute drive so this is not even slightly relevant to me, or even all that interesting to my brain, but here I am at the end screen.
I think it’s a testament to your passion and still to take something really quite boring to most and make an interesting enough video that someone sits through the entire thing.
Mad respect, subscribed, can’t wait for the next vid!
Great video ! Do more of this, it’s great to see the war on cars getting traction
That last transition at 8:11 is just insane