@@UmutPotato You can schedule a video to be posted at a specific time, so this video along with this comment were probably uploaded a day ago and scheduled to be posted later.
Sure is nice to already live in the Utopia of street design. You could join us here, in the Netherlands, by emigrating. We have plenty of space left for refugees from the US of A...
Top tier quality stuff, mate. Thank you for putting these things in a neutral way that makes them much more approachable to everyone. My biggest fear about these things in my own country is that people think insisting on better public transit and road infrastructure is something someone from one party or the other would do. So seeing examples of how to present these topics in a neutral way like in your videos helps me have these discussions in my life in a more effective way as well 🤗
It's not "neutral" if you start with the idea that things are wrong and need fixing. And by fixing, I specifically mean "making things less pleasant for drivers" It's not like all innovations are bad, roundabouts are faster and more efficient than stopsigns and 2-lane stoplights. However, cutting the road surface in half for 'traffic calming' just pisses everyone off.
@@Motoko_UrashimaZero traffic deaths in seven years in Hoboken, NJ makes those types of changes seem worth it. Usually there is a ton of local support for traffic calming. People that don't like it tend to live further away from where the changes are being proposed, but would be fine with similar initiatives in their own neighborhoods.
@@Motoko_Urashimaalso, who do you know that loves congested and dangerous roads that are crumbling? It's a fact that much of our infrastructure is in dire need of fixing, not an opinion. Thousands of people are literally dying because of these issues. And things are probably worse than we realize. Your take reminds me of that Monty Python scene where the guy gets all his limbs hacked off and claims it's just a flesh wound.
@@Motoko_Urashima if you do it in the right way: it isn't taking away road surface from cars, it's making the roads safer for all people not just (car) drivers. if you narrow the streets you also need to build other options or improve those options, like cycling, walking or public transport. this will mean that a percentage of drivers will switch to those options, because those options are now useful and safe to use. and in turn that means less cars on the road, and those fewer cars have plenty of space on the narrowed road.
Yes, and that definitely needs to be a piece of it. Around here we've had folks talking about "urban villages" for decades, but it turns out that it takes a lot of time and effort to get the zoning close enough and for the changes to actually happen. And, it gets even harder when companies closer grocery stores in an effort to save money through consolidation as you really do need more than one grocery store in reasonable proximity to wherever people are living. .
@@Matthew_Loutnerthat's a pretty broad claim to make. I'm sure there are examples of zoning laws that even you would agree need fixing. Do you think the status quo in San Francisco with some of the strictest zoning laws is the way things should be? At the very least there is room for improvement.
@@DizzyDiddy No zoning laws need to be fixed. It is a very simple matter to go before the zoning board and request a zone change for the lot you want to build on. Or a zoning variance. Or a zoning waiver. Or a non-conforming use. Only people who do not know anything about building say this stuff.
I'm a part of the USDOT discretionary grants team. These videos are such a good explainer on why we need programs like this. Thanks for all you do to inform the public, it helps us a lot! Hope we can keep pushing forward one project at a time.
As a young person, it's really exciting watching this urbanism meme take off in the u.s. but im curious if its had any effect on executive branch policy. Has there been a change in language/priorities internally over the last few years?
@@owenelliott5742 lots of young people at DOT too! I would argue it feeds into each other. Public interest will influence policy direction, policy direction will lead to funding towards public interests. It becomes cyclical that way.
@@owenelliott5742 I would say it really works both ways. Public interest in these efforts and Congressional commitments to provide funding for it sort of feed off each other. If the United States is happy with the outcomes from this major investment, I think it's more likely we'll see a continuation of this funding. But it also takes Congress to get the money out in the first place, and put it in front of the public to decide. In a perfect world, executive branch priorities reflect that of the people.
I want to offer a correction precisely because I like that this channel distinguishes itself from all the other "urbanist" channels in its positivity and in discussing how things get done, rather than the usual complaining that every other channel does, and hope you keep going with what makes this channel so much better than others. When talking about pre-automobile streets, it is NOT true that they were "designed for everyone". For one, they were usually not designed at all (beyond laying out a street grid and street widths), and secondly, they were not spaces "for everyone". Aside from obvious issues of their time, they were also crowded and dangerous, just as much then as now. Tram and carriage accidents were habitual (just look up the origin of the "Dodgers" name or death of Antoni Gaudi), rail tracks had (and have) the same destructive impacts that freeways have now, and cities were walkable purely in a functional sense, and out of necessity. My point is, we should be careful not to romanticize the past, because it paints the false idea that planning and designing cities has made them worse / was a mistake. A more accurate description would be to say that streets and roads have not been designed with enough care and when combined with automobile dependency has resulted in cities not seeing the improvements that could've come had we done a better job. That is, we should've had more and better planning. Anyway great video
True but rural people need to move to urban areas. The suburbs can't justify themselves and neither can rural living. It costs too much to subsidize the wanton wasteful spending it takes to maintain these types of living.
@@ElyonDominus Suburbs shouldn't count as rural. Suburban and rural are two different things entirely. My Dad grew up in a rural area, he was about halfway between two towns for most of his childhood and there was literally nothing for miles that wasn't a farm house. Areas like that can be fixed, they won't be contributing more than they take in terms of taxes, but generally, they produce other things. Suburbs though have no value to them other than as a place to live when not work. I recently finally understood the term "bedroom community." It's literally where people sleep after they come home from working in town.
@@ElyonDominusI had to double take when I saw you said that. No, people in rural areas do not need to move into cities, I live out in the country and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's a far better way to live than to be stuck up in a noise apartment with people who hate your guts for no reason and no outdoor space. I never thought there was anyone dumb enough to say rural people need to move into cities. But that does tell me you're brainwashed and would be the first to succumb to a communist takeover. Think about what happened to China over the last 100 years.
Fantastic video. As a transportation engineer I have to say you nailed it. Your video captures how the system works, why it can be challenging, and the most effective ways individuals can make a difference. Especially if you live in a city, please vote in local elections and go to public meetings! Best things you can do!
What about taxing cars by their weight? The heaviest cars do the most damage to the roads. Which such a tax the ones doing the most damage will be paying the most for the roads maintenance. Not only is this fair, it also incentives people to driving lighter cars, reducing the damage to the roads.
This is what they did, but there were complaints that professional truckers would have to pay too much, so they added reductions for trucks. And then the car industry started producing huge cars (SUVs and pickups) classified as trucks for regular people. Car industry is also lobbying against light cars, in particular the small pickups from Japan and other countries, claiming they're not as safe. But the US definition of a safe car does not include anything outside the car. Doesn't matter if it's prone to mowing down children they can't see, as long as the occupants aren't injured. Much of the rest of the world also include safety of whatever you accidentally hit.
I noticed that, then thought the only thing that really would have prevented a driveway from being that close to the intersection would be the presence of a traffic light.
Properly thought out road design is crucial, but so is building functional mass transit systems (ie trains, dedicated bus routes, etc) and to stop building more lifeless suburban sprawl.
@AnotherDuck Since I hate cities, I guess that makes me the vampire. 🧟♂️ If I choose to live out of town, I really do not think that I owe the people in the city any money and I do not have any responsibility to them. I have my life. They have theirs.
@@Matthew_Loutner I mean, yes. You feel entitled to have things being paid for you by people who live in more economically sustainable housing arrangements. They pay for their living, and yours. You do not pay for the full cost of even just your own living.
@AnotherDuck I pay anything the government asks me to pay, and I do not waste my government's money by riding public transit. If I need to pay more to cover my share, the government can send me a bill. I will pay it. I think my government is smart enough to get my bill right. I stand upon my own 2 feet. I have never asked anyone to pay for my life. How would you know how I "feel" about it??? I am not "entitled." I am an AMERICAN. 🦅 😎👍 🇺🇸 ✝️
Highways should never be widened at all and the money spent on that should be diverted to public transit. Ramp meters and tolls at peak times could be implemented to help reduce congestion as well
That sort of ignorance is why it's so hard at times to get better infrastructure. A growing city may need more lanes of traffic, you need a certain number of trucks coming and going based on the population size. There are also areas where building alternate mass transit may not be practical. There's also issues in terms of planning where you don't always know when there's going to be some sort of change that triggers a bunch of internal migration to a region.
@@titaniumvideos1039 name one example then? You only need to look at the Katy Freeway in Texas and see how traffic has gotten worse despite being widened multiple times
@@SmallSpoonBrigade the points you make may seem obvious but are in fact wrong. To start with, it’s much more efficient to move freight with trains rather than trucks because of economies of scale. Trucks should only be used for last mile delivery to move goods to warehouses or shops rather than across regions or the country. Also you say there are areas where building mass transit may not be practical when that isn’t true. Transit can be built anywhere. Some modes are better than others, grade separated rail that is elevated or underground is great for high frequencies and moving a lot of people in downtown areas, light rail is more suited to areas with lower density and buses can act as feeders to enable transfers or serve rural areas
@@SmallSpoonBrigade your point on planning is true but transit has always proven to be a net positive. It’s great for business as they can attract more customers, it’s great for people who can find better jobs or education, it’s great for tourism as people don’t need to rent cars and so much more. The reason why New York City is the most populous city in the country is because of it’s transit system
Residents: “change is urgent, change is necessary, so long as nothing has to change to make change happen” -my neighborhood association (NOT an HOA thank GOD). I’m a municipal roadway design project manager and story of my life right now. Like a roadway designer meets Abbott and Costello. I should say though the lions share of my projects go smoothly and supportive of modernizing and “completing” streets inclusive of traffic calming and multimodal.
I'm glad you are trying to change and highlight the good changes in roads of the country you live in. Its a nice change compared to the average urbanist channel (being a coward and leaving, then laughing at those who are trying to make the best of the country they live in (*cough* Not Just Bikes *cough*)). I'm a car guy through and through but I understand the problem they can create, just as anything else. You've got a great thing going here, keep it up. If there are any other channels like yours I can watch I'd love to hear about them
FINALLY an urbanism video that actually tells you how to HOW to make an impact instead of just bickering and blabbering. Thank you so much! I will definitely take these into mind and try to make as much of a difference in the future. Urbanism has absolutely blown up in North America over the past several years, and with such rapid growth and passion, I can't help but feel optimistic about the future!
Thank you so much for talking about the civic participation aspect of this. So many videos on this topic stop at "The way we do things is bad!" and don't even begin to discuss what you can actually DO about it :)
That's not going to happen in most parts of the country, either due to the area being already very built up, or due to the people leaving the area in search of jobs with those remaining not having the money. It's great when it happens, but it's not super realistic, especially the sorts of fixes that some of these modernists are pushing for. The plans that are being put into place in areas that don't already have extensive rail systems are extremely expensive for a reason and even with cost saving measures, it's still incredibly expensive. Making it step one is just plain ignorant. There's a bunch of other stuff that can be done now that would improve things. I'm getting a couple roundabouts near me to help the flow of traffic onto, off of and over the freeway to go with the light rail station that we've finally gotten.
I still find so much value in the historic odd five six-point intersections that I don't think we should touch them or do anything to them. In my hometown of Indianapolis we recently made a six-point intersection around about with two dead ends and it just doesn't feel the same or have the same directional historic impact.
In my experience, most states do a great job of maintaining highways in rural areas. In my state, Missouri, MODOT will use a crumbling bridge as an excuse to implement Diverting Diamond Interchanges. This not only can be sold to a locality as a new bridge, but a congestion fixer for the bridge, a two-for-one solution for the money. It's in cities that it becomes more difficult. When needing to remove an old bridge and construct another one, it becomes difficult. In the country, it's customary to build a new bridge next to the old one and divert the road over to it. Anytime you go over a bridge crossing a river, take a gander and see if you can spot the area the roads used to sync up. Most river crossings have had their original bridges replaced at least once. The city leaves no room for this prospect. Generally, traffic engineers must determine where the traffic using a route both comes from and goes to, before they can then make plans. Eventually, they need to ensure (to the best of their abilities...and budget) that alternative routes can handle the diverting traffic before closing a route and reconstructing it. This makes it time consuming and extremely expensive. That's why roads in the country are fairly well maintained (with exceptions, like the 10 mile bridges over the bayous of Louisiana that are 60-70 years old). City infrastructure is installed and expected to last twice its expected lifetime due to these hurdles.
There are too many red lights when there should be stop signs or roundabouts, and none of the lights are synced with each other, I am slowly losing my mind with this every day
Stop signs are definitely worst when on a artery road though. Where I live if your going through the main way the lights are green by default and only turn red when someone is wanting to turn left or straight from an adjacent road
I think a many red lights are intentionally out if sync to create traffic which slows it down / reduces the chance of that one driver to be driving 25 over the limit but at the same time it causes everyone frustration of having to stop at almost every intersection.
Directly related to this, our vehicles are getting heavier and heavier each year. More engine, more range, more safety, more automation. I find it a little absurd.
If the US stops navel-gazing and studies how north-western Europe has built its infrastructure and adopts their solutions, it will have come a long way.
I take it that they don't have the phrase "comparing apples and oranges" over there. Europe is very different from the US in virtually every respect, taking what works over there and assuming that it will work here is ignorant. So, there's a bunch of debating and studying that goes on. A lot of the recommendations that I see from urbanists about how to deal with these problems have tons of issues that get hand waved away. For example, bikes. They may be great in The Netherlands, but around here we have hills. And, occasionally we have snow. So, we need other options. Adding more bike lanes doesn't really work, because of the space constraints where we need to have something to deal with the traffic. We can rezone, and have been for decades, but things like that take massive amounts of time to deal with.
There's an intersection around here that's an absolute mess because they're trying to shoehorn it into an all-way stop. The problem is that it's got 5 roads and a short private street that come together in about 130 feet. A very thin and relatively long roundabout would probably fit just fine for most traffic. Moving trucks might have to divert around to turn left, but it's residential streets that would require turning anyways.
If you're already 14 lanes wide and you still don't have enough capacity, maybe it's time to invest in buses and trains instead. Have the city spend some time figuring what the most common routes are, and build transit around those routes.
If you’re wondering if you need an urban planning or a law/government/policy degree to be qualified to run for county commissioner or city council, just know that anyone can run. I would say finish your degree or vocational training first. As for how to know how to fix what about a street specifically, use case studies that are preferably based in the United States
Honestly, I want safety and all that but it seems like we know the solutions and the people with degrees aren't doing anything to improve things once elected.
I do not like using Hoboken as an example of holistic traffic safety management. Not that what they did deserves great praise, but most jurisdictions are just not built like them. Hoboken is very small and has no major highways. It takes advantage of highways in the nearby cities and shifts all the responsibilty of major traffic safety concerns to other jurisdictions.
I mean, to be fair, 40,000 people dying in traffic accidents, thats prolly more down to people just generally being shit drivers. YOu need little more than 50 bucks and a written test to get a driver license.....they practically give them out in cereal boxes.
my biggest complain is the general acceptance of traffic violence in the US - it often feels, like people and even the police don't _want_ streets to be safer.
3:05 Most of that intersection design is good, but making everyone stop really isn't; not that people shouldn't slow down when they come to an intersection. Having a ramp up to, and cobbled Center intersection is best to force drivers to slow down in multiple ways, while not putting up arbitrary stop signs everywhere that will inevitably be ignored eventually. Lotta good a stop sign does if someone doesn't pay attention to it, but if you essentially give someone a driveway, they don't really have any choice but to slow down (it's also easier for pedestrians since they can cross on a flat path)
Much of this organization is different in Virginia and North Carolina. The state owns all roads outside municipal limits. Within cities, the state still owns all major roadways. There are no county roads (save two urbanized counties in VA). Majority of the safety concerns inside cities are on the state roadways, so cities still have to go back to the state for traffic safety improvements, whether through state budget amendments or encroachment agreements.
Are you from the United States? No walks here. And the weather in most states does not allow year round walking. All of the states get blistering cold with storm gale force winds and ice falling out of the sky. Snow, ice, and frozen mud block the streets for cars and all pedestrians in the winter months. On the flip side, even in the Northern states the summers are blistering hot with sweltering humidity. No one would walk far in that situation. Houston has a monsoon season . . . Florida has hurricanes . . . The only place in the United States where people could walk all year round is Southern California. The wisdom of turning roads into pedestrian pathways is questionable when certain months out of the year they could not be used.
@@Matthew_LoutnerWeather in Northern Europe is not any different than any of that apart from tropical storms, but they are all walkable cities. US cities aren’t walkable not because of the climate they are in, but because they were not built with people in mind. We all know most are car centric cities. And the history shows some of them used to be pedestrian friendly cities. Climate was still the same. Are you a well-traveled person? Because you’d see that it is possible. How do you think the weather is in Stockholm? Or heavy gusty winds of Oslo winter that you cannot even walk. Extreme weather happens everywhere but most days in a year are fine. You just have to experience that it is possible, as you don’t want to accept it otherwise. I live in Southern California and there are actually some initiatives to make the city more friendly. A part of downtown LA was turned into a pedestrian only area a couple of years ago which was well received by the people. Now they are aiming to expand the concept. It is relatively easy in Southern California so I agree with you on that but it is still very much possible anywhere else.
@@Matthew_Loutner btw, you shouldn’t be driving in hurricanes either. A Year is 365 days long. How many are hurricane days? If it is below 180 days, you will be fine with walking more. Don’t be so afraid of walking.
@@cemdursun When hurricanes come people in Florida drive to Georgia. You could not walk from Miami to Georgia. The hurricane would be over when you got there. Pretty much everything you have to say is just fantasy stuff and you refuse to accept the reality that is America. Enjoy your dreams. I am telling you that it will always be just a pipe dream. Americans PREFER to drive their cars. That is the way it is, and they are not going to stand outside in bad weather waiting for a transit when they can be inside a WARM car. And your facts are wrong: 1. Almost every major city in America has a very large walkable urban and inner-urban area. It is only the outer suburbs that are not walkable. 2. The United States has 10,000 small towns that are quite walkable. And we are not talking about "walking more." If you change over the roads, that means walking to work 22 miles EVERY DAY. Changing over the roads eliminates the driving option altogether.
@@cemdursun If you cannot walk 365 days a year, you cannot walk to work. You need a car. Of course I "don't want to accept" your fantasy. I own a car. 😅
In my country 🇧🇬 they made a 4 lane boulevard into 2 lanes with park spaces and two lane bike lane. Then people made a protest because "ambulances couldn’t go trough traffic"…
@@RealConstructor on a Not Just Bikes video it also said that in emergencies when theirs traffic, the ambulance, firetruck, or police car can just go on the bike lane if it is wide enough.
i like your channel and videos but it feels like every video u post is a reskin of the same video, like the content is the same just spelled in a different way
In the U.S. is easy to fix transport in suburbia, just add tram lines in the 1x1 mile grid of collector (st)roads and stations near crossings, if the city budget isn't enough for that, then BRT lines. If budget is sufficient, also change the crossings to roundbounts, then maybe we could make more deep changes
It’s not easy to add a concise and helpful transit line in sprawling american suburbia but what I’ve learned is that the only option we have is to mainly keep regular buses out of the crazy mazes and use dial-a-ride zones to get riders as fast as possible out of the labyrinth and to a transit stop
The budget is never sufficient and the sprawl prevents these things from happening. Unfortunately homes are retirement for most people so you have to have the property value continue to grow. Once you have that incentive you will advocate for worse infrastructure and planning because it'll preserve and grow your investment.
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1k likes in 3 hours is crazy :0
How is this comment a day old when the video is 5 hours old
@@UmutPotato You can schedule a video to be posted at a specific time, so this video along with this comment were probably uploaded a day ago and scheduled to be posted later.
Sure is nice to already live in the Utopia of street design. You could join us here, in the Netherlands, by emigrating. We have plenty of space left for refugees from the US of A...
dude copying tomscotts thumbnail layout....
It is a good day when Streetcraft uploads!
Fax
@@bostoncelticsfan07sounds gay
Yes, I agree x7
Facts
Top tier quality stuff, mate. Thank you for putting these things in a neutral way that makes them much more approachable to everyone. My biggest fear about these things in my own country is that people think insisting on better public transit and road infrastructure is something someone from one party or the other would do. So seeing examples of how to present these topics in a neutral way like in your videos helps me have these discussions in my life in a more effective way as well 🤗
It's not "neutral" if you start with the idea that things are wrong and need fixing. And by fixing, I specifically mean "making things less pleasant for drivers"
It's not like all innovations are bad, roundabouts are faster and more efficient than stopsigns and 2-lane stoplights. However, cutting the road surface in half for 'traffic calming' just pisses everyone off.
@@Motoko_UrashimaZero traffic deaths in seven years in Hoboken, NJ makes those types of changes seem worth it. Usually there is a ton of local support for traffic calming. People that don't like it tend to live further away from where the changes are being proposed, but would be fine with similar initiatives in their own neighborhoods.
@@Motoko_Urashimaalso, who do you know that loves congested and dangerous roads that are crumbling? It's a fact that much of our infrastructure is in dire need of fixing, not an opinion. Thousands of people are literally dying because of these issues. And things are probably worse than we realize. Your take reminds me of that Monty Python scene where the guy gets all his limbs hacked off and claims it's just a flesh wound.
@@Motoko_Urashima if you do it in the right way: it isn't taking away road surface from cars, it's making the roads safer for all people not just (car) drivers.
if you narrow the streets you also need to build other options or improve those options, like cycling, walking or public transport.
this will mean that a percentage of drivers will switch to those options, because those options are now useful and safe to use.
and in turn that means less cars on the road, and those fewer cars have plenty of space on the narrowed road.
Agreed
No intro, just getting in the video. This is how you know this is going to be good
What about fixing zoning laws so people can live closer to their work, and providing public transport so less people have to drive?
Yes, and that definitely needs to be a piece of it. Around here we've had folks talking about "urban villages" for decades, but it turns out that it takes a lot of time and effort to get the zoning close enough and for the changes to actually happen. And, it gets even harder when companies closer grocery stores in an effort to save money through consolidation as you really do need more than one grocery store in reasonable proximity to wherever people are living. .
Unfortunately I live in TX where it seems that changes like these won't happen in my lifetime, if ever!
Zoning laws are not a problem. They do not need to be "fixed."
@@Matthew_Loutnerthat's a pretty broad claim to make. I'm sure there are examples of zoning laws that even you would agree need fixing. Do you think the status quo in San Francisco with some of the strictest zoning laws is the way things should be? At the very least there is room for improvement.
@@DizzyDiddy No zoning laws need to be fixed. It is a very simple matter to go before the zoning board and request a zone change for the lot you want to build on.
Or a zoning variance.
Or a zoning waiver.
Or a non-conforming use.
Only people who do not know anything about building say this stuff.
I'm a part of the USDOT discretionary grants team. These videos are such a good explainer on why we need programs like this. Thanks for all you do to inform the public, it helps us a lot! Hope we can keep pushing forward one project at a time.
As a young person, it's really exciting watching this urbanism meme take off in the u.s. but im curious if its had any effect on executive branch policy. Has there been a change in language/priorities internally over the last few years?
@@owenelliott5742 lots of young people at DOT too! I would argue it feeds into each other. Public interest will influence policy direction, policy direction will lead to funding towards public interests. It becomes cyclical that way.
Thank you! Appreciate the work you are doing as well!
@@owenelliott5742 I would say it really works both ways. Public interest in these efforts and Congressional commitments to provide funding for it sort of feed off each other. If the United States is happy with the outcomes from this major investment, I think it's more likely we'll see a continuation of this funding. But it also takes Congress to get the money out in the first place, and put it in front of the public to decide. In a perfect world, executive branch priorities reflect that of the people.
@@owenelliott5742 meme?
Add one more extra lane, and that sure will fix it.
Nope won’t be fixed
@@Wiki024 (that’s the joke)
A long video! Finally after multiple shorts!
streetcraft i love you please dont die
If the roads don't change, he might
I want to say that he is not suicidal or deadly sick.
Lol
I want to offer a correction precisely because I like that this channel distinguishes itself from all the other "urbanist" channels in its positivity and in discussing how things get done, rather than the usual complaining that every other channel does, and hope you keep going with what makes this channel so much better than others.
When talking about pre-automobile streets, it is NOT true that they were "designed for everyone". For one, they were usually not designed at all (beyond laying out a street grid and street widths), and secondly, they were not spaces "for everyone". Aside from obvious issues of their time, they were also crowded and dangerous, just as much then as now. Tram and carriage accidents were habitual (just look up the origin of the "Dodgers" name or death of Antoni Gaudi), rail tracks had (and have) the same destructive impacts that freeways have now, and cities were walkable purely in a functional sense, and out of necessity. My point is, we should be careful not to romanticize the past, because it paints the false idea that planning and designing cities has made them worse / was a mistake. A more accurate description would be to say that streets and roads have not been designed with enough care and when combined with automobile dependency has resulted in cities not seeing the improvements that could've come had we done a better job. That is, we should've had more and better planning.
Anyway great video
I love your videos man keep up the great work
Seeing the rural adaptations of roundabouts is nice, since most other urbanism channels focus on urban cities.
Roundabouts are great on low-volume roads. Which is why rural amd suburban roads are better candidates.
True but rural people need to move to urban areas. The suburbs can't justify themselves and neither can rural living. It costs too much to subsidize the wanton wasteful spending it takes to maintain these types of living.
@@ElyonDominus Suburbs shouldn't count as rural. Suburban and rural are two different things entirely. My Dad grew up in a rural area, he was about halfway between two towns for most of his childhood and there was literally nothing for miles that wasn't a farm house. Areas like that can be fixed, they won't be contributing more than they take in terms of taxes, but generally, they produce other things.
Suburbs though have no value to them other than as a place to live when not work. I recently finally understood the term "bedroom community." It's literally where people sleep after they come home from working in town.
@@ElyonDominusI had to double take when I saw you said that. No, people in rural areas do not need to move into cities, I live out in the country and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's a far better way to live than to be stuck up in a noise apartment with people who hate your guts for no reason and no outdoor space. I never thought there was anyone dumb enough to say rural people need to move into cities. But that does tell me you're brainwashed and would be the first to succumb to a communist takeover. Think about what happened to China over the last 100 years.
@@titaniumvideos1039 China lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the last 50 years. Is that what you meant?
Thank you Streetcraft for making a video on how to craft streets.
We finally have a face behind the voice! 🎉
He’s shown his face before
@@mlgdigimonokay? he never said he hasn't shown his face before.
@@yungtitynacit was implied tho
@@mlgdigimon oh he did?? Didn't realize that lolllll
He's cute af
MORE ROUNDABOUTS
Can you make a longer video on Hoboken?
Fantastic video. As a transportation engineer I have to say you nailed it. Your video captures how the system works, why it can be challenging, and the most effective ways individuals can make a difference. Especially if you live in a city, please vote in local elections and go to public meetings! Best things you can do!
I love the fact that Jordan Peterson had a meltdown on a news post about the Hoboken death rate
Jordan Peterson has a meltdown when he realizes that he has to clean his room before a zoom meeting.
What about taxing cars by their weight? The heaviest cars do the most damage to the roads. Which such a tax the ones doing the most damage will be paying the most for the roads maintenance. Not only is this fair, it also incentives people to driving lighter cars, reducing the damage to the roads.
This is fair
This is what they did, but there were complaints that professional truckers would have to pay too much, so they added reductions for trucks. And then the car industry started producing huge cars (SUVs and pickups) classified as trucks for regular people.
Car industry is also lobbying against light cars, in particular the small pickups from Japan and other countries, claiming they're not as safe. But the US definition of a safe car does not include anything outside the car. Doesn't matter if it's prone to mowing down children they can't see, as long as the occupants aren't injured. Much of the rest of the world also include safety of whatever you accidentally hit.
You know, I appreciate this video, but I really want to know what your stance is on the intersection of 5th and Main.
3:36 That is awesome that the designers also added little cut-outs in the concrete median for people exiting their driveways to turn left.
I noticed that, then thought the only thing that really would have prevented a driveway from being that close to the intersection would be the presence of a traffic light.
I love your simple visuals they are so satisfying
Properly thought out road design is crucial, but so is building functional mass transit systems (ie trains, dedicated bus routes, etc) and to stop building more lifeless suburban sprawl.
Urban sprawl is not "lifeless."
@@Matthew_Loutner True. Closer to vampiric. Sucking the money out of the cities.
@AnotherDuck Since I hate cities, I guess that makes me the vampire. 🧟♂️
If I choose to live out of town, I really do not think that I owe the people in the city any money and I do not have any responsibility to them. I have my life. They have theirs.
@@Matthew_Loutner I mean, yes. You feel entitled to have things being paid for you by people who live in more economically sustainable housing arrangements. They pay for their living, and yours. You do not pay for the full cost of even just your own living.
@AnotherDuck I pay anything the government asks me to pay, and I do not waste my government's money by riding public transit. If I need to pay more to cover my share, the government can send me a bill. I will pay it.
I think my government is smart enough to get my bill right.
I stand upon my own 2 feet. I have never asked anyone to pay for my life.
How would you know how I "feel" about it???
I am not "entitled."
I am an AMERICAN. 🦅 😎👍 🇺🇸 ✝️
Highways should never be widened at all and the money spent on that should be diverted to public transit. Ramp meters and tolls at peak times could be implemented to help reduce congestion as well
That sort of ignorance is why it's so hard at times to get better infrastructure. A growing city may need more lanes of traffic, you need a certain number of trucks coming and going based on the population size. There are also areas where building alternate mass transit may not be practical.
There's also issues in terms of planning where you don't always know when there's going to be some sort of change that triggers a bunch of internal migration to a region.
Sadly that's not entirely true there are cases where roads do need to be widened
@@titaniumvideos1039 name one example then? You only need to look at the Katy Freeway in Texas and see how traffic has gotten worse despite being widened multiple times
@@SmallSpoonBrigade the points you make may seem obvious but are in fact wrong. To start with, it’s much more efficient to move freight with trains rather than trucks because of economies of scale. Trucks should only be used for last mile delivery to move goods to warehouses or shops rather than across regions or the country. Also you say there are areas where building mass transit may not be practical when that isn’t true. Transit can be built anywhere. Some modes are better than others, grade separated rail that is elevated or underground is great for high frequencies and moving a lot of people in downtown areas, light rail is more suited to areas with lower density and buses can act as feeders to enable transfers or serve rural areas
@@SmallSpoonBrigade your point on planning is true but transit has always proven to be a net positive. It’s great for business as they can attract more customers, it’s great for people who can find better jobs or education, it’s great for tourism as people don’t need to rent cars and so much more. The reason why New York City is the most populous city in the country is because of it’s transit system
Residents: “change is urgent, change is necessary, so long as nothing has to change to make change happen” -my neighborhood association (NOT an HOA thank GOD).
I’m a municipal roadway design project manager and story of my life right now. Like a roadway designer meets Abbott and Costello.
I should say though the lions share of my projects go smoothly and supportive of modernizing and “completing” streets inclusive of traffic calming and multimodal.
00:03 Cincinnati, my hometown!!
Love how you jump right into the content of the video, amazing work!
you're the first person ive heard mention the SS4A grant.
The US government should hire you to make a national building code for road construction.
He finally posted!
Happy to see your getting sponsors. You deserve it. Such great content. I love your perspective -a fellow Floridian
I'm glad you are trying to change and highlight the good changes in roads of the country you live in. Its a nice change compared to the average urbanist channel (being a coward and leaving, then laughing at those who are trying to make the best of the country they live in (*cough* Not Just Bikes *cough*)). I'm a car guy through and through but I understand the problem they can create, just as anything else. You've got a great thing going here, keep it up. If there are any other channels like yours I can watch I'd love to hear about them
FINALLY an urbanism video that actually tells you how to HOW to make an impact instead of just bickering and blabbering. Thank you so much! I will definitely take these into mind and try to make as much of a difference in the future. Urbanism has absolutely blown up in North America over the past several years, and with such rapid growth and passion, I can't help but feel optimistic about the future!
You want to live in a city?
@@titaniumvideos1039 Yes, also known as the correct way to live in the modern day. Suburbs are stupid. Rural areas are... fine.
@@MAL1GNANT Well, American style suburbs. European style suburbs are more like small towns. Or at least, most of the ones in my city.
Thank you so much for talking about the civic participation aspect of this. So many videos on this topic stop at "The way we do things is bad!" and don't even begin to discuss what you can actually DO about it :)
Traffic lights that are to close together on every street corner and they back up into the next block and next intersection
Step 1: fix the rail network
That's not going to happen in most parts of the country, either due to the area being already very built up, or due to the people leaving the area in search of jobs with those remaining not having the money. It's great when it happens, but it's not super realistic, especially the sorts of fixes that some of these modernists are pushing for. The plans that are being put into place in areas that don't already have extensive rail systems are extremely expensive for a reason and even with cost saving measures, it's still incredibly expensive.
Making it step one is just plain ignorant. There's a bunch of other stuff that can be done now that would improve things. I'm getting a couple roundabouts near me to help the flow of traffic onto, off of and over the freeway to go with the light rail station that we've finally gotten.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeshush. Trains are better
that would be nice but i dont think demolishing america and starting again is a very popular idea in america
@@james1304_ tahts exactly why you aren't in charge.
I never thought that out of all places, Hoboken would be getting praised for its traffic fatalities, or lack thereof.
dude copying tomscotts thumbnail layout....
Third thing that needs to get fixed: The thinking/politics.
I still find so much value in the historic odd five six-point intersections that I don't think we should touch them or do anything to them. In my hometown of Indianapolis we recently made a six-point intersection around about with two dead ends and it just doesn't feel the same or have the same directional historic impact.
In my experience, most states do a great job of maintaining highways in rural areas. In my state, Missouri, MODOT will use a crumbling bridge as an excuse to implement Diverting Diamond Interchanges. This not only can be sold to a locality as a new bridge, but a congestion fixer for the bridge, a two-for-one solution for the money.
It's in cities that it becomes more difficult. When needing to remove an old bridge and construct another one, it becomes difficult. In the country, it's customary to build a new bridge next to the old one and divert the road over to it. Anytime you go over a bridge crossing a river, take a gander and see if you can spot the area the roads used to sync up. Most river crossings have had their original bridges replaced at least once.
The city leaves no room for this prospect. Generally, traffic engineers must determine where the traffic using a route both comes from and goes to, before they can then make plans. Eventually, they need to ensure (to the best of their abilities...and budget) that alternative routes can handle the diverting traffic before closing a route and reconstructing it. This makes it time consuming and extremely expensive. That's why roads in the country are fairly well maintained (with exceptions, like the 10 mile bridges over the bayous of Louisiana that are 60-70 years old). City infrastructure is installed and expected to last twice its expected lifetime due to these hurdles.
I’m a st. Louisan too and it seems like it’s too car centric. It wouldn’t require all that highway funding if it wasn’t so car centric.
Leaving my comment here so I can see carbrains have a stroke.
There are too many red lights when there should be stop signs or roundabouts, and none of the lights are synced with each other, I am slowly losing my mind with this every day
Stop signs are definitely worst when on a artery road though. Where I live if your going through the main way the lights are green by default and only turn red when someone is wanting to turn left or straight from an adjacent road
I think a many red lights are intentionally out if sync to create traffic which slows it down / reduces the chance of that one driver to be driving 25 over the limit but at the same time it causes everyone frustration of having to stop at almost every intersection.
This mans videos brighten my day
Same here.
Also, I’m not sure where 3:37 is from?
@@JoeKline-yo7lk me neither
lol Brent Spence first shot, go Cincy! 😂
Directly related to this, our vehicles are getting heavier and heavier each year. More engine, more range, more safety, more automation. I find it a little absurd.
If the US stops navel-gazing and studies how north-western Europe has built its infrastructure and adopts their solutions, it will have come a long way.
We won't improve things because the status quo was explicitly designed to extract wealth from minorities and other working class folks.
I take it that they don't have the phrase "comparing apples and oranges" over there. Europe is very different from the US in virtually every respect, taking what works over there and assuming that it will work here is ignorant. So, there's a bunch of debating and studying that goes on. A lot of the recommendations that I see from urbanists about how to deal with these problems have tons of issues that get hand waved away. For example, bikes. They may be great in The Netherlands, but around here we have hills. And, occasionally we have snow. So, we need other options. Adding more bike lanes doesn't really work, because of the space constraints where we need to have something to deal with the traffic. We can rezone, and have been for decades, but things like that take massive amounts of time to deal with.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeThe same dumb argument that's been proven wrong.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade A wild Dunning-Kruger effect specimen appears! It used willful ignorance. It wasn't very effective.
If you do not like the way we run our country . . . Keep out.
In other words live an in affluent area that small efficient government and not corrupt
are u a cities skylines 2 player by chance?
"Peanut shaped roundabout" = Dogbone roundabout
I just saw a menstrual pad
There's an intersection around here that's an absolute mess because they're trying to shoehorn it into an all-way stop. The problem is that it's got 5 roads and a short private street that come together in about 130 feet. A very thin and relatively long roundabout would probably fit just fine for most traffic. Moving trucks might have to divert around to turn left, but it's residential streets that would require turning anyways.
I’m the guy at the meetings who argues against all the walkable nonsense we already have not enough parking spots as it is
But if more people are able to walk instead of drive wouldn’t that free up parking spots too?
stop signs are most of the time horrible. there are very few here in germany. a full stop is just not economic in any way most of the times
0:45 tampax pad roundabout lol
Trump will end the green new deal
3:55 .. My tires are barking 💨🏎️
My college town made the roads better for semi trucks, it's lead to the decline of Maine street and accidents. I got in one, they used to be one ways
Wonderful, great video! Thank you for posting
my favorite channel
Keep up the great work!
3:33 novel peanut roundabout aka "peanutabout"😉😆 (Streetsblog). Gotta update Wikipedia article.
Meanwhile in Toronto. The Ontario premier announced his intention to build a sixty kilometre underground expressway below the 14-lane 401 expressway.
I've seen a lot of backlash about this project ideally it doesn't go through
If you're already 14 lanes wide and you still don't have enough capacity, maybe it's time to invest in buses and trains instead. Have the city spend some time figuring what the most common routes are, and build transit around those routes.
@@ant8504 There’s no way. I think he was spitballing / trolling.
Make via rail better. Make high speed rail. That’s what we need
THE STREET MASTER IS BACK
this video is great, as usual! i love that you also provided examples of safe street designs in rural communities :)
In Maryland, they send out notifications of studies and meeting for large road projects.
litterally makes my day when you upload
have u heard of a this game coming out called Junxions? seems its right up your alley
New Streetcraft video day is always a good day
4:50 That tree looks so lonely stuck out there in the asphalt by itself. 🌲
Poor tree.
If you’re wondering if you need an urban planning or a law/government/policy degree to be qualified to run for county commissioner or city council, just know that anyone can run.
I would say finish your degree or vocational training first.
As for how to know how to fix what about a street specifically, use case studies that are preferably based in the United States
Honestly, I want safety and all that but it seems like we know the solutions and the people with degrees aren't doing anything to improve things once elected.
Another great video! What software do you use for the visuals over the roads?
7:05 I didn't expect to see St. Petersburg in the video
I do not like using Hoboken as an example of holistic traffic safety management. Not that what they did deserves great praise, but most jurisdictions are just not built like them. Hoboken is very small and has no major highways. It takes advantage of highways in the nearby cities and shifts all the responsibilty of major traffic safety concerns to other jurisdictions.
Fight these new Stroads/arterials being built in your area!
-Strong Towns Las Vegas
Love the channel. Great videos.
cant wait until we fix HOW PEOPLE DRIVE by having a passing lane and a travelling lane on the highway!
I mean, to be fair, 40,000 people dying in traffic accidents, thats prolly more down to people just generally being shit drivers. YOu need little more than 50 bucks and a written test to get a driver license.....they practically give them out in cereal boxes.
Wait streetcrafts so you believe to have roundabouts on faster roads not slow?
They’re often more efficient than a traffic light.
my biggest complain is the general acceptance of traffic violence in the US - it often feels, like people and even the police don't _want_ streets to be safer.
4:37 “BiPaRtIsAn”
LET'S GO, AMAZING NEW VID!!!!!!!!!
I thought about fixing roads by having less of them. There’s too many of them.
3:05 Most of that intersection design is good, but making everyone stop really isn't; not that people shouldn't slow down when they come to an intersection. Having a ramp up to, and cobbled Center intersection is best to force drivers to slow down in multiple ways, while not putting up arbitrary stop signs everywhere that will inevitably be ignored eventually. Lotta good a stop sign does if someone doesn't pay attention to it, but if you essentially give someone a driveway, they don't really have any choice but to slow down (it's also easier for pedestrians since they can cross on a flat path)
Ахахаха бро классно выглядишь)
Oh, you're cute 😂
More videos please. WE need weekly or daily uploads. LEt me get my fix
Wow! I never realized that intersections are so safe! According to the video, 60% of all traffic accidents do *not* take place in an intersection. 😉
Very Interesting...
the return of the king
Glad to see that someone realizes that people don't just live in cities
I was thinking the same thing
I love your videos!!
i act said loudly “yes street craft” when i seen that u posted
Great stuff!!!
Nice
Much of this organization is different in Virginia and North Carolina. The state owns all roads outside municipal limits. Within cities, the state still owns all major roadways. There are no county roads (save two urbanized counties in VA). Majority of the safety concerns inside cities are on the state roadways, so cities still have to go back to the state for traffic safety improvements, whether through state budget amendments or encroachment agreements.
Yoo, new banger!
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
By removing a significant portion of the roads and making them pedestrian, non-motor vehicles only.
Are you from the United States?
No walks here.
And the weather in most states does not allow year round walking. All of the states get blistering cold with storm gale force winds and ice falling out of the sky. Snow, ice, and frozen mud block the streets for cars and all pedestrians in the winter months.
On the flip side, even in the Northern states the summers are blistering hot with sweltering humidity. No one would walk far in that situation.
Houston has a monsoon season . . .
Florida has hurricanes . . .
The only place in the United States where people could walk all year round is Southern California.
The wisdom of turning roads into pedestrian pathways is questionable when certain months out of the year they could not be used.
@@Matthew_LoutnerWeather in Northern Europe is not any different than any of that apart from tropical storms, but they are all walkable cities. US cities aren’t walkable not because of the climate they are in, but because they were not built with people in mind. We all know most are car centric cities. And the history shows some of them used to be pedestrian friendly cities. Climate was still the same.
Are you a well-traveled person? Because you’d see that it is possible. How do you think the weather is in Stockholm? Or heavy gusty winds of Oslo winter that you cannot even walk. Extreme weather happens everywhere but most days in a year are fine. You just have to experience that it is possible, as you don’t want to accept it otherwise.
I live in Southern California and there are actually some initiatives to make the city more friendly. A part of downtown LA was turned into a pedestrian only area a couple of years ago which was well received by the people. Now they are aiming to expand the concept. It is relatively easy in Southern California so I agree with you on that but it is still very much possible anywhere else.
@@Matthew_Loutner btw, you shouldn’t be driving in hurricanes either. A Year is 365 days long. How many are hurricane days? If it is below 180 days, you will be fine with walking more. Don’t be so afraid of walking.
@@cemdursun When hurricanes come people in Florida drive to Georgia. You could not walk from Miami to Georgia. The hurricane would be over when you got there.
Pretty much everything you have to say is just fantasy stuff and you refuse to accept the reality that is America. Enjoy your dreams. I am telling you that it will always be just a pipe dream. Americans PREFER to drive their cars. That is the way it is, and they are not going to stand outside in bad weather waiting for a transit when they can be inside a WARM car.
And your facts are wrong:
1. Almost every major city in America has a very large walkable urban and inner-urban area. It is only the outer suburbs that are not walkable.
2. The United States has 10,000 small towns that are quite walkable.
And we are not talking about "walking more." If you change over the roads, that means walking to work 22 miles EVERY DAY. Changing over the roads eliminates the driving option altogether.
@@cemdursun If you cannot walk 365 days a year, you cannot walk to work. You need a car.
Of course I "don't want to accept" your fantasy. I own a car. 😅
In my country 🇧🇬 they made a 4 lane boulevard into 2 lanes with park spaces and two lane bike lane. Then people made a protest because "ambulances couldn’t go trough traffic"…
Then change one lane into an emergency lane and the problem is solved.
@@RealConstructor on a Not Just Bikes video it also said that in emergencies when theirs traffic, the ambulance, firetruck, or police car can just go on the bike lane if it is wide enough.
Apparently they do it in the netherlands
@@sufyanisbest yeah I was gona say that
@@RealConstructor it is two way
i like your channel and videos but it feels like every video u post is a reskin of the same video, like the content is the same just spelled in a different way
The solutions are the same and the problems aren't novel.
Make your own videos, dork
In the U.S. is easy to fix transport in suburbia, just add tram lines in the 1x1 mile grid of collector (st)roads and stations near crossings, if the city budget isn't enough for that, then BRT lines. If budget is sufficient, also change the crossings to roundbounts, then maybe we could make more deep changes
It’s not easy to add a concise and helpful transit line in sprawling american suburbia but what I’ve learned is that the only option we have is to mainly keep regular buses out of the crazy mazes and use dial-a-ride zones to get riders as fast as possible out of the labyrinth and to a transit stop
The budget is never sufficient and the sprawl prevents these things from happening. Unfortunately homes are retirement for most people so you have to have the property value continue to grow. Once you have that incentive you will advocate for worse infrastructure and planning because it'll preserve and grow your investment.