Poor guy. I am German, not having good bread available would be devastating to me, so here is an easy bread recipe, so you don't have to take that journey again: You need: 100g rye flour type 1150 400g wheat flour type 1050 + a bit for your work surface and stuff 100g sourdough starter 15g salt 350g water a kitchen scale 1. Put the water, rye flour, sourdough starter and 150g of the wheat flour in a bowl, mix it, put cling film over it and wait for 8 hours. 2. Add the rest of the wheat flour, mix and wait for 30 minutes 3. Add the salt and kneed in a stand mixer (like a kitchenAid) for ~8-10 minutes 4. Let it proof for 2 hours, stretch and fold every 30 minutes 5. Form into a round loaf, put a kitchen towel in a bowl, sprinkle flour on the towel, place your dough in the bowl, sprinkle some flour on top, put it in the fridge, and wait for ~10 hours 6. Pre-heat your oven to 250°c 7. Put your dough (you can (should) score it, but you don't strictly have to) in the oven and splash some water in there. 8. Keep the temperature at 250°C for 10 minutes; after that, reduce it to 230°C for 15 minutes, then to 200°C for another 15 minutes, to 180°C for 10 minutes, and after that, turn your oven off, open the door slightly, and let your bread sit in there for 10 minutes. After that, you can take it out and let it cool for ~2 hours. You can bake it at the same temperature the whole time, but I found that in my oven, this method works a lot better and creates a better crust. Let's make bread great again. xD OK, that aside, it's really disturbing to see train stations and cities like that, they look like they should be in a dystopian science fiction movie. Germany has gone in that direction too (It's particularly obvious in the East, where many people didn't have a car before the reunification. Many small train stations and corner stores were removed in favour of car infrastructure and fewer, but bigger supermarkets after the wall fell), but it is not nearly as bad as it is in the US and by now many people realize, that car-centric design isn't a good idea.
needing transit (or a bike) to buy bread is called "underserved area" here in Germany :) But this video greatly shows the difference between the "car-oriented design" we often have here and the "car-only design" in the US: Here driving might be faster and so on - but it's never _impossible_ to use anything else.
Your bakery "adventure" is an example of a common transit-rider issue in North America... one I'm familiar with, myself. My solution is that I'll literally go to a more *physically distant* but more *transit-accessible* establishment. A few more stops for my bread/electronics/clothing/chillin'/whatever is worth less of a risk of dying.
i started grad school for urban planning today. Diabetic, can't see too good, never had a driver's license in my life. Cars are the bane of my existence. I can't go anywhere or do anything because we just love cars so much. Most european cities I have visited make me feel so much more alive, here it's just so depressing. People see urbanists as annoying and pedantic at times but these things really affect peoples daily lives in such profound ways, I hope the recent interest in urban planning in my generation continues and we can make our cities feel worth living in. My second biggest complaint about american cities is how blindingly bright they are. Just miles and miles of glaringly reflective glass and concrete roasting you like a human rotisserie chicken and causing countless traffic fatalities. No shade or places to rest. But at least we get water for free though, that one I will always hold over the europeans' heads. We could lose 10,000,000 people a year in car accidents and we'd still be less barbaric than any country where you have to pay 5 euros for a glass of water
It can’t be overstated how bad our city planning is. And every planner, city manager and mayor is so proud of their work. Its honestly embarrassing, especially when they start talking about their climate goals. Like, be so for real.
3 месяца назад+3
Woah. I may have just found my new favourite channel. As a fellow urbanist and lover of real bread who grew up in a hellishly car-brained Texan exurb, are you sure we don’t share a soul or something? Whilst I salute your dedication, I desperately long for a future in which all bread is good bread and all streets are safe (and good) streets. In the meantime, I second the German‘s sourdough recipe!
I (Dutch person) made fun of some American friends a couple of years ago when they told me they wouldn't walk or cycle for ten minutes to get to where they needed to go because 'bikes are for kids'. I feel kinda guilty about that now. The stuff you're showing here is dystopian.
Your suggestions are excellent, I hope you’re going into CivE or urban planning. If there was dedicated transit to red rocks it would reduce the post-concert traffic jam so much. I remember going to Tyler the creator in 2019 and waiting for an entire hour to leave the parking lot. I would have preferred transit soooo much more
I live close(ish) to the biggest motorway going through southern Stockholm. It's a big divider, sure, but there are many crossing bridges and tunnels, both for cars and pedestrians. To me it's just insane to not have paths between neighbourhoods, especially close to transit stations. I can easily choose between three different crossings (although one is naturally the shortest) to get to a store I often by electronics from, and that's a 15 minute walk, which is good enough for non-frequent trips. Main things I would suggest for USA: No parking minimums (frees up a lot of space and reduces sprawl), less restrictions on mixed development (makes it easier to develop denser and with better close access to grocery stores and other frequent trips), and good pedestrian/bike paths between all areas (universal access for not cars, which ironically improves car traffic). This also leads to more efficient transit, which makes people want to invest in it more.
City planning is not only better transit. Mixed used development in your suburbs, with local grocery stores, bakeries and other local shops, makes it also easier for people to do the daily shopping. Within walking and biking distance. But you Americans always have to use the car. Even if the shop is just 5 miles down the road.
Really great video. I live off of 6th Avenue after it stops being a highway and becomes a dangerous stroad and have become extremely cynical and hopeless about having good transit in Denver.
@@denniscain7218 oh yeah, there are so many awful worse stroads than 6th. Hampden, Evans, Wadsworth, Havana, Parker, etc. And getting the city to make even the most mild improvements is a huge uphill battle
Yeah, past Kalamath 6th becomes what I believe to be the world's widest 1 way street and it is stupid. The only part of 6th that I "like" is the section between Colorado & Quebec, with only 2 lanes and the nice greenery in the middle. West 6th in Lakewood should be made more like this section.
19:23 that is in Reno NV, and the biggest piece of insanity with that massive parking garage and tiny office building, is that that building is less than two blocks from the city's main transit center. If there is any part of the city that could easily encourage transit use, that's it.
8:53 bonus point for horrendous intersection design: the subtle messaging to wheelchair users that they should veer dangerously close to parallel speeding traffic.
I never thought about how that median would be impossible for wheelchair users to cross. It's also very dangerous for bikers. What a horrible piece of infrastructure.
I was just in the Denver area and the 6 lane stroads with sidewalks that end randomly was killing me. They handed over more than twice as much space for cars than was needed and gave everybody else literally no room at all. I took the RTD south and there was construction so it was crawling next to the freeway as the car drivers roared by. Meanwhile every 2 miles you cross another parallel highway. They WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY overbuilt their road network in that area. There is hardly anything around but a couple office complexes and there are like 18 different highways to serve it. They are just begging to maximize traffic. I don't understand why they chose this development pattern in the slightest. It's the absolute worst way to build. Go to LA and tell me that it works. Go to Reno or Phoenix and tell me that it works. IT DOES NOT WORK. STOP IT COLORADO. You're purposefully building for sprawl and you need to stop it. It's unacceptable.
The Denver Metro has some truly appalling highway design. The whole valley is a nightmare I don't think there's a single well designed highway in the entire city. On the other hand, some areas could very easily and quickly become more transit oriented, with the right community push and zoning changes.
@@JkWilliswanna know something wild most of the RTD light rail network is grade separated except the L, W and R. It can be swapped with driverless trains easily on line D and E. The RTD regional rail has more crossings tho
look at all these people biking, even if its just for fun or recreation its still encouraging to see and a glimpse at what kind of potential there could be if we embraced providing more safe opportunities for alternative modes of transportation besides just cars.
I agree. Denver has a lot of people who bike, more than any other city in the US as far as I've seen, which is why I'm surprised that places like this intersection still exist here.
I feel for you. Agreed, this is ridiculous. I live in an older neighbourhood in Montreal. I have three boulangeries (bakeries) on my nearby commercial street, a seven minute walk.
RTD is the epitome of the "Missed Opportunity Economy." Love your sense of humor on what is a very bleak topic, and especially loved your underlining the Fox News comment about people with cars being the only ones with money - or are they the only ones who voluntarily love to get sucked into the $8500-per-annum-per-man-woman-and-child-car economy?
i live in the denver metro area and I am SO glad that there is someone putting RTD, and Denver, to the sword for this absolutely heinous land use. In my opinion, the land use in Denver is absolutely THE #1 thing holding it back from being a great city. The whole region has been choked by highways and stroads for decades. Things seem to be moving very slowly in the right direction, but it needs to happen 10x as fast if we want to undo all the damage car-based infrastructure has done to our city in a reasonable time frame. Great video, you have earned a new subscriber.
"How should we deal with infrastructure problem in the future?" "Let future generations deal with it, they can use jet pack instead of road for grocery shopping~"
The lite rail in Seattle has gone down the same route. Every new station has 50%+ interstate. Even the "airport" station is a quarter mile away from the actual airport.
Besides that intersection being particularly awful, the crossing experience in the US is awful in general. This is a mix of lane width, in many cases too many lanes, and intersections being designed to be run through at speed, including on turns with right-on-red being legal for some reason.
also these crossing islands (this one being extremely bad): In the US you almost always walk in front of the island; in Germany you _always_ walk through an opening in the middle of the island.
You should come to Orlando if you want to see some of the worst of suburban Sunrail stations. We have one station in my hometown that has a gate explicitly built to block out Sunrail passengers from entering the nearby strip mall. The Sunrail station even built the sidewalk up to the fence, assuming passengers would visit there. It is nearly a 20 minute walk on stroads to the location otherwise.
You should share this with 9news or something. No kidding it's only a matter of time before something bad happens. Car centeic planning really is kind of gross
4:16 That is a wheelchair ramp! It is not a bike path. It is made wide enough for two oncoming wheelchair users to easily pass each other. It may have been made a bit wider for a range of issues. It takes an expert cyclist to ride it especially when meeting oncoming bicycle traffic. It puts a cyclist at the legal edge because they are using a facility only intended for pedestrians where wheelchair users are legally pedestrians. If it had one or two 90° kinks a bike route might include it because its the only way through. A bike path has a desired minimum design speed of 30 mph with the minimum being 20 mph to be considered a bicycle facility. There can be slow section. The minimum curve in a design guild for bicycle highway design is 6 mph. Below that speed a cyclist is very prone to fall over and there are no lower curve design speeds. It is considered the absolute minimum speed to allow cycling. Making the turns on that wheelchair ramp will be below 6 mph and below the speed a bicycle will have self stability. The rider should stand and balance intently. It is highway design doctrine to want to keep cyclists at 10 mph and above because below that speed they can swerve wildly and be unpredictable.
You're right, it's built to be a wheelchair ramp, but all the bikers I saw on this bridge just rode through it, and the thing is so wide that the 90° turns are fairly easy on a bike. Some other bridges in Denver have signs saying to dismount your bike, doesn't mean anyone does. I don't think it's an issue.
I shouldn't be amazed at how bad things are in the US, since I've lived here my entire life. But that ridiculous S curve and the amount of desire paths present everywhere is evident that the use of space is inefficient. And that useless road crossing that dumps you on a tiny triangular island surrounded by high speed traffic? You have to cross over a slip lane and then jump a metal barricade. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. I've never seen anything that bad in my life. Its really not hard to make spaces that are easy to traverse and treat people with dignity. Someone really had to go out of their way to make the worst use of land possible that only prioritizes car use and punishes disables people, poor people, or people who simply dislike driving. You should be able to walk to get some damn bread, and more people need to realize this and get angry about it.
13:24 They could do stairs in the steep spots... just make it obvious to cyclists/scooterers/skateboarders that it's stairs. Then just build the less steep/longer path for handicap or other users that may need a less steep incline. They even have done that in Cheyenne, WY before at more than one location... To name a few, East College Drive at Goodnight Trail, just east of Stadium Drive at East High School, and Cheyenne's Wyoming Department of Transportation: Drivers License Services on Etchepare Circle.
Very interesting video! What I hate the most about living here in Eastern Europe is that the vast majority of people actually take great pedestrian infrastructure and public transport for granted and are completely obssesed with cars. When you say to someone you don't have a drivers license or a car they look at you like you're an alien or stupidest person on Earth or something along those lines. Even though you can easily get by by public transport and walking almost anywhere. It's so annoying and frustrating. But at least we have an alternative option here. I'd say life here is better than in America if you don't pay attention to what others think of you, because here, everyone just loves to live others' lifes instead of their own.
At 6:15, that winding path is probably for ADA requirements which don't allow for steep inclines, so they have to take a more winding route for a more gradual slope. If they built the more direct path, not only would they still have to build the winding path, they would have to put signage saying "Not an accessible footpath. Handicapped users go that way" or something.
The way he said "weve got bread" made me expect the next sentence would be "and the circuses consist out of the same people responsible for designing the roads"
I'm starting to wish all highways would get reduced to single lane in each direction roads, and quad track rail would be built in the middle of the freed up space. Put the roads in a trench and lid them around stations to allow pedestrians to move.
Take the bus into Baltimore... holy shit it is horrible you get off at the bus station that is about a mile or so outside town, then you have to go over a pedestrian bridge that isn't immediately noticeable up and down two flights of stairs. Same with going from LAX into LA getting to the transit center requires so much effort.These are places where you're guaranteed to be walking made nearly inaccessible.
Some, not all but certainly some, of the desire paths are a product of needing a looping route to maintain slope for handicap accessibility. But it would be nice if the added a step for direct routes and the lower pitched route for bikes, wheelchairs, scooters, and any other wheeled option.
From what i see in this video, American city planers DO actually understand traffic calming. It doesn't matter that they put this knowledge in slowing down pedestrians with turns that make no sense.
RTD LRT is all about where they were allowed to build, not where it is best and most appropriate-you’ll see that on the PR (R line). What you didn’t mention was that the stroad that had the crosswalk to the ped island, was the end of C-470 on the west side, the loop surrounding 3/4 of the Denver metro. That right turn lane is better known as a “slip lane” to keep traffic flowing at a higher speed than making a 90 degree turn, making sure that the traffic from C-470 northbound onto either direction of US6 don’t have to stop-notice the flyover to westbound US6? For this reason, that it connects to US6, C-470 cannot be truncated as you suggested.
I understand that the purpose of that turn lane is to keep traffic flowing, I just think it isn't necessary, not to mention the danger it poses to pedestrians and cyclists. Overall the entire highway setup in that area is way too overbuilt. 470 would only be cut short to end at I-70 if 6th is converted into a 1 lane road as I talk about here. A major highway ending at a smaller, lower speed limit road wouldn't make sense so that's why I brought it up. Besides, Denver has always functioned fine without a complete beltway, it's never been of major importance.
@@JkWillis unfortunately, CDOT thinking doesn’t parallel those of us who use or would like to use our common spaces even outside a personal, private vehicle. Anything designated as a CDOT controlled highway will never shrink back to one lane in each direction once it’s been expanded (E Colfax BRT isn’t losing lanes, just shifting uses). It is overbuilt but it won’t change unfortunately.
Whats so infuriating about this is that there is literally no reason to do things this way. If you're building a gigantic 6-lane divided highway with shoulders, building nice wide footpaths on either side of it isnt going to make that project appreciably harder or more expensive. Look how much striped-off shoulder space is on those giant roads, why even bother paving all that? Why not just make that, you know, not road? Its so stupid we just make things bad for no reason and the self-evidently better option of "what if this didn't look like complete shit" is a political position you have to fight people over.
I was going to recommend checking out the Peña Boulevard bike lane going to DIA, however, I don't want you to get killed, so maybe it's best to just review it from satellite pictures. Check out Wikipedia. It is perhaps the single worst instance of bicycle infrastructure anywhere in the world. That sounds hyperbolic, but it's something that one first must see to truly understand. I believe that Denver took it off their bike maps, however, it is still signed to be a bike lane to this day.
The other issue with light rail built right beside highways is that any TOD in a city is forced to be right beside a highway. How come the dense housing built in American cities need to be condemned to be right beside busy arterials and highways? It seems unfair to people who can't afford homes.
When I visited with a friend a small city on the east coast, years ago, we stayed in a historical suburb which was really just 2 km west of downtown. Of course there was a highway in between, but worry not, there was a crossing street with side walks. All one had to do was to cross two steep highway exists coming up in an extremely sharp curve where one could barely see if anyone was approaching. A little life threatening car exposure wouldn't frighten us though and there was actually a nice sidewalk all along the way otherwise. Little did we know that this 20 min walk instantaneously made us the talk of the town and hour host was not getting tired telling everyone how those crazy Europeans walked, WALKED!, to downtown, and are alive to tell it.
They gave all the design consideration to ADA requirements because if it looks like something a person in a wheelchair could traverse but doesn’t meet code (ADA), they could be sued and found liable for someone falling backwards or sliding backwards. They could have installed a crushed granite path or even pavers and indicated as not accessible. I had to ride my bike all along the ramp because I didn’t want to expose my tires to the thorns.
the reason why the usa is so auto dependent and has remained so these last 50 years when it was more than obvious that americans can not afford to drive and have turned to living on dept is three fold. one is that the automobile provides a short term illusion of power to drivers who often feel powerless in their lives. the other is that the automobile industry provides a lot of jobs in the american economy, thus the politicians have a great incentive to keep us driving. the third reason is that auto/oil industry draws in a large amount profit to the captains of their industry. i personally blame the yahoos who should know the automobile does nothing for them but put them in debt. the are the ones who listen to the slick adds put out by the auto/oil industry and vote in the politicians whose fire incentive is to keep people employed in jobs they hate and, unlike the captains of the auto/oil industry, do not profit from it.
Adding pedestrian pathways is sonething to push for. Taking away car lanes or entire roads (especially in suburban areas such as this where there is plenty of room for both) is goring to be a complete non-starter. If you push for both, neither will likely happen. Encourage adding pedestrian things; do not ask for removing car things-especially in areas where both can fit.
It is kind of ironic that after complaining about car centric planning you suggest a tunnel or bridge. Which is really just car planning that is designed to look like pedestrian planning.
So your entire channel is visiting suburban commuter rail stations and criticizing them endlessly? Why don’t you go a bit down that same line and go to sloans lake neighborhood or onto some of the densest neighborhoods in Denver. Are you seriously going to criticize a city like Denver who has an expansive transit network connecting you to places like downtown Littleton, Arvada, university of Denver, denver tech center, and countless more with more transit projects along colfax being constructed when most sunbelt cities don’t even have a network? This video needs some serious work 😂.
I'll agree with you that Denver has got a lot of things right, and we do have a better transit network than a majority of US cities. Even still, RTD has some incredibly frustrating problems with its network, and the point of this series is to highlight these issues. Though my next episode will have a positive section about an RTD station that is really well designed, so that will be a nice change.
Bravo! This was not only entertaining but also educational and informative. Thanks. I found your video from a share by @YetAnotherUrbanist. And it resonates well as I lived in Denver for 10 years, so I know and understand it well. Thanks
![Why American City Planning Sucks - Dying Malls & Parking Oceans [EP02]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZaG0RSswQqk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Why American City Planning Sucks - Dying Malls & Parking Oceans [EP02]](/img/tr.png)
the dirt paths are called "Desire path". in itself shows bad urban planning
I love to see all the cities getting rid of the parking minimums can’t wait until it’s nationwide
Poor guy. I am German, not having good bread available would be devastating to me, so here is an easy bread recipe, so you don't have to take that journey again:
You need:
100g rye flour type 1150
400g wheat flour type 1050 + a bit for your work surface and stuff
100g sourdough starter
15g salt
350g water
a kitchen scale
1. Put the water, rye flour, sourdough starter and 150g of the wheat flour in a bowl, mix it, put cling film over it and wait for 8 hours.
2. Add the rest of the wheat flour, mix and wait for 30 minutes
3. Add the salt and kneed in a stand mixer (like a kitchenAid) for ~8-10 minutes
4. Let it proof for 2 hours, stretch and fold every 30 minutes
5. Form into a round loaf, put a kitchen towel in a bowl, sprinkle flour on the towel, place your dough in the bowl, sprinkle some flour on top, put it in the fridge, and wait for ~10 hours
6. Pre-heat your oven to 250°c
7. Put your dough (you can (should) score it, but you don't strictly have to) in the oven and splash some water in there.
8. Keep the temperature at 250°C for 10 minutes; after that, reduce it to 230°C for 15 minutes, then to 200°C for another 15 minutes, to 180°C for 10 minutes, and after that, turn your oven off, open the door slightly, and let your bread sit in there for 10 minutes. After that, you can take it out and let it cool for ~2 hours. You can bake it at the same temperature the whole time, but I found that in my oven, this method works a lot better and creates a better crust.
Let's make bread great again. xD
OK, that aside, it's really disturbing to see train stations and cities like that, they look like they should be in a dystopian science fiction movie. Germany has gone in that direction too (It's particularly obvious in the East, where many people didn't have a car before the reunification. Many small train stations and corner stores were removed in favour of car infrastructure and fewer, but bigger supermarkets after the wall fell), but it is not nearly as bad as it is in the US and by now many people realize, that car-centric design isn't a good idea.
Haha, thanks for the recipe! Will try.
needing transit (or a bike) to buy bread is called "underserved area" here in Germany :)
But this video greatly shows the difference between the "car-oriented design" we often have here and the "car-only design" in the US: Here driving might be faster and so on - but it's never _impossible_ to use anything else.
Cool recipe. We Coloradans should know how to adjust for altitude on the recipe.
Your bakery "adventure" is an example of a common transit-rider issue in North America... one I'm familiar with, myself.
My solution is that I'll literally go to a more *physically distant* but more *transit-accessible* establishment. A few more stops for my bread/electronics/clothing/chillin'/whatever is worth less of a risk of dying.
Exactly what I do with bike trips too. I will gladly bike 2 more miles to avoid an awful interchange crossing and use an overpass instead.
i started grad school for urban planning today. Diabetic, can't see too good, never had a driver's license in my life. Cars are the bane of my existence. I can't go anywhere or do anything because we just love cars so much. Most european cities I have visited make me feel so much more alive, here it's just so depressing. People see urbanists as annoying and pedantic at times but these things really affect peoples daily lives in such profound ways, I hope the recent interest in urban planning in my generation continues and we can make our cities feel worth living in. My second biggest complaint about american cities is how blindingly bright they are. Just miles and miles of glaringly reflective glass and concrete roasting you like a human rotisserie chicken and causing countless traffic fatalities. No shade or places to rest. But at least we get water for free though, that one I will always hold over the europeans' heads. We could lose 10,000,000 people a year in car accidents and we'd still be less barbaric than any country where you have to pay 5 euros for a glass of water
Clicked for city planning, stayed for bread commentary
It can’t be overstated how bad our city planning is. And every planner, city manager and mayor is so proud of their work. Its honestly embarrassing, especially when they start talking about their climate goals. Like, be so for real.
Woah. I may have just found my new favourite channel. As a fellow urbanist and lover of real bread who grew up in a hellishly car-brained Texan exurb, are you sure we don’t share a soul or something?
Whilst I salute your dedication, I desperately long for a future in which all bread is good bread and all streets are safe (and good) streets. In the meantime, I second the German‘s sourdough recipe!
I (Dutch person) made fun of some American friends a couple of years ago when they told me they wouldn't walk or cycle for ten minutes to get to where they needed to go because 'bikes are for kids'. I feel kinda guilty about that now. The stuff you're showing here is dystopian.
you should have just shown them how easy it was!
I admire your dedication to acquiring that bread. 🥖
Your suggestions are excellent, I hope you’re going into CivE or urban planning. If there was dedicated transit to red rocks it would reduce the post-concert traffic jam so much. I remember going to Tyler the creator in 2019 and waiting for an entire hour to leave the parking lot. I would have preferred transit soooo much more
"only a couple of light-rail stops away"… My German heart starts screaming.
I live close(ish) to the biggest motorway going through southern Stockholm. It's a big divider, sure, but there are many crossing bridges and tunnels, both for cars and pedestrians. To me it's just insane to not have paths between neighbourhoods, especially close to transit stations. I can easily choose between three different crossings (although one is naturally the shortest) to get to a store I often by electronics from, and that's a 15 minute walk, which is good enough for non-frequent trips.
Main things I would suggest for USA: No parking minimums (frees up a lot of space and reduces sprawl), less restrictions on mixed development (makes it easier to develop denser and with better close access to grocery stores and other frequent trips), and good pedestrian/bike paths between all areas (universal access for not cars, which ironically improves car traffic). This also leads to more efficient transit, which makes people want to invest in it more.
Great to see people talking about the pitfalls of RTD's implementation. You earned yourself a frequent viewer
I swear I saw you climbing down that hill and was really hoping you were making a video about how ridiculous that area is. So uhh hello and thank you!
City planning is not only better transit. Mixed used development in your suburbs, with local grocery stores, bakeries and other local shops, makes it also easier for people to do the daily shopping. Within walking and biking distance. But you Americans always have to use the car. Even if the shop is just 5 miles down the road.
Loved the video - From Australia 🦘🚋
Really great video. I live off of 6th Avenue after it stops being a highway and becomes a dangerous stroad and have become extremely cynical and hopeless about having good transit in Denver.
Think 6th Avenue is bad? Try Federal Blvd.
@@denniscain7218 oh yeah, there are so many awful worse stroads than 6th. Hampden, Evans, Wadsworth, Havana, Parker, etc. And getting the city to make even the most mild improvements is a huge uphill battle
Yeah, past Kalamath 6th becomes what I believe to be the world's widest 1 way street and it is stupid. The only part of 6th that I "like" is the section between Colorado & Quebec, with only 2 lanes and the nice greenery in the middle. West 6th in Lakewood should be made more like this section.
The only way to escape it is to leave America. This country is dying. Wake up. Move to Europe/Asia
19:23 that is in Reno NV, and the biggest piece of insanity with that massive parking garage and tiny office building, is that that building is less than two blocks from the city's main transit center. If there is any part of the city that could easily encourage transit use, that's it.
So clearly the bakery needs to run a food truck in the parking lot at the station.
8:53 bonus point for horrendous intersection design: the subtle messaging to wheelchair users that they should veer dangerously close to parallel speeding traffic.
I never thought about how that median would be impossible for wheelchair users to cross. It's also very dangerous for bikers. What a horrible piece of infrastructure.
also see all the "impact marks"… How many cars might already have crashed into that curb?
I was just in the Denver area and the 6 lane stroads with sidewalks that end randomly was killing me. They handed over more than twice as much space for cars than was needed and gave everybody else literally no room at all.
I took the RTD south and there was construction so it was crawling next to the freeway as the car drivers roared by. Meanwhile every 2 miles you cross another parallel highway. They WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY overbuilt their road network in that area. There is hardly anything around but a couple office complexes and there are like 18 different highways to serve it. They are just begging to maximize traffic. I don't understand why they chose this development pattern in the slightest. It's the absolute worst way to build. Go to LA and tell me that it works. Go to Reno or Phoenix and tell me that it works. IT DOES NOT WORK. STOP IT COLORADO. You're purposefully building for sprawl and you need to stop it. It's unacceptable.
The Denver Metro has some truly appalling highway design. The whole valley is a nightmare I don't think there's a single well designed highway in the entire city. On the other hand, some areas could very easily and quickly become more transit oriented, with the right community push and zoning changes.
Denver is planning for the future where they become Los Angeles 2.0 but with terrible weather.
@@JkWilliswanna know something wild most of the RTD light rail network is grade separated except the L, W and R. It can be swapped with driverless trains easily on line D and E. The RTD regional rail has more crossings tho
@@NovusodLA is worse street running everywhere
look at all these people biking, even if its just for fun or recreation its still encouraging to see and a glimpse at what kind of potential there could be if we embraced providing more safe opportunities for alternative modes of transportation besides just cars.
I agree. Denver has a lot of people who bike, more than any other city in the US as far as I've seen, which is why I'm surprised that places like this intersection still exist here.
I feel for you. Agreed, this is ridiculous.
I live in an older neighbourhood in Montreal. I have three boulangeries (bakeries) on my nearby commercial street, a seven minute walk.
That's so funny about that foot path.
RTD is the epitome of the "Missed Opportunity Economy." Love your sense of humor on what is a very bleak topic, and especially loved your underlining the Fox News comment about people with cars being the only ones with money - or are they the only ones who voluntarily love to get sucked into the $8500-per-annum-per-man-woman-and-child-car economy?
i live in the denver metro area and I am SO glad that there is someone putting RTD, and Denver, to the sword for this absolutely heinous land use. In my opinion, the land use in Denver is absolutely THE #1 thing holding it back from being a great city. The whole region has been choked by highways and stroads for decades. Things seem to be moving very slowly in the right direction, but it needs to happen 10x as fast if we want to undo all the damage car-based infrastructure has done to our city in a reasonable time frame. Great video, you have earned a new subscriber.
1:18 Daily dose of getting to play frogger in real-life.
Just found your channel from another channels post. Keep up the good work 💪
Jesus chreesus, what a fantastic video for an absolutely nightmare-inducing intersection, thanks I hate it! 😂😨
Eventually they will pay millions to a consultant to tell them to pave those desire line paths.
"How should we deal with infrastructure problem in the future?"
"Let future generations deal with it, they can use jet pack instead of road for grocery shopping~"
wow! never before thought of having 4 good bakeries withing 10 minute walking distance as such a privilege.😲
The lite rail in Seattle has gone down the same route. Every new station has 50%+ interstate. Even the "airport" station is a quarter mile away from the actual airport.
Those “informal paths” are known as “desire paths” by planners
Good to know that there's an actual term for them, I see them a lot here!
18:24 Thanks for citing Brasil!
Besides that intersection being particularly awful, the crossing experience in the US is awful in general. This is a mix of lane width, in many cases too many lanes, and intersections being designed to be run through at speed, including on turns with right-on-red being legal for some reason.
also these crossing islands (this one being extremely bad): In the US you almost always walk in front of the island; in Germany you _always_ walk through an opening in the middle of the island.
You should come to Orlando if you want to see some of the worst of suburban Sunrail stations. We have one station in my hometown that has a gate explicitly built to block out Sunrail passengers from entering the nearby strip mall. The Sunrail station even built the sidewalk up to the fence, assuming passengers would visit there. It is nearly a 20 minute walk on stroads to the location otherwise.
You should share this with 9news or something. No kidding it's only a matter of time before something bad happens. Car centeic planning really is kind of gross
They call a highway thing an avenue?
Ah, yes, the human meat grinder, that is suburban road design
6th "Avenue"
4:16 That is a wheelchair ramp! It is not a bike path. It is made wide enough for two oncoming wheelchair users to easily pass each other. It may have been made a bit wider for a range of issues. It takes an expert cyclist to ride it especially when meeting oncoming bicycle traffic. It puts a cyclist at the legal edge because they are using a facility only intended for pedestrians where wheelchair users are legally pedestrians. If it had one or two 90° kinks a bike route might include it because its the only way through.
A bike path has a desired minimum design speed of 30 mph with the minimum being 20 mph to be considered a bicycle facility. There can be slow section. The minimum curve in a design guild for bicycle highway design is 6 mph. Below that speed a cyclist is very prone to fall over and there are no lower curve design speeds. It is considered the absolute minimum speed to allow cycling.
Making the turns on that wheelchair ramp will be below 6 mph and below the speed a bicycle will have self stability. The rider should stand and balance intently. It is highway design doctrine to want to keep cyclists at 10 mph and above because below that speed they can swerve wildly and be unpredictable.
You're right, it's built to be a wheelchair ramp, but all the bikers I saw on this bridge just rode through it, and the thing is so wide that the 90° turns are fairly easy on a bike. Some other bridges in Denver have signs saying to dismount your bike, doesn't mean anyone does. I don't think it's an issue.
It doesn't even have to be a highway
I live 2 miles from my favorite bike shop but Federal Blvd stands in the way 😬
I shouldn't be amazed at how bad things are in the US, since I've lived here my entire life. But that ridiculous S curve and the amount of desire paths present everywhere is evident that the use of space is inefficient. And that useless road crossing that dumps you on a tiny triangular island surrounded by high speed traffic? You have to cross over a slip lane and then jump a metal barricade. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. I've never seen anything that bad in my life. Its really not hard to make spaces that are easy to traverse and treat people with dignity. Someone really had to go out of their way to make the worst use of land possible that only prioritizes car use and punishes disables people, poor people, or people who simply dislike driving. You should be able to walk to get some damn bread, and more people need to realize this and get angry about it.
13:24 They could do stairs in the steep spots... just make it obvious to cyclists/scooterers/skateboarders that it's stairs. Then just build the less steep/longer path for handicap or other users that may need a less steep incline. They even have done that in Cheyenne, WY before at more than one location... To name a few, East College Drive at Goodnight Trail, just east of Stadium Drive at East High School, and Cheyenne's Wyoming Department of Transportation: Drivers License Services on Etchepare Circle.
Very interesting video! What I hate the most about living here in Eastern Europe is that the vast majority of people actually take great pedestrian infrastructure and public transport for granted and are completely obssesed with cars. When you say to someone you don't have a drivers license or a car they look at you like you're an alien or stupidest person on Earth or something along those lines. Even though you can easily get by by public transport and walking almost anywhere. It's so annoying and frustrating. But at least we have an alternative option here. I'd say life here is better than in America if you don't pay attention to what others think of you, because here, everyone just loves to live others' lifes instead of their own.
Here before tons and tons of views! Keep up the good work over there in Colorado!
Love the content !
12:41 and here is the most dangerous thing in this video
At 6:15, that winding path is probably for ADA requirements which don't allow for steep inclines, so they have to take a more winding route for a more gradual slope. If they built the more direct path, not only would they still have to build the winding path, they would have to put signage saying "Not an accessible footpath. Handicapped users go that way" or something.
Love the Denver Transit content! More of it needs to be on here😅
4:00 sure it's better than nothing but i much prefer underpasses, quicker and easier to get through than overpasses, think of people on wheelchairs
What you are supposed to do is walk alongside State 470, cross underneath it, and turn north toward the bread store.
True, that's the designated walking route, but it turns a ~600 m walk into a 1.5 km+ walk if you go all the way down to Colfax.
East Denver here....I feel you bro.
The way he said "weve got bread" made me expect the next sentence would be "and the circuses consist out of the same people responsible for designing the roads"
good enough to sub ;)
1:18 deserved; the LDS church owns massive surface parking in the middle of downtown SLC 💀
So long as they don't try to convert me, I'd allow some mormons on the train if it at least gives that station a purpose.
I'm starting to wish all highways would get reduced to single lane in each direction roads, and quad track rail would be built in the middle of the freed up space. Put the roads in a trench and lid them around stations to allow pedestrians to move.
Take the bus into Baltimore... holy shit it is horrible you get off at the bus station that is about a mile or so outside town, then you have to go over a pedestrian bridge that isn't immediately noticeable up and down two flights of stairs.
Same with going from LAX into LA getting to the transit center requires so much effort.These are places where you're guaranteed to be walking made nearly inaccessible.
Some, not all but certainly some, of the desire paths are a product of needing a looping route to maintain slope for handicap accessibility. But it would be nice if the added a step for direct routes and the lower pitched route for bikes, wheelchairs, scooters, and any other wheeled option.
9:30 Dog bed someone tossed out
Quiz: It's called "Light Rail" because?
a. It's lightly used.
b. The weight of the rail cars.
c. It has half the calories of regular rail.
d. All of the above
@@JkWillis LOL
Very impressive, good work, thank you
From what i see in this video, American city planers DO actually understand traffic calming.
It doesn't matter that they put this knowledge in slowing down pedestrians with turns that make no sense.
RTD LRT is all about where they were allowed to build, not where it is best and most appropriate-you’ll see that on the PR (R line).
What you didn’t mention was that the stroad that had the crosswalk to the ped island, was the end of C-470 on the west side, the loop surrounding 3/4 of the Denver metro. That right turn lane is better known as a “slip lane” to keep traffic flowing at a higher speed than making a 90 degree turn, making sure that the traffic from C-470 northbound onto either direction of US6 don’t have to stop-notice the flyover to westbound US6? For this reason, that it connects to US6, C-470 cannot be truncated as you suggested.
I understand that the purpose of that turn lane is to keep traffic flowing, I just think it isn't necessary, not to mention the danger it poses to pedestrians and cyclists. Overall the entire highway setup in that area is way too overbuilt.
470 would only be cut short to end at I-70 if 6th is converted into a 1 lane road as I talk about here. A major highway ending at a smaller, lower speed limit road wouldn't make sense so that's why I brought it up. Besides, Denver has always functioned fine without a complete beltway, it's never been of major importance.
@@JkWillis unfortunately, CDOT thinking doesn’t parallel those of us who use or would like to use our common spaces even outside a personal, private vehicle. Anything designated as a CDOT controlled highway will never shrink back to one lane in each direction once it’s been expanded (E Colfax BRT isn’t losing lanes, just shifting uses). It is overbuilt but it won’t change unfortunately.
Whats so infuriating about this is that there is literally no reason to do things this way. If you're building a gigantic 6-lane divided highway with shoulders, building nice wide footpaths on either side of it isnt going to make that project appreciably harder or more expensive. Look how much striped-off shoulder space is on those giant roads, why even bother paving all that? Why not just make that, you know, not road? Its so stupid we just make things bad for no reason and the self-evidently better option of "what if this didn't look like complete shit" is a political position you have to fight people over.
I was going to recommend checking out the Peña Boulevard bike lane going to DIA, however, I don't want you to get killed, so maybe it's best to just review it from satellite pictures. Check out Wikipedia. It is perhaps the single worst instance of bicycle infrastructure anywhere in the world. That sounds hyperbolic, but it's something that one first must see to truly understand. I believe that Denver took it off their bike maps, however, it is still signed to be a bike lane to this day.
I use electric skateboard to finish my trip
The other issue with light rail built right beside highways is that any TOD in a city is forced to be right beside a highway. How come the dense housing built in American cities need to be condemned to be right beside busy arterials and highways? It seems unfair to people who can't afford homes.
When I visited with a friend a small city on the east coast, years ago, we stayed in a historical suburb which was really just 2 km west of downtown. Of course there was a highway in between, but worry not, there was a crossing street with side walks. All one had to do was to cross two steep highway exists coming up in an extremely sharp curve where one could barely see if anyone was approaching. A little life threatening car exposure wouldn't frighten us though and there was actually a nice sidewalk all along the way otherwise.
Little did we know that this 20 min walk instantaneously made us the talk of the town and hour host was not getting tired telling everyone how those crazy Europeans walked, WALKED!, to downtown, and are alive to tell it.
They gave all the design consideration to ADA requirements because if it looks like something a person in a wheelchair could traverse but doesn’t meet code (ADA), they could be sued and found liable for someone falling backwards or sliding backwards. They could have installed a crushed granite path or even pavers and indicated as not accessible. I had to ride my bike all along the ramp because I didn’t want to expose my tires to the thorns.
It feels like these planners don’t know that there are real people who life, work and experience what they build.
Even Google Map is firstly for cars
the reason why the usa is so auto dependent and has remained so these last 50 years when it was more than obvious that americans can not afford to drive and have turned to living on dept is three fold. one is that the automobile provides a short term illusion of power to drivers who often feel powerless in their lives. the other is that the automobile industry provides a lot of jobs in the american economy, thus the politicians have a great incentive to keep us driving. the third reason is that auto/oil industry draws in a large amount profit to the captains of their industry. i personally blame the yahoos who should know the automobile does nothing for them but put them in debt. the are the ones who listen to the slick adds put out by the auto/oil industry and vote in the politicians whose fire incentive is to keep people employed in jobs they hate and, unlike the captains of the auto/oil industry, do not profit from it.
You have to catch a train just to buy some bread?
Why look the Video like 85% Roads and streets..
ffs i actually checked the channel for the bread video, i was intrigued but now i am sad :(
That station is so bad they should just close it down. That is the simplest and easiest solution.
but I want bread 🥖
Adding pedestrian pathways is sonething to push for. Taking away car lanes or entire roads (especially in suburban areas such as this where there is plenty of room for both) is goring to be a complete non-starter. If you push for both, neither will likely happen. Encourage adding pedestrian things; do not ask for removing car things-especially in areas where both can fit.
Walk in the road but spin a rock 🤘
What are the places in Denver where you can cross in a wheelchair?
Not this intersection, that's for sure!
I was soyjak pointing at the screen when colorado was mentioned
It is kind of ironic that after complaining about car centric planning you suggest a tunnel or bridge. Which is really just car planning that is designed to look like pedestrian planning.
I agree, though I don't see the city ever removing the road so the bridge is meeting in the middle.
@@JkWillis Sad but true. And anything that slows vehicles in any meaningful way is a crime against humanity so we know that won't happen.
@@JkWillis Colfax Ave offers a safer crossig but that does more than double the total walking distance.
Build an underpass for crossings WTF murica
So your entire channel is visiting suburban commuter rail stations and criticizing them endlessly? Why don’t you go a bit down that same line and go to sloans lake neighborhood or onto some of the densest neighborhoods in Denver. Are you seriously going to criticize a city like Denver who has an expansive transit network connecting you to places like downtown Littleton, Arvada, university of Denver, denver tech center, and countless more with more transit projects along colfax being constructed when most sunbelt cities don’t even have a network? This video needs some serious work 😂.
I'll agree with you that Denver has got a lot of things right, and we do have a better transit network than a majority of US cities. Even still, RTD has some incredibly frustrating problems with its network, and the point of this series is to highlight these issues. Though my next episode will have a positive section about an RTD station that is really well designed, so that will be a nice change.
Bravo! This was not only entertaining but also educational and informative. Thanks. I found your video from a share by @YetAnotherUrbanist. And it resonates well as I lived in Denver for 10 years, so I know and understand it well. Thanks