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Case in point Louisiana cities with our very sparse highway networks.
people pass by my city of Lafayette on I10 from Houston and have no idea there is a 125k population place just south and a metro area approaching 700k.
its literally four simple cloverleaf interchanges and then youre past the city. If you take one of the major roads south though you quickly approach the urban center. Appearance wise, its a problem for the image of the city. Practically a hidden gem. The road networks are majorly outdated.
Yes it feels like a whole bunch of nothingness from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge. Especially at night
You have the same issue traveling on I20 through East Texas. For the most part all you'll see is nothing but forests and pastures, but you're actually passing through the outskirts of the Tyler, Longview and Marshall metro areas.
It's a novel notion, but IMO highways are really irrelevant. Make a city "feel" larger? I live in Dallas - and the only "feeling" I get from our big atrocious highways is exhausted from having to be stuck on these abominations just to get to anywhere. It's doesn't give me any feeling of "bigness" as of course in Tx it is supposed to. It's just drudgery to me.
Wanna know how big a city is? Go up to the top of it's tallest building and look around.
Tucson, AZ (997,000) and Allentown, PA (827,000) are two cities that are larger than they feel and have crappy freeway infrastructure.
I'm trying to think of other cities that are larger than they feel: Norfolk, VA (1,707,000); Providence, RI (1,604,000); Grand Rapids, MI (1,017,000); Worcester, MA (927,000); Greenville, SC (851,000); McAllen, TX (816,000). How would you assess the freeway infrastructure in these places?
This pole doesn't have enough choices. FTR my choice would be: "They make a city feel smaller" quite obviously; the far end of town seems much farther if I take the surface streets.
NYC freeways aren't any larger than ones in less populated areas, the view makes it clear you're in a big city. And the length of time to drive through the city
NYC freeways aren't any larger than ones in less populated areas, the view makes it clear you're in a big city. And the length of time to drive through the city
I would argue for Philly they are generally smaller then in less urban areas, probably because they were build long after the areas had developed similar to NYC and other older urban cities
on the topic I think for some cities yes and other no
I would Argue some Cities yes and some cities no as well. I noticed the same thing in Philly as well. I think for more sunbelt Cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Miami, Dallas etc. it does. As far as Cities with a more Urban Core like Philly, Chicago, New York, heck even Cities like Louisville, KY it really has no affect. Bridge Cities like Louisville and Philly I think it has no affect on and they still feel like big urban, compact places especially Louisville, which most people don't expect. They don't have a Huge lane freeway system in Louisville, they don't even have HOV lanes but still feels big.
Yes and no. Driving on 95 between DC and Baltimore, I can't really tell I'm in the middle of a region of 9 million people. But driving along the Beltway in DC? Especially the Mixing Bowl? Yeah you know it's big.
I guess it depends more on what's around that gives a "large" feeling.
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