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Hey JerZ, where do you live...I live in Westwood off of Washington Ave
Hi, Collegeguy12!!!
I don't live in New Jersey any more.
Over the course of 20 years I lived:
On Ash Street (off Lafayette)
Right past Bogert Pond
Fern St. off Lexington (or Old Hook)
You're back near Third Street or thereabouts? You don't need to give the exact location, LOL. (As a thousand freaky internet stalkers take a plane to go find Collegeguy.) But I'm thinking that's what you must mean b/c that's where the neighborhoods start around there, before town. When I lived in the second two locations, my son and I CONSTANTLY walked to town. I loved it...that's what initially made me respond to this "walkable downtown" thread!
Only the most intelligent of people can successfully navigate a jug handle. That is how we weed the stupid out of the state. They end up like the people in this video: NJ Jug Handle and get so frustrated they move to far off lands like TN.
The reason most of the main roads from town to town in NJ are so twisty-turny is because these roads were put in place hundreds of years ago as "get me and my house from Woodbridge to Rahway as easily as possible". That meant following paths thru the woods, across narrow or shallow areas of streams and rivers, etc. They didn't have bulldozers and chainsaws to clear a straight path between towns, and over the years these roads got improved, widened, etc. Using my Woodbridge-Rahway example, "Rahway Ave" in Woodbridge becomes "Woodbridge Ave" when you get to Rahway- it use to be "the Road to Woodbridge" and in Woodbridge it was "the Road to Rahway".
Chicago was developed many years later and got the same gridded road system that NYC, Las Vegas, and others have. I definitely agree that it's easier to navigate (I loved that fact in Vegas), but can you imagine gridding an entire state like NJ? Urban layouts don't quite work the same as the layout for an area that started so long ago and evolved accordingly.
U-turns or jug handles..whatever you want to call them...are used as a means for traffic control. As anyone who is from NJ or visits NJ would know, we have a whole lotta people in this state. Picture this scene...
Rt 37 East in Toms River....
It's July and EVERYONE is going to the beach. They want to stop at Wawa (long live WAWA!!) for a sandwhich and to gas up. Only problem is that WAWA is on the Westbound side of the highway.
If there was a left hand turn lane.....the 100 cars that want to go into wawa would be backed up 3 lights...well out of the turn lane and in the fast lane instead....that would back up traffic up to the parkway..which would in turn back up traffic up the parkway as far as the eye can see. If you think I'm exaggerating...okay..maybe I am..a little. But the parkway already gets backed up for hours on a Saturday morning in the summer...
Now...with a u-turn (3 rights make a left) the traffic is dispursed enough that you can still utilize all 3 lanes on the highway and everyone gets their gas and coffee without a million people honking and cursing them off. Traffic still is terrible but it's bearable...
U-Turns are definitely needed...they take some getting used to but without them we would be waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting....you get my drift.
The reason most of the main roads from town to town in NJ are so twisty-turny is because these roads were put in place hundreds of years ago as "get me and my house from Woodbridge to Rahway as easily as possible". That meant following paths thru the woods, across narrow or shallow areas of streams and rivers, etc. They didn't have bulldozers and chainsaws to clear a straight path between towns, and over the years these roads got improved, widened, etc. Using my Woodbridge-Rahway example, "Rahway Ave" in Woodbridge becomes "Woodbridge Ave" when you get to Rahway- it use to be "the Road to Woodbridge" and in Woodbridge it was "the Road to Rahway".
Chicago was developed many years later and got the same gridded road system that NYC, Las Vegas, and others have. I definitely agree that it's easier to navigate (I loved that fact in Vegas), but can you imagine gridding an entire state like NJ? Urban layouts don't quite work the same as the layout for an area that started so long ago and evolved accordingly.
bob - i admire your effort, but methinks it's like spitting into the wind, KWIM?
bob - i admire your effort, but methinks it's like spitting into the wind, KWIM?
yeah, I know.....I spanked him for the trolling on another post, so we'll see if he starts behaving....
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