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Easier said then done, apparently. Take NYC which supposedly has the best public transit system in the country. Yet it consistently ranks as having the worst vehicle traffic congestion in the nation. As bad or worse than LA's, which has very little public transit. Hmm. I wonder why?
Manhattan is very dense and it doesn't give as much space for cars as Los Angeles. The amount of time lost to traffic per commuter is much less than Los Angeles; I don't think it ranks near the top of American cities because the average commuter in the most congested doesn't drive. So why does traffic matter?
I don't say there wasn't traffic congestion. I just said traffic congestion doesn't matter because there is public transit. Drivers make a small fraction of the population on the street; 20% at most, probably closer to 10%. On weekends it looks like half the vehicles in Manhattan are taxis...
Horrendeous traffic congestion is true of any large city that's transit oriented. Not much room is given cars and the center is very dense so the traffic jams easily. If it weren't jammed, more people will drive until it jams. London and Paris have very high levels of traffic congestion, not too different from New York City, but they don't have much in the way of skyscrapers. London's congestion pricing has helped though.
The places mentioned in the first few paragraphs aren't near any skyscrapers
Here's a street in NY surrounded by skyscrapers. Manhattan I think. The vehicle congestion looks pretty horrendous. Perhaps due in large part to people commuting in and out from the surrounding suburbs. Those office buildings must have huge amounts of underground parking.
Here's a street in NY surrounded by skyscrapers. Manhattan I think. The vehicle congestion looks pretty horrendous. Perhaps due in large part to people commuting in and out from the surrounding suburbs. Those office buildings must have huge amounts of underground parking.
Less underground parking than you think. There's not a lot of room to dig in manhattan without hitting a subway line, water aqueduct, or jimmy Hoffa.
Honesty, having had years of experience driving in manhattan, I can say that on the streets it's orderly chaos. The signals are timed with precision for optimal efficiency. People block intersections less there than in other cities I've been in.
On the expressways in the boroughs, however - ugh. Hell hath no fury as the BQE scorned.
Here's a street in NY surrounded by skyscrapers. Manhattan I think. The vehicle congestion looks pretty horrendous. Perhaps due in large part to people commuting in and out from the surrounding suburbs. Those office buildings must have huge amounts of underground parking.]
Many, if not most office building in Manhattan have zero parking (the Empire State Building has zero, ditto with most skyscrapers built in the last decade).
A website I found said Manhattan has about 100,000 off street parking spaces. The office districts make up a small portion of Manhattan area. The amount of office workers in Manhattan is at least 2 million.
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Honesty, having had years of experience driving in manhattan, I can say that on the streets it's orderly chaos. The signals are timed with precision for optimal efficiency. People block intersections less there than in other cities I've been in.
Why didn't you take transit?
Quote:
On the expressways in the boroughs, however - ugh. Hell hath no fury as the BQE scorned.
I've been on a BQE traffic jam after midnight several times. Partially construction related at least one of the times, but still. Few if any skyscrapers near the BQE, just lots of people.
Where is that? Looks like one of the major streets leading to the Charles de Gaulle traffic circle. Which is I believe the biggest traffic circle in the world, where a dozen straight major boulevards converge into one massive traffic circle or roundabout.
In this case skyscrapers aren't to blame. Blame it on a poorly designed traffic intersection. Connecting a dozen major streets together into one great big intersection is never a good idea.
Where is that? Looks like one of the major streets leading to the Charles de Gaulle traffic circle. Which is I believe the biggest traffic circle in the world, where a dozen straight major boulevards converge into one massive traffic circle or roundabout.
In this case skyscrapers aren't to blame. Blame it on a poorly designed traffic intersection. Connecting a dozen major streets together into one great big intersection is never a good idea.
It's not a good idea but it was designed, like most of Manhattan before the automobile.
I puzzled why you think traffic congestion matters so much. Let the drivers deal with it, there's good transit.
I've been on a BQE traffic jam after midnight several times. Partially construction related at least one of the times, but still. Few if any skyscrapers near the BQE, just lots of people.
I really don't know. Gas was much cheaper then and I really liked my car! I also would do a lot of exploring after attending class at a college in Queens.
I was more of a car guy then. Loved cars. Still do, but in a different way.
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