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If anything, Dallas has a much better road system than Atlanta. Atlanta looks the same everywhere as well.
Dallas road system is among the best in planning. Thanks to the Grid system and the service roads along the major interestates. Unlike Atlanta there are always more that one way to get to where you are going in Dallas.
Just saw the headline and I'm sure its been said but DAMN, Atlanta is way too car centric (lived there for two years). The roads are as if a child threw pasta on a wall and the politicians said YUP! Hence spaghetti junction...I'd almost put Atlanta in the same category as LA, Miami, and DC. Though I've never been to Dallas (or Texas for that matter)
Just saw the headline and I'm sure its been said but DAMN, Atlanta is way too car centric (lived there for two years). The roads are as if a child threw pasta on a wall and the politicians said YUP! Hence spaghetti junction...I'd almost put Atlanta in the same category as LA, Miami, and DC. Though I've never been to Dallas (or Texas for that matter)
Atlanta is car centric like every Southern and Western metro for the most part.However you can get around without a car if you must using a subway found in South only found in Atlanta.
long term ATLien living in fort worth/working in arlington. (getting ready to move to the dallas side at that) Here's my opinion:
Dallas: more business friendly, more tech-oriented, more orderly/structured, better planned, more modern.
Atlanta: more well rounded, more messy, (in a good and bad way) more bohemian, does more with less, somewhat more traditional but yet more liberal. (in an east-coast sense)
I've really loved my time here and have made some great friends. I can appreciate what makes Dallas what it is, and I've even encouraged my brother to move here. I know I've grown and become a better person because of my time here.
As far as the point of this thread, Atl definitely does more with less. Dallas just has far more infrastructure. I disagree with OP that Dallas hasn't attempted to become more urban though. There are little va-hi/l5p-like nodes all over dallas (they're more 'yuppie' than those in atlanta) and uptown is surprisingly cohesive and walkable - and goes on and on. Dallas and Atlanta were similarly sized pre-war and had similar densities. (Atl was slightly larger/denser but fort worth was a significant historical city in its own right during that era)
Yeah, Atlanta, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Charlotte, Austin, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and your home town all have the same boring interstates with the same chain restaurants and strip mall franchises, and little local character outside of the state names on the license plates you stare at while in traffic. Still, I'd take any of them over the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Yeah, Atlanta, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Charlotte, Austin, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and your home town all have the same boring interstates with the same chain restaurants and strip mall franchises, and little local character outside of the state names on the license plates you stare at while in traffic. Still, I'd take any of them over the Cross Bronx Expressway.
What is ignorant about TheseGoTo11's comment? For the most part, what he said is true I think (if I understood what he meant) - I have lived in more than one of those places and been to all the rest more than once - I would agree with him. Nothing wrong with those chain restaurants and strip malls (if one likes that sort of thing), etc. but there is a great similarity to each of those cities, at least in the more recently built areas. I have also travelled on the Cross Bronx Expressway too many times .. never again! I will go 100 miles out of my way to avoid that experience again. But, there is a completely different vibe to the center of NYC than I think there is in the other cities listed - it is an older city, a larger city, and there isn't much room in the heart of it for those chain restaurants and strip malls .. so I don't think what he said is wrong in that regard either.
What is ignorant about TheseGoTo11's comment? For the most part, what he said is true I think (if I understood what he meant) - I have lived in more than one of those places and been to all the rest more than once - I would agree with him. Nothing wrong with those chain restaurants and strip malls (if one likes that sort of thing), etc. but there is a great similarity to each of those cities, at least in the more recently built areas. I have also travelled on the Cross Bronx Expressway too many times .. never again! I will go 100 miles out of my way to avoid that experience again. But, there is a completely different vibe to the center of NYC than I think there is in the other cities listed - it is an older city, a larger city, and there isn't much room in the heart of it for those chain restaurants and strip malls .. so I don't think what he said is wrong in that regard either.
Firstly, Des Moines,indianapolis etc are not like Northern VA and Atlanta etc.
Also their is "local character".He mentioned interstates ,not the center of NYC" in which no city save Chicago can compare really.
He makes it sound like this is all there is.Even leading n and out of the city of NYC you have chains and such
long term ATLien living in fort worth/working in arlington. (getting ready to move to the dallas side at that) Here's my opinion:
Dallas: more business friendly, more tech-oriented, more orderly/structured, better planned, more modern.
Atlanta: more well rounded, more messy, (in a good and bad way) more bohemian, does more with less, somewhat more traditional but yet more liberal. (in an east-coast sense)
I've really loved my time here and have made some great friends. I can appreciate what makes Dallas what it is, and I've even encouraged my brother to move here. I know I've grown and become a better person because of my time here.
As far as the point of this thread, Atl definitely does more with less. Dallas just has far more infrastructure. I disagree with OP that Dallas hasn't attempted to become more urban though. There are little va-hi/l5p-like nodes all over dallas (they're more 'yuppie' than those in atlanta) and uptown is surprisingly cohesive and walkable - and goes on and on. Dallas and Atlanta were similarly sized pre-war and had similar densities. (Atl was slightly larger/denser but fort worth was a significant historical city in its own right during that era)
I agree with most of what you said but Atlanta does not do "more with less".
A streetcar is doing less with less compared to a Subway system that keeps expanding and needing billions of dollars to do so..
Atlanta has revamped its 100 old sewer system that cost over a billion dollars. Thats infrastructure that has given Atlanta is highest bond rating ever.
Atlanta has figured out its pension system and is on solid financial footing compared to Dallas which has had downgrades in in bond rating due to its inability to fix its infrastructure and its first responder pensions.
Quote:
On the very day the Dallas City Council agreed to issue $227 million in bonds for capital improvement projects, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the city’s bond rating for the second time in 12 years.
Dallas is more urban further from its core but Atlanta is vastly more urban in its center core than Dallas.namely the Downtown area.
Atlanta subway has several TOD around its stations which are creating vastly urbanized areas that already are urban.
Sure Dallas is new on the surface but so much of it needs work.You can build roads all day long and build a streetcar system which is good but will never be as effective as Heavy rail.If Dallas spent the money on what you can see,then perhaps it would be more in line with how Houston and Atlanta look.
So NO,you got it wrong.Dallas is doing not enough with less.Just because you see glitz does not mean the underwear is clean.
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