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I disagree about Philadelphia. It used to seem like a curse that Philadelphia's lacked 6 lane+ highways, but I find it a blessing nowadays. So many beautiful towns and neighborhoods were spared during the highway growth in the 1950s-1980s, due to community opposition. Yet so many other cities bared the brunt of it, and are left with canyons of massive ugly roadways, and little to no public transit options.
Philadelphia also has a much better metro rail network, so the addition of highways aren't necessarily needed.
The only disaster highway in Philadelphia that needs an overhaul is 76 (schuylkill expressway), that road does actually need 3+ lanes on each side, but that will never happen because of the geography around the roadway.
For a complete overhaul I would suggest Baltimore/DC. NYC also has some of the worst quality highways I have seen (potholes and construction everywhere)
I agree with your sentiments. To me the whole concept for Interstate highway improvements for large cities is a bit oxymoronic... I love that Philly has chosen to largely thumb its nose at urban freeways and has built and maintained such an impressive legacy rail transit network -- one that is the envy of the nation on many levels. Philly is the biggest city with the smallest freeway network for its size ... and that's a good thing! Why would Philly want to become another cut up/cut-off town like Detroit or Houston when it has such a major mass transit asset?
That said, I would make some minor improvements, primarily on the ancient Schuylkill Expressway and 309 -- mainly lengthening the accelerator lanes on entrance ramps... That's about it.
I agree with your sentiments. To me the whole concept for Interstate highway improvements for large cities is a bit oxymoronic... I love that Philly has chosen to largely thumb its nose at urban freeways and has built and maintained such an impressive legacy rail transit network -- one that is the envy of the nation on many levels. Philly is the biggest city with the smallest freeway network for its size ... and that's a good thing! Why would Philly want to become another cut up/cut-off town like Detroit or Houston when it has such a major mass transit asset?
That said, I would make some minor improvements, primarily on the ancient Schuylkill Expressway and 309 -- mainly lengthening the accelerator lanes on entrance ramps... That's about it.
I voted Atlanta but ironically I’m stuck in Austin traffic right now. The Parking lot description is accurate (BTW if your wondering I’m not driving and city-data it at the same time)
Why would that be a joke? Most of the world does very well with far more transit and density than the US, and far less road capacity.
Outright removal of freeways on a large scale would be too difficult to be plausible. But I like my region's approach--don't add capacity except a few few choke points, and focus on density and transit.
I'm sorry but no. Not everyone wants to use public transportation. Improving it helps but it will never benefit everyone. Removing interstates is the silliest thing I've ever heard from this site. PT can never go everywhere
I'm sorry but no. Not everyone wants to use public transportation. Improving it helps but it will never benefit everyone. Removing interstates is the silliest thing I've ever heard from this site. PT can never go everywhere
Sorry, but we city residents aren’t too fond of the thought of highways destroying our cities as much as they have in the past. As a resident of Philadelphia, I would be in favor of removing I-95 completely from PA, tearing down the portion of the existing structure between Oregon Avenue and Girard Avenue, and having traffic funneled onto Columbus Boulevard/Delaware Avenue. The needs of suburban drivers should never be considered over the needs of city residents. If they need to access the urban core that bad, then they should either move within city limits or live close by public transit. The days of auto-centric planning are long over, and they should never be resurrected. The Sunbelt and West Coast cities can have highways, but keep them out of dense, walkable, transit-rich East Coast cities!
I’m glad Philly ended up with only two interstate highways (although I-95 could have easily avoided PA and ran along the NJ Turnpike). The original plan, dating back to 1965, would have destroyed my city.
Sorry, but we city residents aren’t too fond of the thought of highways destroying our cities as much as they have in the past. As a resident of Philadelphia, I would be in favor of removing I-95 completely from PA, tearing down the portion of the existing structure between Oregon Avenue and Girard Avenue, and having traffic funneled onto Columbus Boulevard/Delaware Avenue. The needs of suburban drivers should never be considered over the needs of city residents. If they need to access the urban core that bad, then they should either move within city limits or live close by public transit. The days of auto-centric planning are long over, and they should never be resurrected. The Sunbelt and West Coast cities can have highways, but keep them out of dense, walkable, transit-rich East Coast cities!
I’m glad Philly ended up with only two interstate highways (although I-95 could have easily avoided PA and ran along the NJ Turnpike). The original plan, dating back to 1965, would have destroyed my city.
Well not everyone does or wants to live in the inner city. Of course the needs of suburban drivers has to be considered, they make up the largest % of people who work dt in most cities. How exactly does building interstates destroy or inconvenience people living dt anyway?
I voted Atlanta but ironically I’m stuck in Austin traffic right now. The Parking lot description is accurate (BTW if your wondering I’m not driving and city-data it at the same time)
Yeah the Katy Freeway there is impressive 19 lanes!! I guess I'm weird i've came to enjoy freeways especially wide freeways full of cars I see that as a healthy thriving community. The way I see it I don't think any normal person would willingly wait in traffic every day unless they thought that was their best option. Houston appears to have been proactive about their highway needs though keeping up with further development.
Yeah the Katy Freeway there is impressive 19 lanes!! I guess I'm weird i've came to enjoy freeways especially wide freeways full of cars I see that as a healthy thriving community. The way I see it I don't think any normal person would willingly wait in traffic every day unless they thought that was their best option. Houston appears to have been proactive about their highway needs though keeping up with further development.
Houston is doing all this while becoming more urban. They could use some work on PT but they are making progress in that direction. You can have your cake and eat it to.
I actually agree with you 100% on that part. The same is true of Pittsburgh. Our suburbs did not sprawl too far because it's literally so inconvient to go very far. Alot of wealth stayed in the city due to this, particularly in the east end which is undoubtedly the reason Pittsburgh is miles ahead of other mid sized rust belt cities on its recovery.
However, 376W/376E/28/51/65 in Pittsburgh and 76/676/476/422/309 in Philadelphia are just plain awful highways and severely dated/dangerous/substandard/congested highways. Where else in the country does a 4 lane highway go into the core of a 6+ million metro?
I really don't think anything major can happen in Philly or Pittsburgh now. They're both severly restricted by the age/density of the existing city and the topography surrounding them. Yeah they're re-doing some of 95 in Philly and adding a spur in Pgh but nothing really big I think can occur for a long time.
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