What can be improved to make Dallas a better city? (air pollution, exercise)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by PanTerra

Yeah, low rise speed bump really only affect car traffic, cyclists don't slow down for those.

I'll start to take bikers more seriously when I note that more than 10% stop at stop signs.

[PanTerra]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I'll start to take bikers more seriously when I note that more than 10% stop at stop signs.

That is a bit of a non sequitur to my comment, but come ride with us and see. You'll also see cars that do that as well. The low rise speedbumps are not for cyclist's sake anyway, it is strictly cars that it is intended to slow down, which are really a menace in residential areas.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by PanTerra

That is a bit of a non sequitur to my comment, but come ride with us and see. You'll also see cars that do that as well. The low rise speedbumps are not for cyclist's sake anyway, it is strictly cars that it is intended to slow down, which are really a menace in residential areas.

Sorry that came across badly. I wasn't really running down your comment - just making a point.

My back is ruined so riding for me is likely out until the next life. But I'll buy you a beer/coke and let's sit at Northaven and Welch for an hour and then stroll down to Northaven and Strait and tally up how many cars stop v. bikes and convert those to percentages. I drive through that area 2/3x per day. The cold facts are bikers more or less never stop. Drivers more or less always do.


Further, my neighborhood has great roads, no speed bumps and we have almost no issue with speeders.
Second EMS types HATE speed bumps. They are hard on the big trucks and perilous for patients in the backs of ambulances. Slowing and going is very wasteful of fuel as well.

Finally, in a Dallas era of a fast growing population, increasing population density, and stagnant marginal road building slowing down cars will make congestion worse not better short of a means to increase traffic density per time significantly. That just does not work.

[Considering Coming Back]

EDS, I'm not really one to wade into the bike-lane debate (you won't see me out there on a Huffy). But would you grant that Dallas is a large city and what's good for Pleasant Grove might not be good for north Dallas? The streets south of 30 and generally east of 35 are way over built. You and I are paying to repave them-- or not repave them, as often seems the case. That wasted infrastructure is a huge burden. Taking away lanes on Bruton or Marsalis won't affect traffic speed-- even at peak times-- and will free up money in the budget for updates to vital arteries like Preston Rd.

[GripeWater]

Culture of walking/biking & shopping/dining at local places where you see faces you know. Basically a personal touch.

[PanTerra]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Sorry that came across badly. I wasn't really running down your comment - just making a point.

My back is ruined so riding for me is likely out until the next life. But I'll buy you a beer/coke and let's sit at Northaven and Welch for an hour and then stroll down to Northaven and Strait and tally up how many cars stop v. bikes and convert those to percentages. I drive through that area 2/3x per day. The cold facts are bikers more or less never stop. Drivers more or less always do.

Whatever the numbers, speed bumps would not effect that. As I wrote, they aren't effective in slowing cyclists, just motor vehicles.

Further, my neighborhood has great roads, no speed bumps and we have almost no issue with speeders.

Well, that is why you don't have speed bumps. They are a result of speeders. They go in after complaints to the city by the neighborhood.

Second EMS types HATE speed bumps. They are hard on the big trucks and perilous for patients in the backs of ambulances. Slowing and going is very wasteful of fuel as well.

I wasn't promoting them, I just commented that they are not effective to cyclists. I don't slow down for them because my suspension is in my legs so I don't have an issue of bottoming-out. When I am driving, I do slow down.

Finally, in a Dallas era of a fast growing population, increasing population density, and stagnant marginal road building slowing down cars will make congestion worse not better short of a means to increase traffic density per time significantly. That just does not work.

They are also effective in making it a pain for drivers that just pass through those neighborhoods with the bumps, and in turn, encouraging them to find another route, resulting in reducing congestion in those neighborhoods. Again, I am not promoting them, but that is what happens. Much like when a neighborhood petitions the city to put in a stop sign at dangerous intersections. You get enough stop signs through a neighborhood, people will find another route to avoid them all together.

I ride there all the time. if you ride with us, you will stop, or you ride with someone else. You will also have to have a helmet to ride with us, and don't bring any earbuds. That is a big violation. A couple of us were waiting at the stop sign, yes waiting, eastbound on Northaven, to turn north on to the frontage road to the tollway, Quincy, to go north up to Caladium. Well, she didn't appreciate us (putting it lightly) holding up her progress so she went around us on our left side (remember, we ARE in the left land already to turn), screeching her tires, into the oncoming traffic to turn in before us on Quincy, nearly taking out the oncoming car, and us. We see that all the time. That is what you'll see when you ride. That wasn't you was it? We can stop at every light and sign, and it just doesn't matter, damned if we do, damned if we don't. Now do I, because of her idiocy not take motorists seriously? Whoever you are seeing doing this, it's not us.

By the way, I was pretty vocal to the planners for the Northaven bicycle trail not to waste money on putting in the trail that we wouldn't even use, but rather put that money into repairing Northaven and all it's cracks, then everyone would benefit.

[binkyman]

Originally Posted by happycrow

Blinkyman,

I think that's more or less accurate. Dallas "proper" is much less influential regionally than some of its residents tend to think. Irving is *definitely* tied to the airport, rather than to ~"city of Dallas." (and in some ways is closer tied to FW once you start taking freight and air-freight flows into account).

It is interesting why this situation has arisen in Dallas - Fort Worth. In contrasting it to Houston, the universities in the area are spread out in each "principle" city.

Plano: University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson)
Dallas: SMU and Southwestern Medical School
Fort Worth: TCU
Irving: University of Dallas

The same is true with the airports. Irving has DFW, Plano has both Addison and McKinney airports, Dallas has Love Field, and Fort Worth has Alliance.

I would like to find other similar cities to Plano and Irving so I can compare and contrast them.

Also, being both a diverse economy and a huge distribution center has helped create a multi-polar type economy in the region.

Companies around the world are zeroing in on Richardson's Telecom Corridor for some reason. But the reason Plano gets the designation as the principle city of North Dallas is the symbiotic relationship it has with the suburbs surrounding it and its potential for one day having major corporations based on eight sides surrounding it. One can expect that as companies are now already based at the four corners of Plano (Richardson, Addison, Frisco/The Colony, and McKinney), that there is huge potential to expand on that with the city of Allen being based on its east side, the University of Texas at Dallas and Preston Road being based south of it along the George Bush Turnpike, the North Dallas Tollway likewise being positioned to the west of it, and lots of room for development located on 121 just to the north of it.

Arlington is similar to Plano in its relationship with Grand Prairie and Manville. This whole area could be said to be separate from Dallas and Fort Worth with the University of Texas at Arlington as a major university serving it as well as its own collection of large hospitals based there to serve a large region.

An important designation Arlington seems to be lacking is the development of a clear cut upscale area.

Denton is an interesting city that seems to be developing on its own with two large universities based there.

I don't consider Southlake to be a suburb of Fort Worth as it has always been poorly connected to it and as it grew originally out of DFW airport having more to do with the 114 corridor.

[mrsclark]

[quote=RayStokes;30387295]Get better at the basics. Dallas has been great at the big flashy projects over the years. The new museum, deck park, Hunt bridge, etc. Fix the roads and schools already. I feel like you need a jeep to get around some of the intown neighborhoods. Crumbling pot holes everywhere. When they fill in the potholes, it's always uneven and the roads are just as bumpy.

quote]


Haha! Its worse in a Jeep!

[binkyman]

[quote=mrsclark;30552487]

Originally Posted by RayStokes

Get better at the basics. Dallas has been great at the big flashy projects over the years. The new museum, deck park, Hunt bridge, etc. Fix the roads and schools already. I feel like you need a jeep to get around some of the intown neighborhoods. Crumbling pot holes everywhere. When they fill in the potholes, it's always uneven and the roads are just as bumpy.

quote]


Haha! Its worse in a Jeep!

Using the crack prostitute (*****) as a metaphor, eventually the people are just going to have to learn to say "No thank you," just as the crack prostitute needs to learn how to tell her drug pusher and pimp that she no longer needs their businesses.

In other words, indeed, the streets are crumbling, but there has been many years of insufficient funds to fix them while they really aren't going to be needed in a bleak future of what the media has coined a jobless service economy.

If you really want to help the city of Dallas, do two seeming opposing things at the same time: 1. Suspend all taxes on gasoline including Federal. 2. Limit the sell of gasoline.

[kidicarus89]

[quote=binkyman;30555444]

Originally Posted by mrsclark

If you really want to help the city of Dallas, do two seeming opposing things at the same time: 1. Suspend all taxes on gasoline including Federal. 2. Limit the sell of gasoline.

I don't see what this would accomplish. First, limiting the sale of gasoline is pretty much impossible as we live in a capitalist society where we shun these kinds of false supply constraints. Second, gasoline taxes pay for a large chunk of road infrastructure. In fact, the Transportation Security (I think it was him) actually recommended that we bump the gas tax up by about $1.00, as the current percentage is far too small to keep up with the current demands of our crumbling infrastructure. Just driving around downtown Dallas here gives one a good idea of just how terrible TxDOT and local entities have been at managing roads.