Who's afraid of a Beltway? (Pittsburgh, Scranton: hotels, house, transfer)

[FreightTrainRunning]

As the article points out, beltways only encourage growth in the suburbs and away from the core city which is exactly of opposite of what we should be promoting right now. Why should we spend billions of dollars just to make it easier for people to avoid the City of Pittsburgh?

The fact that Pittsburgh has such constricted highways is a feature, not a bug and should not be fixed.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by GeneW

The fact that Pittsburgh has such constricted highways is a feature, not a bug and should not be fixed.

Tell that to the people who get rear-ended coming off the eastbound on-ramp at Squirrel Hill.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Tell that to the people who get rear-ended coming off the eastbound on-ramp at Squirrel Hill.

How often does that actually happen? And seriously what would you do about that? Build another tunnel?

[pman]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

I'm in favor of widening and modernizing I-376 over building a beltway.

bingo. it's also unrealistic to expect a region to zone in favor of mitigating the impact of a beltway. infrastructure creates winners and losers, all the towns in his quote have been losers (the cities themselves) save DC. the towns that would be winners are not going to zone it back. I don't get the obsession with beltways as opposed to just reinvesting in corridors that already have traffic

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Tell that to the people who get rear-ended coming off the eastbound on-ramp at Squirrel Hill.

I got rear-ended in the Whole Foods parking lot and you don't see me demanding a whole new infrastructure at taxpayer expense. I just used duct tape to put the back-up sensor back on the bumper and made a mental note to just go park on the street when I'm going there during the holidays.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by GeneW

As the article points out, beltways only encourage growth in the suburbs and away from the core city which is exactly of opposite of what we should be promoting right now. Why should we spend billions of dollars just to make it easier for people to avoid the City of Pittsburgh?

The fact that Pittsburgh has such constricted highways is a feature, not a bug and should not be fixed.

People that live in outlying areas still need jobs and a way to get to them.

And, believe it or not, many people in the suburbs just prefer to avoid the inner city if they can help it.


Traditionally, here in Pittsburgh, there have been plenty of opportunities for good jobs in the suburbs at various facilities of US Steel, Westinghouse and other major employers. New development outside the city core isn't something new.

Further, situations like the current "east end housing crisis" are less of a factor if Pittsburgh spreads out a bit. If many area residents have no reason to go to town or the east end except on rare occasions, it takes the pressure off of them.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

And, believe it or not, many people in the suburbs just prefer to avoid the inner city if they can help it.

And that's great for them, I just don't see how that is a problem that the state and feds should spend billions of dollars to fix, especially when the current gas taxes aren't even sufficient to maintain the highways we've already built.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by GeneW

How often does that actually happen?

It happened to me, and it happened to my brother. It's a failure of civil engineering.

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I got rear-ended in the Whole Foods parking lot and you don't see me demanding a whole new infrastructure at taxpayer expense. I just used duct tape to put the back-up sensor back on the bumper and made a mental note to just go park on the street when I'm going there during the holidays.

Because getting rear-ended at five MPH and getting rear-ended at 55 MPH are the same.

By the way, I'd gladly pay a toll to get that ****ing ****-poor excuse of a highway upgraded if that's what it takes. Even the Europeans and Japanese, with all the walking, biking and train-riding they do, aren't afraid to engineer their urban highways to standards beyond 1950. To say that the Parkways East and West don't need to be changed is utterly moronic, and that's putting it mildly.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Because getting rear-ended at five MPH and getting rear-ended at 55 MPH are the same.

If you think traffic on 376 outbound before the tunnel at rush hour is faster than traffic in the Whole Foods parking lot, you've not spent enough time in either.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

If you think traffic on 376 outbound before the tunnel at rush hour is faster than traffic in the Whole Foods parking lot, you've not spent enough time in either.

OK, rush hour. What about the rest of the time?