I-376 (Parkway West) - MAJOR Improvements Coming! (Pittsburgh: apartment, neighborhood)

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by xdv8

What makes think widening or lane expansion solves anything? More lanes just makes people drive more, it's called induced traffic and it's very real and very ignored. There is a reason why Atlanta is a sprawling mess, and a lot of it has to do with your logic. If you build bigger roads people feel more comfortable living further away creating more traffic.

You do realize that the proposals being discussed in this thread are interchange fixes/improvements not adding road lanes or expanding capacity right?

[gg]

Originally Posted by xdv8

What makes think widening or lane expansion solves anything? More lanes just makes people drive more, it's called induced traffic and it's very real and very ignored. There is a reason why Atlanta is a sprawling mess, and a lot of it has to do with your logic. If you build bigger roads people feel more comfortable living further away creating more traffic.

No need to use Atlanta as an example since we have a prime example right in Pittsburgh with the relatively newly built 279N that goes to Cranberry. That entire region exploded along that road and created the north hills from cow pastures. Did they build something better along the route? Certainly much better schools out that way and virtually no violent crime, so people did escape some things. Was it good for the city? Did it promote growth for the city in general since it is sort of a safe heaven away from crime and more people spending money in the city for work? I think I agree with you xdv8, that creating these roads could actually be backwards thinking. Couldn't the money be better spent to access the airport via public transportation of a better type than just some bus? The airport is so isolated. On the other hand I am a hypocrite because I want a fix at the Highland Park bridge area to make 28 4 lanes all the way from the city to north. At least I recognize my selfish ways.

[gg]

Originally Posted by UKyank

You do realize that the proposals being discussed in this thread are interchange fixes/improvements not adding road lanes or expanding capacity right?

lol, I guess my last post was regarding expansion. Still that seems like a lot of money, but there is a ton of waste in projects like this one.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by UKyank

You do realize that the proposals being discussed in this thread are interchange fixes/improvements not adding road lanes or expanding capacity right?

Yes, I do understand that. Which is why I only quoted that part for my response.

[Forging Steel]

New highways are one thing, I understand why many are against them.

But this is different. It's moderinizing an existing highway that isn't going anywhere any time soon. Better to improve safety and try to improve congestion a little bit. Maybe a decade from now driverless cars will render these types of improvements futile, but for now, they need to be addressed.

For Carnegie, it would be wonderful if they could eliminate the fact that part of the on-ramp is a residential street. This will be the most challenging project due to the space constraints and the railroad tracks below the highway.

Greentree should be a simple and elegant solution.

Banksville...cannot WAIT to see the renderings for the redesign! The lane switching is a big problem that needs to be addressed, but pretty sure the monster will still live there and we will still see backups for no reason other than that.

Maybe next they will move to the Parkway East and fix some of those convulted and outdated interchanges too.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by xdv8

I do. But do I think the trip is so onerous that we need to spend that kind of money for a temporary fix, no. I'd support $100mm going towards public transit improvement, but not to encourage MORE driving. People drive more when road access is improved. Do you think we need more people driving more often?

So you think people are going to quit driving because the current design is garbage? I'm not one for building new swaths of highway out of nowhere, but the Parkway East and West are woefully inadequate for the area and have been that way for some time and need interchange improvements like this desperately. PA has some of the worst and most dangerous highway interchanges I have ever seen.

IIRC, a report rated the Parkway East and West amongst the worst interstates for congestion in the country.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by gg

lol, I guess my last post was regarding expansion. Still that seems like a lot of money, but there is a ton of waste in projects like this one.

What should the project cost?

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

So you think people are going to quit driving because the current design is garbage? I'm not one for building new swaths of highway out of nowhere, but the Parkway East and West are woefully inadequate for the area and have been that way for some time and need interchange improvements like this desperately. PA has some of the worst and most dangerous highway interchanges I have ever seen.

IIRC, a report rated the Parkway East and West amongst the worst interstates for congestion in the country.

I just don't think people should get overly excited for these improvements. I'm not going to cheerlead for spending 9 figures for on-ramps or road improvements at the periphery of the city. Too much money is spent on highway spending and too little on every other type of transportation. The idea of us building our way out of this driving culture mess has been proven to not work as every road eventually reaches capacity. But by all means, let's keep trying the same thing over nd over again.

[Copanut]

I'm just hoping for more bike lanes in McCandless.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by xdv8

I just don't think people should get overly excited for these improvements. I'm not going to cheerlead for spending 9 figures for on-ramps or road improvements at the periphery of the city. Too much money is spent on highway spending and too little on every other type of transportation. The idea of us building our way out of this driving culture mess has been proven to not work as every road eventually reaches capacity. But by all means, let's keep trying the same thing over nd over again.

So we should let roads rot away instead? Not everyone can live in the East End and take transit everywhere they need to go.