I’m unironically all for removing stop signs, traffic lights, and speed limits. If you build streets and roads properly, you don’t need those, frequently ignored, control devices.
It would remove gridlock, but not necessarily congestion.
As an often pedestrian, i often prefer lights. If it’s a busy dual carriageway roundabout It can often be hard to route pedestrians across. You end up with elaborate and winding pedestrian subways.
Roundabouts are ok on rural junctions, but round here we often have to have traffic lights on roundabouts as you start to get closer in to urban areas - and they do seem to help flow.
I just don’t believe road design alone can remove the need for coordination as population density gets above a certain level. Fuck in central London you need traffic lights just to coordinate all the buses never mind cars. Of course they need an overhead s-bahn type light rail system there though, but planning rules/landowners won’t allow it. At this point they just need less people - but again the govt/electorate/landowners won’t allow that because they’re all a bunch of tw4ts.
As Jason Slaughter (Not Just Bikes) says—and I agree—any city street with more than one car lane in each direction is an abject failure of urban planning. Multi-lane roundabouts should never exist in places where people are expected to walk.
If enough people are going the same direction at the same time that they need more than one lane for cars, then that’s the perfect route for transit.
Round abouts, peanuts, uncontrolled, yielded, modal filtered, raised, edged, sunken, and more.
There are a lot of ways to give clear cues to all road users on what to do, and how to do it, without relying on signage. Traffic lights in particular are extremely low throughput; their primary advantage is allowing vehicles to drive really fast between intersections, so they are great for roads/highways but not for streets.
Ok with that, but you also need to remove other cars from the road. Every time I’ve been stuck in traffic, it was because there were so many other cars. This has got out of control! Who are all these people and where are they all going?!?
There was a guy who took his guitar before the Portland City Council and sang a song about induced demand. If you build more lanes, more drivers will come and fill them.
The project actually still hasn’t started due to ongoing litigation and budget constraints. It did get redesigned with more bike infrastructure and pedestrian bridges to cross the freeway, but local bike and pro-transit groups still oppose the project.
One of the main arguments is that the state’s proposal is not consistent with the city’s regional plan, which says that the interstate can only be expanded if congestion pricing is also implemented to discourage additional traffic.
At this point, the state is planning to fix up some bridges while the rest of the legal fight plays out. Expansion probably won’t start until 2028 in any case… at which point this song will be an “oldie.”
It’s crazy how our 18-lane highway, with none of the stuff mentioned, is gridlocked all the time. 🤔
Maybe one more lane, bro!
It’s the stoplight’s fault! Ban stop signs, traffic lights and remove speed limits and we’ll never have gridlock again!!!
I’m unironically all for removing stop signs, traffic lights, and speed limits. If you build streets and roads properly, you don’t need those, frequently ignored, control devices.
It would remove gridlock, but not necessarily congestion.
This person urban designs.
Round about gang for life
As an often pedestrian, i often prefer lights. If it’s a busy dual carriageway roundabout It can often be hard to route pedestrians across. You end up with elaborate and winding pedestrian subways.
Roundabouts are ok on rural junctions, but round here we often have to have traffic lights on roundabouts as you start to get closer in to urban areas - and they do seem to help flow.
I just don’t believe road design alone can remove the need for coordination as population density gets above a certain level. Fuck in central London you need traffic lights just to coordinate all the buses never mind cars. Of course they need an overhead s-bahn type light rail system there though, but planning rules/landowners won’t allow it. At this point they just need less people - but again the govt/electorate/landowners won’t allow that because they’re all a bunch of tw4ts.
As Jason Slaughter (Not Just Bikes) says—and I agree—any city street with more than one car lane in each direction is an abject failure of urban planning. Multi-lane roundabouts should never exist in places where people are expected to walk.
If enough people are going the same direction at the same time that they need more than one lane for cars, then that’s the perfect route for transit.
Abject failure of urban planning, or democracy?
Oh there are many other intersections
Round abouts, peanuts, uncontrolled, yielded, modal filtered, raised, edged, sunken, and more.
There are a lot of ways to give clear cues to all road users on what to do, and how to do it, without relying on signage. Traffic lights in particular are extremely low throughput; their primary advantage is allowing vehicles to drive really fast between intersections, so they are great for roads/highways but not for streets.
Ok with that, but you also need to remove other cars from the road. Every time I’ve been stuck in traffic, it was because there were so many other cars. This has got out of control! Who are all these people and where are they all going?!?
All these bums without cars trying to cross the road made me late! Do they really need a crossing every five blocks? /S
There was a guy who took his guitar before the Portland City Council and sang a song about induced demand. If you build more lanes, more drivers will come and fill them.
https://youtu.be/ujvG6vbpSPc
OMG, I love this man! That video is 7 years old… Did they add more lanes? 🫣
The project actually still hasn’t started due to ongoing litigation and budget constraints. It did get redesigned with more bike infrastructure and pedestrian bridges to cross the freeway, but local bike and pro-transit groups still oppose the project.
One of the main arguments is that the state’s proposal is not consistent with the city’s regional plan, which says that the interstate can only be expanded if congestion pricing is also implemented to discourage additional traffic.
At this point, the state is planning to fix up some bridges while the rest of the legal fight plays out. Expansion probably won’t start until 2028 in any case… at which point this song will be an “oldie.”