Big cities

[Monkeyleg]

I've never been a fan of big cities. Even Milwaukee was too big for me. Being crammed together with a million other people isn't my idea of living.

Every two weeks I have to drive to Atlanta to see a specialist. No matter what time of day or night or what day of the week, traffic in Atlanta is always nuts. Yesterday I caught 5 o'clock rush, and was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for nearly two hours. It was 91 degrees. If I hadn't had A/C, I probably would have gone homicidal. When traffic gets that bad, courtesy goes out the window. People won't let you change lanes unless you force them to.

I don't know how people can live like that. I joke to friends that people in Atlanta don't have homes; they just drive all day and night, and stop for gas and food every four or five hours.

My best friend lived in Chicago before I met him, and his father spent four hours a day in rush hour traffic. That's twenty hours a week, or 1000 hours a year (assuming a two-week vacation). That's almost six weeks per year just sitting in traffic. Imagine spending 11.5% of your life sitting in traffic.

It all seems so unnatural. God created ants and bees to live clustered together and moving in swarms. Not people.

[Boomhauer]

Yeah I don't have much tolerance at all for that either.

My daily commute is an hour each way, but that is a no-traffic hour each way too.

Recently I went down to Columbia to work in our rebuild shop for a couple weeks. Due to our work hours, it was an hour and a half trip down with not much traffic in the city at that hour. When I was going back, though, it was about 30 minutes before rush hour truly started and yet I would spend 45 minutes in traffic getting through town...and that was not going through the main city, that was going Lexington, the city next to Columbia. And that wasn't even the worst case, I only spent a couple miles on the interstate for my route. The interstates would be bumper to bumper sitting for an hour or two at rush hour due to the completely *expletive deleted*ing retarded design of the on and off ramps, particularly at the I-20 and I-26 interchange.

Why are the on and off ramps so horrible? The dumbass that designed this made it so the on and off ramps share the same lane, and are separated from each other by only a couple hundred yards or so. This means that you have heavy traffic trying to get onto the interstate, then heavy traffic trying to get off at the next offramp just a little ways ahead, and both streams of traffic coming together right there. This leads to gridlock from the normal traffic then also accidents from the inevitable wrecks that result when everybody is trying to divide their attention several different ways.

Whoever designed this needs to be put up against a wall and shot.

[vaskidmark]

They say there are trade-offs for living in the big city.  If the things they call trade-offs are important to you then you live in the big city.

There are three, maybe four things each year happening in Richmond that tempt me to go in and deal with the parking, the crowds, and the attitudes.  Otherwise I'm circling around the fringes at best.

And when I moved to Richmond from NOVA I kept looking for the "rush hour" everybody was talking about.  It was a rush 15 minutes at best.  Now the main arteries connecting the big suburban sprawl centers to the city center do get clogged and a commute of only an hour is considered something to brag about.  I stay off the main arteries unless going against the grain of the commuters and either go downtown early (better chance of parking close to where I want/have to be) or limit my exposure from 10 to 3.

stay safe.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Hell, Richmond isn't even a big city and I couldn't do.

NYC gives me the heebie jeebies, and I'm not even talking the political atmosphere.

New Orleans was about the biggest city I've been too that I could actually consider living in. It's picturesque in a way that other places aren't.

[freakazoid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk2YRpLnmdU

[Kingcreek]

Big cities are great places for all those people to live.
That keeps them away from me.

[230RN]

Long-term commuting observation:  2/3 of the distance to work in the city took only 1/3 of the time.

I developed all kinds of side street routes to get into Denver, and backups to the backups for those.  This, despite school zones, stop signs, traffic lights, and 30 mph residential speed limits.  And on the side streets, you were never trapped in traffic.  There was always the next block to turn away from a construction zone or whatever and hit the backup route. Or the backup-backup route.

If I-70 was running OK during rush hours, the times involved were about even, favoring the highway.  But if it got clogged, the side roads beat the highway by at least a half hour every time.

Terry

[Hawkmoon]

New Orleans was about the biggest city I've been too that I could actually consider living in. It's picturesque in a way that other places aren't.

It's also below sea level.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[vaskidmark]

It's also below sea level.

Thanks, but no thanks.

After they flushed it, it just filled up again.

And I was not aware that "picturesque" was another word for streets smelling of piss filled with drunken tourists.

stay safe.

[Monkeyleg]

I like New Orleans, although I'd never live there.

Atlanta is different from any other large city I've seen. As I said in my first post, traffic there is always irritating. At least you can hit Chicago after 9 am or before 3 pm and have light traffic. It still takes about an hour to get through the city on the I-294 bypass, but you can move at 70+ mph. Someone said that the reason Atlanta is so busy is that there's two major interstate routes, I-75 and I-85, going through the city, but Chicago has I-94, I-90, I-55, I-57, I-80, and I-88.

[tokugawa]

Rome would be OK- at least you could get a decent pastry and coffee.

[vaskidmark]

Someone said that the reason Atlanta is so busy is that there's two major interstate routes, I-75 and I-85, going through the city, but Chicago has I-94, I-90, I-55, I-57, I-80, and I-88.

BUshwah! regarding Atlanta.  Richmond has N-S (I-95) and E-W (I-64) interstates intersecting and long-haul freight changes direction here.  Along with being a major rail-to-road hub and a port full of ships off- and on-loading containers.  Plus all those gorram tourists.  IMHO what we are blessed with is commuting routes that for the most part stay off the interstates or dump commuters using the interstates into those commuting routes far enough outside the city.  Back when I remember how Mordor on the Lake was set up it was pretty much the same thing.

It looks as if Atlanta's problem is more related that it does not have alternatives to the interstates for local/suburban commuters to use.  I guess they modeled themselves after the DC plan of constructing a giant rotary with no place to get off.

stay safe.

[HankB]

I'm of the opinion that every TxDOT employee ranked "supervisor" or above needs to be summarily fired. The Austin area is riddled with chokepoints that have no viable alternate routes . . . and if there IS a collision, the local <string of expletives> law enforcement officials aren't at all reluctant to shut down the roads for HOURS, even during rush hour, after they've been cleared - for "investigation" of the wreck.

And the City of Austin is even worse - some years back they put curb islands along a road to periodically NARROW it, saying it would "calm" traffic. UTTER BOVINE EXCREMENT. It damaged cars (you don't expect your lane to have an obstruction in it) and forced bicycle riders to swerve into traffic, with predictable results. So they then spent money to remove the curb islands.

Which was the whole point - spending money. Civil engineering is a GREAT opportunity to convert public funds into private fortunes, once the bidding process is properly rigged.

Now I've heard talk about retrofitting intersections with traffic circles . . . .

[vaskidmark]

Now I've heard talk about retrofitting intersections with traffic circles . . . .

Just ask the Brits how well they work.  Or the French, or the Italians.  At least when L'Enfant was laying out DC he had a purpose for those traffic circles and diagonal roads - places to site cannon to sweep the mobs (or enemy, if you want to believe that) and routes to use transporting cannon and troops to where the mobs (or enemy ....) were.

stay safe.

[MillCreek]

There is a reason why I no longer work in downtown Seattle, and a 60-120 minute commute to go 27 miles each way is a big part of that reason.  Seattle is landlocked between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, and there is but a single freeway (I-5) that goes through the city.  When I-5 has problems, the commute grinds to a halt.   We like the social and cultural amenities of the big city, but we first consider if going to them is worth the traffic.  We will be living about 40 miles north of downtown Seattle after the move next month.

I would also say that some of the secondary arterials in this area are getting roundabouts, and so far they are a smashing success, in terms of keeping traffic moving better than stoplights.  Some people still have problems with the concept of yielding to the oncoming traffic in the roundabout, but I am pleased with them.

[roo_ster]

Roundabouts designed from the get go are good.  Retrofit roundabouts are awful.

[TommyGunn]

Just ask the Brits how well they work.  Or the French, or the Italians.  At least when L'Enfant was laying out DC he had a purpose for those traffic circles and diagonal roads - places to site cannon to sweep the mobs (or enemy, if you want to believe that) and routes to use transporting cannon and troops to where the mobs (or enemy ....) were.

stay safe.

Having been to England, I'd say they work OK there, but....

Roundabouts designed from the get go are good.  Retrofit roundabouts are awful.

^^^^
Yes ... our local civic miracle workers had the brilliant   idea of putting in roundabouts.  The roads chosen were never designed for them and it was a stupid assinine move which put a lot of wear & tear on the undercarriages of numerous trucks and larger cars.  

[Jamisjockey]

I would say it's a preference issue.  Amenities of living in and around larger cities are important to some.  Also, many cities provide large amounts of well paying jobs that people want.  I like living on the outskirts of a city myself.  Just far enough out that I can stay out of the city, but close enough that a trip to an event isn't a major outing.

[Monkeyleg]

I would say it's a preference issue.  Amenities of living in and around larger cities are important to some.  Also, many cities provide large amounts of well paying jobs that people want.  I like living on the outskirts of a city myself.  Just far enough out that I can stay out of the city, but close enough that a trip to an event isn't a major outing.

That would be the ideal. Right now the biggest city close to me is Huntsville. Decatur has the basics, but for anything else I have to go to Huntsville. A decent bottle of wine for a lady friend, a guitar pedal, a non-box store brand of fertilizer, or anything else "exotic" requires a 90-mile round trip drive to Huntsville. For a really good medical specialist, there's almost no place in AL.

[Hutch]

That would be the ideal. Right now the biggest city close to me is Huntsville. Decatur has the basics, but for anything else I have to go to Huntsville. A decent bottle of wine for a lady friend, a guitar pedal, a non-box store brand of fertilizer, or anything else "exotic" requires a 90-mile round trip drive to Huntsville. For a really good medical specialist, there's almost no place in AL.

Birmingham is lousy with medical people.

I have family in Atlanta, and I hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand blue-white suns.  I'm in Atlanta now, since my wife is here, managing my daughter's household due to health issues.  Did I mention that I'm in Gwinnett county, northeast of Atlanta, and my home is Southwest of Atlanta?  And that I hate it?  Well, I do.

[MillCreek]

Yes ... our local civic miracle workers had the brilliant   idea of putting in roundabouts.  The roads chosen were never designed for them and it was a stupid assinine move which put a lot of wear & tear on the undercarriages of numerous trucks and larger cars.  

There are a couple of roundabouts in a logging/mining town called Granite Falls near to me.  They were put it a few years back as part of a project to create a truck route so the logging and gravel trucks could bypass downtown.  They are the largest-diameter roundabouts I have ever seen, and they have a low paving-block center designed so that the logging/gravel trailers can drive up on them as need be with no damage to the truck, trailer or roundabout.  Very well done.

[French G.]

Roundabouts designed from the get go are good.  Retrofit roundabouts are awful.

I love roundabouts. I do not love every idiot who doesn't know how to drive around one. I wish I would have known a secret before crossing four lanes of roundabout traffic to get to the Arc De Triomphe. Getting back was way easier. Turns out there is a pedestrian tunnel. 

[just Warren]

I used to be a messenger in Los Angeles. For 50 to 60 hours a week my work office was traffic.  I'd get both the morning and afternoon rush hours.

Fortunately, after awhile you learn shortcuts. Even in such a car-dense place there were routes that were never that crowded. You'd learn these on your own and more experienced guys would clue you in. This was pre-GPS. pre-internet, and pre-digital maps. I'm sure it's easier now.

It paid well, I got to go to a lot of interesting places* and overall it was a good; fun job. Would I do it now after near two decades of living on a much smaller city? Oh, Hell no!



*Once I was on the Universal lot stopped at a stop sign when the tour tram goes by. I look over and there's a horde of tourists taking photos of me. Don't know what they thought they were looking at but it was funny to me.  Also there was a couple of hours where the only person in possession in the whole world of the complete, finished cut of Jurassic Park 2 was me. That was kind of cool.

[lupinus]

My wife hates some roads around here, as there are a couple at certain times that are just laughable. She hates going through or in Atlanta.

I took her to NJ to meet my grandparents and show her the sites of my youth. We drove. We were...delayed in our travels and my timing therefor did not work. We went up 78 through PA, bound for 287 in NJ. We hit it at almost five oclock on the dot. That was the day wifey learned the meaning of traffic.

[Jocassee]

I moved to Atlanta once for a single week.

My commute was 9 miles.

It took me 45 minutes at 8 in the morning and an hour at 6 in the evening.

The interstate was the only way to get to work. The other side roads between Ashford-Dunwoody and Jimmy Carter are impossible.

I left.