What Does It Mean When a Prank 60 Mph Sign Goes Unnoticed?
Ivan Illich, the multinational intellectual who in 1973 wrote the smartest thing that I have yet to read about transportation: “Beyond a certain speed, motorized vehicles create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all and shrink them for only a few.”
Jeff Speck • Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
If more and bigger highways mean more traffic, does the same logic work in reverse? The latest twist in the induced demand story might be called reduced demand, which seems to be what happens when “vital” arteries are removed from cities. The traffic just goes away. The two best-known American examples remain New York’s West Side Highway and San
... See moreJeff Speck • Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
If workers were shown safer methods, accident records would improve without expensive new capital investment.
Peter D. Norton • Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City (Inside Technology)
Since it is the only real constraint to driving, congestion is the one place where people are made to feel the pinch in their automotive lives. Were it not for congestion, we would drive enough additional miles to make congestion. So the traffic study has become the default act of planning, and more than a few large companies can thank traffic
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