• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 month ago

    If we replaced some of those with roundabouts, others with over/underpasses

    That’s definitely another approach, although these kinds of infrastructure changes are expensive and come with their own risks. Roundabouts take up more space than four-way stops, while underpasses flood and overpasses freeze. Your essential problem - moving too many overlarge vehicles through too small a space - is mitigated, but not resolved.

    But yes, a camera that functions as a revenue stream is far more attractive than anything that might actually save lives.

    • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      underpasses flood

      I’m in the Phoenix area, while that can happen, it’s a rare occurrence.

      overpasses freeze.

      Even rarer.

      Really it all comes down to cost- we spend millions on adding more lanes to highways, but very little on local connecting roads… Why spend anything to fix a problem when we can profit from the problem?

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        I’m in the Phoenix area, while that can happen, it’s a rare occurrence.

        Sure, its always a rare occurrence. But when it happens, it can create a huge mess. Also points thumb at climate change less rare day-by-day.

        Really it all comes down to cost

        For a city like Phoenix not to have a modern mass transit system is a criminal waste of money and manpower. You’re talking about billions of dollars in highway expansion and tens of thousands of potholes getting filed, all so people stay in their cars.

        FFS, its not even as though buses and trains are unpopular. Just ask folks in New York or DC. Even the Houston transit lines are commuter gold - filling up with tens of thousands of passengers every morning and evening who don’t need a place to park once they get downtown.

        Why spend anything to fix a problem when we can profit from the problem?

        Privatize the profits, socialize the losses. No more successful business strategy has ever existed.

        • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          What I’d really like to see is more cycling infrastructure… But in this climate, that’s less likely to happen than public transportation. But hey, we’re improving that, we have light rail that runs… On the streets.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            30 days ago

            What I’d really like to see is more cycling infrastructure…

            Oh absolutely. And it drives me nuts to see the current mayor of Houston getting ready to tear up a bunch of cycling infrastructure the city has installed over the last decade. Bicycling was one of the bright spots of living in the Houston interior, and a bike highway into downtown would have been invaluable.

            But hey, we’re improving that, we have light rail that runs… On the streets.

            $10B to jiggle I-45 for faster trucking, but not one penny for raised rail.