It was a short comment, but it had the urgency of an epiphany. And it was thought-provoking.
I spent a lot of minutes wondering if the comment was just simple, or if it crossed over into being simplistic. I mean, did these stroads ever work well? Maybe when they were first built? I ask because the neighborhood I grew up in, in another city, half a century ago, is silly with four-lane roads, and they were safe for a kid to walk and even bike on. I walked to school on them, crossing at the light was not a problem. Drivers stopped at red lights, driving like an idiot was unusual.
Here’s the comment that sent me down memory lane. Fred wrote it, in response to another commenter, under last week’s comment of the week:
What you’re missing here is how the street design affords – and actually rewards – aggressive driving behavior.
Because four-lane urban highways are ubiquitous in Portland and the USA generally, many drivers today expect to be able to speed around cars that are obeying the speed limit – and there are absolutely no repercussions for bad behavior. In fact, there are rewards: drive dangerously, with no regard for anyone outside of your vehicle, and you get where you’re going faster.
The design of Naito and other four-lane urban highways creates the conditions that promote anti-social behaviors.
What’s your take?
Thank you Fred, and also to those commenters who worked overtime last week. We appreciate your contributions and they are an important part of BikePortland.
