Nothing is within walking distance of anything else. Architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk give a strong example in their new book, Suburban Nation, written with Jeff Speck. They note how Charleston, S.C., with a classic gridded street system, manages to handle a load of 5.5 million visitors a year within a 2500-acre zone with nearly no perceptible congestion. Nearby Hilton Head, at 10 times the size, hosts only 1.5 million people a year yet has perennially congested roads. Hilton Head pushes all the traffic on to only one or two collector roads, just like the standard suburban model of the 20th century.
Good examples Let's look forward.
Like scotch and ginger ale you can mix them, but it's not a great taste. That's what Joel Volinski, the University of South Florida transportation expert, said. When you've designed a whole system around cars, you can't blame transit for not having more riders. They're antique, crowded and the schedule almost meaningless. Nearly no one seems prepared to trust elected officials to do the right thing.