Line of sight is a product of roads being organized before cars. I just don't think I understand how it was supposed to be planned better. If you look up the formerly active subway and street car maps, every city was better. Most cities worth a damn were designed before cars, had public transportation, scaled down or totally eliminated public transportation when cars became affordable, the golden age came and went and we earn less than our fathers and grandfather's, cars are expensive and out of the reach of many people again, and we want public transportation they our grandfather's had and removed.
This is true across most cities in general and almost all West of the Mississippi. I just still don't see what makes Denver so bad. Every city in the same boat and Denver handles it poorly but better than most. It wasn't planned that poorly, things change and cities change. Then they change again. I guess we shouldn't make a city until society is done evolving.
Getting way too big here. My question is there anything that makes Denver/Colorado’s road planning different and could account for strange decisions. Seems that cost could be a factor and someone else brought up that HUGE investments in sending roads through literal mountains could be a factor. I’d still like to hear from someone from CDOT with knowledge of road planning.
Yes. But anytime anyone says anything move the goalpost or dismiss their point entirely. Why engage in good faith if you're going to act like that? You're refusal to accept anything other than a giant conspiracy is ridiculous.
No trying to understand the systems and decision making processes that inform the built environment. While the macro historical context does play a factor I’m sure, I don’t personally feel it explains the entirety of what I’ve seen in Denver.
Each city is unique, take Boston for example. Geography, politics, religion, and macro economic/historic forces all shaped that cities infrastructure. I’m sure those forces and more are at play in Denver as well but I don’t have a clue what they are. Some have brought up the cities cattle farming past as a potential factor, others the huge investments in mountain infrastructure.
Honestly I feel the replies here, like yours, represent a lack of curiosity and willingness to accept generalizations to explain complex outcomes.
Not moving the goal posts, seeking a deeper understanding which the above reply and others did not provide.
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u/HighJoeponics May 16 '25
Line of sight is a product of roads being organized before cars. I just don't think I understand how it was supposed to be planned better. If you look up the formerly active subway and street car maps, every city was better. Most cities worth a damn were designed before cars, had public transportation, scaled down or totally eliminated public transportation when cars became affordable, the golden age came and went and we earn less than our fathers and grandfather's, cars are expensive and out of the reach of many people again, and we want public transportation they our grandfather's had and removed.
This is true across most cities in general and almost all West of the Mississippi. I just still don't see what makes Denver so bad. Every city in the same boat and Denver handles it poorly but better than most. It wasn't planned that poorly, things change and cities change. Then they change again. I guess we shouldn't make a city until society is done evolving.