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Americans can no longer afford their cars (www.newsweek.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't think high speed rail is the issue here. We have a good network of airports, so I can get between major cities pretty easily. High speed rail is a good idea since it'll cut down on emissions and costs longer term, but it's not going to end car dependency.

What the US needs is a ground up commitment to improving transit. There are a lot of low cost ways to drive people toward transit, which means more political will to improve what we have. For example:

restrict roads that go through city centers - cars should be forced to go around on highways
switch intersections to be pedestrian-first - e.g. Dutch raised intersections
make dedicated bus lanes, and use techniques to encourage cars to use other routes

There are a ton of projects I'd love my region to do, but they're of little value if people don't use them. We need city planners to make an active effort to push cars out of the city.