American roads

I don’t understand why this thread is being closed constantly. There is no issue in discussing American roads in my mind.

The issue is some posters coming in this thread just arguing they are not needed when the thread was clearly labelled as an appreciation thread.

The scenery is incredible and allways has been but the roads are very expensive monotonous concrete death trap eye sores, which are gradually destroying the scenery. But if concrete is your thing I guess they are fascinating. 😁

You'd have a long tough walk over mountains, through canyons, deserts, rivers and swamps to get a look at the scenic sights without those roads though.

And that's without taking the weather into account.

This "death trap eyesore" provides a safe crossing of the Rockies that's open all year round and can accommodate large vehicles. It is a necessity, and has most likely repaid its CO2 build emissions by now simply by providing a more direct link between places that people already needed to go. If it wasn't there, people would fly and freight would take a longer more demanding route.

And this isn't some bloated mega-highway: Like most of the Interstate network, the road in this video is 2 lanes each way for most of its length, with a cross section that is no wider than our own inter-urban motorways.

US transport planning has failed in some areas, especially in relying on private car transport around cities, but the Interstate Highway system itself is a major success story.

I had a disagreement with @Kermit.de.frog on the old thread about whether the massive freeways surrounding Dallas were a triumph or a sign of failed transport planning, but when it comes to builds like this, we're entirely in agreement.

We can easily discuss roads in the USA on this forum. I see no reason why we can't discuss road systems and infrastructure in America here. This is a completely natural and interesting topic for discussion on a forum dedicated to roads.

Even ignoring the population discrepancy to which the previous commenter has referred, why on Earth would we want our Munster cities to look like that? It’s soulless dystopian sprawl. The closest we have to that in Ireland is the Blanchardstown, Lucan, Clondakin, Tallaght continuum. That’s not a development pattern why should be proud of, and definitely one we need to recreate elsewhere in the country.

What on earth are you on about? Who mentioned anything about road deaths?

I suggest to those who have issue with Kermit’s posts to simply avoid this thread. It’s not that difficult to do.

Also, the design standards for highways in Texas are very high in terms of safety.

The appalling road deaths figures in the state are down to driver behaviour, particularly a high tolerance of drinking and driving added to the reluctance of a significant minority of drivers to wear safety belts... there's no road-engineering that can make those problems go away.

I was making a point on another thread about how bad design can increase the chance of accidents, but there's no amount of good design that can compensate for dangerous driving habits.

Bang on the money.

Seems like you are confused about how forums work.

This thread is for the appreciation of road in the USA.

Use the magic of how the forum works to start your own thread and see if anyone wants to get into the crap your peddling and leave this thread for what it's intended for

The US road fatality rate is not "ten times higher". US deaths in road traffic accidents were 43000 in 2022. Ireland's in 2023 were 184. Ireland's per capita rate applied to the current US population of 330 million would work out at 12,000 per year, so the US rate is 3.5 times the Irish, not ten. I found those numbers with just two Internet searches... I'd hope that anyone who was serious about discussing the issue would do the same basic factchecking before making sensational claims..

But: that figure is a basic per capita count, and it makes Ireland look good for two reasons. First, we have fewer private vehicle users per capita than the US, and second, Irish drivers travel far fewer kilometres per year than their counterparts in the States. Basically, your chances of dying in a car accident dramatically improve if you spend less time in a car, but Americans are the highest users of private cars in the world. (Taking that logical error to its extreme, I could say that not only are amazingly safer drivers, we also kick their ass on bear safety...)

Account for those factors, and the US is still higher, but nothing like "multiples". To account for that there's the social aspects I mentioned before, but road design is not a factor in their higher fatality rate, except to reduce it.