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Post by Iron Bonny Shades on Nov 11, 2003 23:40:54 GMT -5
This is one of my serious pet peaves.
Is it just me but why do cities use named streets.
They are difficult as all heck trying to get around it.
A simple grid system should be instituted on all cities.
If they must give the street a cutsy name, it should still be given a number for easy reading.
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Post by Wyrmfire on Nov 12, 2003 0:56:19 GMT -5
Well, some towns (mine, for instance) just aren't designed along lines that would make that feasible. We look more like a DNA strand than a grid, and besides, there aren't enough streets here for anyone to get confused. Remember, every city starts out as a town, so it's hard for one to develop with numbered streets. Can you picture a small Texas town with one intersection, labeled "1-2"?
Besides, it really adds to the character of a place if the streets are named after big historical events/people, especially in Europe and other insanely old places.
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Post by khyron1144 on Nov 12, 2003 0:56:21 GMT -5
Speaking as soemone who has lived in a moderately large city all my life, I find it just as easy to find the corner of say Leonard and Turner as it is to find the corner of Turner and Sixth.
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Post by Hussar on Nov 12, 2003 1:00:35 GMT -5
Just be glad you live in a country where they have either. Neither Tokyo nor Seoul (both with populations of over 10 million) have ANY street names. NONE! It's brutal. Trying to get directions in Japan or Korea is like pulling teeth. At best you get the vague hand wave and a "over there" sort of grunt. Trying to get to someone's house by cab is an adventure. Be glad for what you have.
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Post by Merkuri on Nov 12, 2003 10:45:57 GMT -5
I have to agree with Wyrm. You'd have to level my hometown almost completely and start over again if you wanted a grid, and a grid is the only way numbered streets make any sense. I agree that when I went to NYC this weekend that numbered streets were much easier to navigate, but can you imagine winding roads crossing at non-right angles with some that don't even match up correctly being numbered? I don't know about you, but it's much easier for me to say "Oh yeah, Riverside, that's the one that parallels the river," or "Elm Street, that's the curvy one over the hill" than to try and think of what's on 32nd street ("Was 32nd the one with the coffee shop, or was that 23rd?")
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Post by Iron Bonny Shades on Nov 13, 2003 11:53:41 GMT -5
that's my point exactly
Having winding roads going all over the place make no sense what so ever.
While little can be done in preexisting areas, any new areas should try to fit the grid area as best they can.
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on Nov 13, 2003 15:51:50 GMT -5
I'm with Hussar on the Japan thing, but once you get the basics of the city and get a few reliable contacts, finding your way around isn't as hard as it is cut out to be.
Take where I am now, Atlanta, though. There are 42 streets named "Peachtree". It is EXTREMELY frustrating, considering that about half are in my vicinity.
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Post by Merkuri on Nov 13, 2003 17:50:03 GMT -5
*darnit... pressed "reset" instead of "preivew"... there should be some sort of warning!! Well, here we go again...*
Oh, I agree with you, grids would be great, but it ain't gonna happen. Two reasons: 1) It's hard (and expensive) to make a grid out of a non-grid, even with add-on roads. 2) Sometimes you just can't make a grid. Most of those roads are curvy for a reason, not just because it was fun for the pavers. I don't know about where you live, but where I am we have hills. LOTS of hills. And sometimes if you have a road that doesn't go straight up the hill you get a road that's leaning so far to its side that you risk rolling over. Believe me, there's one in my town. Turn too fast on the corner and you'll find yourself on your roof. Now, I suppose you could just blow the hill up and smooth it over, but that's expensive again. I don't think anybody's government is gonna give you money to blow away a hill just so that your streets will line up and look pretty.
Besides, sometimes it's fun to drive along a nice winding road in the fall past all the foliage. It looses something when you can see miles in front of you and miles behind you and only trees on the sides.
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Post by Sharess on Nov 13, 2003 18:49:16 GMT -5
Oh you want confuesing come to Dubuque IA. I swaer they wanted to plan the streets by hills but then again this is a very hilly city. But it is not Alanta with 42 peachtrees. Just how in gods green earth do you tell the street apart. I think whoever came up with that coc-a-may-me idea to name 42 streets peachtree ought to be draug out on the street and shot.  |
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Post by EK - Shadow of Death on Nov 16, 2003 23:09:45 GMT -5
The idea is that Atlanta used to be a bunch of little villages, and that each town named their (usually only) street "Peachtree" (peaches are very prevalent in Atlanta). Eventually when the villages merged, none of them wanted to give up their beloved peachtree streets, so all of them kept it and now we have Peachtree rd, west peachtree rd., peachtree ct, peachtree circle, and peachtree dr, etc less than a mile apart.
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Post by Hussar on Nov 17, 2003 0:25:21 GMT -5
LOL, that's funny. Then again, Dundas Street in Ontario is something like 500 km long. It runs from Toronto to Windsor.
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BASSsic
Soldier
"I guess that's the throwing area..."
Posts: 271
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Post by BASSsic on Nov 17, 2003 11:56:23 GMT -5
Having winding roads going all over the place make no sense what so ever. You should Wales  I don't think anywhere in UK uses numbered or grided areas. And, meh, I don't like the idea. Whats the fun in living down 235th Avenue (Grd ref. D1 A3)? Seems more usefull in large Industrial areas where coureirs have trouble finding various plants, factorys, warehouses, etc. |
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