
Rethinking Manhattan's grid - gringoDan
https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/08/rethinking-manhattans-grid/568486/
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nicwolff
Nice rendering there of a lap pool that they propose to place directly in
front of the building in which I grew up, and in which my parents still live.
They're missing a few things:

\- delivery and moving trucks, which double-park on the street constantly

\- Ubers, which are "local traffic", waiting for pickups

\- food delivery messengers on electric bikes "sharing" the pedestrian areas
at speeds over 20 mph

\- piles of garbage bags waiting for pickup on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday –
and "large items" too on Friday

\- garbage trucks, stopping at every building to pick up that trash

\- fire hydrants and access for fire trucks on both sides of the street

\- tree pits, or any other way for the roots of the trees not adjacent to
hedges to get water

\- the 4' wide basement wells in front of many buildings on that block

\- homeless people, each with multiple shopping carts full of their
possessions

\- bike racks

\- street lights!

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MR4D
Or maybe start thinking in three dimensions. The subway is already the first
step in that third dimension. Why not add more layers (either up or down) ?

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exegete
I wonder what the costs are of the plan in the article and how it compares to
digging more tunnels for subway (down) or adding some kind of elevated rail
(up).

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MR4D
That would've been a good starting point for them for sure. A cost benefit
analysis would probably be too much to ask for, but would at least make it
less of an opinion-type piece.

I actually had the thought that streets should not be for people - put people
up on skywalks (indoors or outdoors), and reduce the amount of people on the
ground. Could also make for a much nicer experience for the people as well.
Doesn't seem like it would cost a ton to just do that.

