Road design, transportation and walkability

[westwardloo]

Those neighbourhoods are expensive due to a combination of high demand (the neighbourhoods are desireable) and low supply (it is illegal to build them). So the fact that walkable neighbourhoods are expensive is a reason to build more, not a reason not to build more.

I will admit that some of the attractiveness is not readily copied; for people who like a 100 year old house, a new house that looks like a 100 year old house won’t necessarily have the same feeling, even if it’s basically a replica. And in most cities there is a downtown which has certain features that are found only in one place in any given city. But most of what is good about those old neighbourhoods could perfectly well be built anywhere. And for that to happen, we need to (1) allow it and (2) support it by building transit lines and active transportation first, not as an afterthought.

Tests don’t cause disease but roads do cause car dependence.

Off topic but completely agree. Cities used to actually plan out roads and nieghbourhoods. Now they just zone large swathes of land and let the Mattamy of the development world decide our street grid. IMO this is one of the biggest issues we face with sprawl. Unfortunately our cities are surrounded by nieghbourhoods with meandering roads and cul-de-sacs which can never be fixed. Cities need to step up to the plate for future sprawl and develop properly planned grid networked subdivisions with mixed use "town Centres" that aren't just strip malls with a sea of parking. Which brings up another good point. Parking minimums need to be abolished as soon as possible if we want these areas to be walkable. All of this can be discussed on the Urban issues or urban design forum.

Although I am a complete urbanist and am lucky to live in a neighbourhood close to DT I am in favor of the HWY. This is also about moving goods as a lot of the manufacturing in both regions are interconnected.