A fully loaded tractor-trailer weighing 80,000 pounds traveling under ideal conditions at a speed of 65 miles per hour will take 525 feet to stop (almost the length of two football fields).
-- Utah Department of Transportation
I just don’t see how Spring Street can be changed to two-way after riding with Mike. It’s not a typical neighborhood street, it is a major thoroughfare through town. It just seems like it will be way too costly, and difficult, to change.
-- Chris Morris, Holiday Inn Express lifer
Chris Morris's "opinions" rarely surprise. We know he'll defend the status quo right down to the last at bat, but to make matters worse, he now has chosen to conflate criticism of his own persistent editorial ineptitude with an entire body of complete streets evidence that proves him mistaken, yet again.
Like most of you, Mike Pate goes to work every day. He doesn’t get caught up in political tug of wars or make personal attacks on social media sites against those who disagree with his views.
As always, the best way to deal with contrary evidence is to ignore it completely, and on this count, Morris succeeds. He hasn't tried to understand the transformative social impact of complete streets, or their proven record of advancing economic development and independent local business, or the way they boost quality of life in urban neighborhoods that were not built with interstates in mind.
Morris is found of saying he sees both sides. He just never presents the one that differs with his preconceived notions. Given the New Albany chain newspaper branch's consistent hostility to street grid modernity, perhaps we can petition the Jeffersonville office to send over a staffer, one who might be able to consider Jeff Speck's downtown street network proposals with an unjaundiced mind.
Wrong again
Why didn't Mr. Morris consider trying to cross the street with parents and children who're walking to neighborhood schools as well?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to have a pedestrian's perspective when you're four feet above the street in a big, safe steel-enclosed truck cab.
A more balanced news article might have been printed.