Over the weekend, I drove through downtown Richmond, VA.
I don’t really like going downtown of any big city. They are typically busy and congested. Richmond is no different. As I drove through, I was trying to get in the right lane, watch for my turn, and avoid getting run over all at the same time. It was just too stressful.
But, I have a solution.
The big cities across the United States ought to change all of their inner city roads to two lanes—or at least four lanes.
It doesn’t make sense for these roads to be four wide! The towns were not built for that and, frankly, the cars really don’t fit. We just make them fit. As in Richmond’s case, the town was built to accommodate house carriages—not a NASCAR track.
Think of the revenue that would bring in, as visitors could actually slow down to see a museum—maybe even turn into the parking lot—without the flow of traffic dragging them down the street.
Think of the easy of stress that this would reduce in the city and bring down crime. What about those late to work, rushing to get there in time? After they’ve been fired a couple of times for showing up late—they will just have to learn to wake up earlier.
The city needs to simply limits these roads to two or four lanes and have everybody just slow down.
Wouldn’t that help everybody?