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I’ve recently been watching some vintage footage of major U.S. cities and couldn’t help but notice the lack of traffic and congestion in many of these videos. Here are some examples from the 1970s and 80s where the person filming is just breezing through areas now known for heavy traffic. Here the streets and highways look almost empty compared to today.
I’m sure traffic jams occurred at times, but is it true that back in those days the roads were not nearly as crammed as today? If so, when did it start getting so bad?
Minneapolis never looked too bad at the beginning of Mary Tyler Moore.
Places like Atlanta have exploded in population since the ‘80s. Even LA is bigger. Which means people live further out and have to drive longer to commute. NYC is probably the most stable population and footprint-wise, ie the traffic is probably closest now to what it was then.
NYC has always had bad traffic. Traffic jams on the LIE at 2am were never uncommon. Also LA had awful traffic back in the 80's as well. It was labeled the "Land of Cars" back then for a reason.
Say in 1980 you have 100 people using 10 freeways... thats 10 people per freeway.
However, in 2000, you now have 130 people using 11 freeways, thats 11.8 people per freeway.
Now in 2022, you have 160 people using 12 freeways, thats 13.5 people per freeway.
These are just random, not statistically based numbers I am using, but you get the point. Most of our freeway infrastructure occurred in the 50s - 70s, so by 1980 we had almost the same amount of highways being used, with far less people on them. We have grown significantly population wise, especially in/around cities where there been little/no freeway improvement, making highways more clogged/travelled.
We also know that traffic is logarithmic past it's capacity. If a highway's capacity is 10,000 vehicles per day, and it sees 20,000 vehicles per day, the traffic won't 'double'. The traffic will be exponentially higher. I think that is what we are seeing here in our pre-1970s cities like New York, LA, Boston, Chicago, DC and Philadelphia. The metropolitan areas have grown 25-50% since 1980, with a slight improvement increase in freeway capacity, which has made traffic exponentially worse over time. That 35% increase in population over 10 years, is probably a 100%+ increase in traffic/congestion. Throw in we are getting no help in public transportation, and boom, congestion.
So to summarize
-Population increased far more than the freeway construction has since 1980. More people using highways per capita.
-Traffic grows exponentially. A 40% increase in population will be a far greater increase/strain on highways.
-People returned to denser areas, where there has been very few infrastructure improvements. Suburbs sprawled too. Meaning more people are going from out to in. More urban sprawl, more people in and around the core, all people are driving, will make the core of X city even worse than the other areas of the city.
-Decrease in public transit use.
Last edited by masssachoicetts; 08-18-2022 at 07:35 AM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It depends on when the videos were taken. I commuted from Castro Valley CA to Oakland CA 1978-1992 and it was always nasty and backed up on the freeway at commute times. I remember driving from LAX to Anaheim, CA about 1985 at 10:30pm and the freeway was like a parking lot, not accident or anything, just a lot of cars. Here in the Seattle area it got worse with Microsoft campus expansion in the 1990s, and again worse yet when Amazon moved to South Lake Union, but since Covid and work from home, it's been better.
I remember coming back from Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows Queens in 1986, when the Cross Bronx Expressway was jammed, at 11:30 pm. We didn't move for at least an hour. At some point, I walked out of the car, to pier into the distance to see if I could make out anything, and at that point, the car behind me also got out of his car with the same intention. We started making small talk, and the next thing you know, he pops open a cold beer in his ice chest and offered me one. I gladly accepted, and we proceeded to converse for about 15 minutes. We finished our beer, spoke a little while longer, and then the traffic finally started to plod along. This was just before the Southern Boulevard overpass, headed west to New Jersey. I even remember the location. I was kicking myself after that, thinking there was no earthly way that road was going to jammed, much less for that long. With no traffic, it's a little shorter of a drive from the stadium to NJ to take the Whitestone Bridge, but after that incident, I vowed to do forever, what I previously did, which is to take the Grand Central Parkway to Randalls, and then Harlem River Drive up to the apartments. Harlem River Drive usually gets off cheaper than the Major Deegan. But the Cross Bronx, Major Deegan, Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the Long Island Expressway, and Northern and Southern State Parkways have historically been parking lots. My dad told me once that the LIE was an instant parking lot after it opened in 1960. In New Jersey, again, growing up, every major highway with no intersections at grade was absolutely awful. Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike, I-80, I-287, name your poision. Bumper to bumper.
I am so glad I am free of that. Never to put up with any of that ever again.
NYC has always had bad traffic. Traffic jams on the LIE at 2am were never uncommon. Also LA had awful traffic back in the 80's as well. It was labeled the "Land of Cars" back then for a reason.
I've read 19th century books that complain about the traffic on London streets, with horse-drawn vehicles, trams, hand carts, pedestrians, and equestrians all competing for space.
I was born in 1969 and can recall being driven through various parts of the LA metro as early as the mid-1970s, and and it is correct that there was already very bad traffic then. There were fewer cars then, sure, but there were also fewer lanes on the roads and freeways. Who knows what day the LA video posted above was filmed. It could have been on a holiday, when freeways can be even emptier than that.
Traffic increased starting in 1946 when gas rationing ended and they restarted making cars.
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