Where Does Traffic Come From and How Does It Get So Bad? 

Absolutely right, I like that saying! Everyone needs to take a look in the mirror instead of blaming everyone out the window. My new mic just arrived today too, so I hope to improve the audio!

Utah has its own culture. Big families, big houses, and big cars. The church keeps their members very busy going places to do things.

@@dogie1070 Utah, or the whole of North America? Countries with too much money who don't know economics or how to design cities properly.

@@dogie1070 that doesn't compute. Going places is easier on foot in walkable cities than driving in car cities. Before suburbs, people had 10 children per family. Cars are only big enough for 2 parents and 3 kids

lol that's how I got here

Reporting for duty!

Love it! I am a big NJB fan myself and am encouraged at how many fans there are!

I absolutely would love to see the federal government do more to incentivize alternative modes. It is tough to get drastic change on the federal level, but there is a lot that can be done on a local level (which is why I like working for a city). Right now I mostly keep hearing how the US government wants to incentivize electric cars. Electric cars may reduce point emissions (there are other externalities at play - such as what is the power source) but they do little to solve the problems that most plague our cities since electric cars need all the same big and expensive road systems as internal combustion engine powered cars.

What you want is to get the government out of development as much as possible. All the freeways and car centric development only exists because of all the free money enabling it and regulations mandating it. Those condos out of the middle of nowhere qualify for rural agricultural development fha loans, the road that services them was helped paid for by federal and state grants, the grocery store on the other side of town is mandated to be far away by local zoning. The entrance to the grocery store being so far away from the sidewalk is also due to minimum setback requirements, and the big parking lot that only gets close to being full the day before thanksgiving and Christmas is also due to minimum parking lot requirements mandated by the city.

@@Hans_Peterson I disagree. The government needs to be redirected in intent, not removed from the equation. The government's actions weren't decided from its own internal wisdom, people in the past WANTED everything you just described and demanded the government do that, and so it did. If we want to stop this folly, we must pressure the government to realize that the needs of the past are no longer wanted, and that we want something better.

@@Jeffur2 yeah redirecting the government would be better than the current situation.

@@Noam-Bahar In most areas in the US people just prefer to drive. We have passenger rail lines, but outside of the big eastern cities/eastern seaboard they operate at a big loss due to lack of interested passengers.

It’s not going to be easy to change how things are done here, but at least we can start creating awareness and somehow create some accountability!

@@bikequestwithmikewest nothing's gonna change, look at how fast the Utah valley is growing. At this point there's going to be an unbroken suburban sprawl starting from Capitol Hill and ending in Nehpi.

@@AsiaMinor12 there is some truth to this unfortunately, but there has been changes to development patterns and transportation design and funding over the past 10 years especially. The city I work for historically has developed primarily single family homes, but for 2021, building permits for multi-family units were issued at double the rate of single family. The State is funding more active transportation and has also budgeted $300 million towards transit - mostly to increase Frontrunner service to 15 minute headways. I see a lot of sprawl going in out there, but I do see some change in the right direction.

There is certainly a balance to be achieved! There is a need to transport goods by truck, street maintenance vehicles, etc. and some people do like their cars, even in the Netherlands. The problem is when the system is way out of balance and 90% of all transport is done by car. You can have a city that accommodates cars that is not auto-centric.

I wouldn't carry a ladder on a bike but a few 10 foot beams in 1 arm and on the steering wheel? Been there, done that! Was too much of a lovely sunny warm day to ruin with a cooking tin can. And ofc the Netherlands, where I can do this easy and safe.

Individual income built on shared expenses.

"Hey! If I don't abuse this resource, someone else will do!"

Thank you for the clarification, always appreciated! I got a little hung up on the end result of the over use of a public good, but you are absolutely right on how people will act in their own interest at the expense of the common good.

I wish that where I lived it was possible :( in Indiana there are a lot of roads that don't have side walks and constantly there are people walking on the roads

@@cencent2189 Dude youre getting there. We only started in the 70's with baby steps,and only now that old infrastructure is being replaced.

I wish I could have the same lifestyle! Hopefully someday it will be more possible here, but for now I get away with a car-lite lifestyle. I ride my bike and take transit as much as possible even when it is less convenient. You learn a lot about what needs to improve and how to do it when you experience the streets every day out of a car.

@@Noam-Bahar No not really brave,just lucky that in my lifetime good infrastructure was laid out. Im not a spandex racer just a single dad.

How do you buy alcohol?

Great comment! I have heard and watched videos of an American driving in the Netherlands as well who would agree that it is better to drive there. Here in Utah, our roads are like the wild west since so many people break traffic laws and our traffic congestion is exponentially getting worse. Our state has also been rated as one of the states in the US with the worst drivers! That is why I like using our light rail system and riding my bike as far from traffic as I can! (Although can be difficult to do since we don’t have a fully cohesive and separated bike network)

You’re definitely right on that! You don’t have the steel cage of safety to protect you if you’re walking or biking, in that respect you really do have to worry about traffic. I guess my comment was aimed at not having to wait through congestion in your car since that is what so many people complain to me about.

I didn't like the example because it made the car plant bloom, but with your addition it's perfect!

I have done that before and rotted the roots! It is true that overwatering the car plant will just end up making traffic worse due to induced demand and the fact there are no other viable options. Great addition to the idea!

@@sanderw7153 I went back and forth when making the video on which plant I was going to make the can water. I chose to show what currently happens in auto-centric cities to show why many people don’t currently use other modes of travel too often. I certainly hope to start using the can on the other plants! The other plants might just be more drought tolerant too and more efficiently use the water compared to the car plant 😃

Great comment! I know London has some pretty severe traffic congestion (probably makes Utah look like a breeze!) but it is possible to get around there without a car. Here along the Wasatch Front, about 85-90% of all trips are currently done by car. According to the Deloitte mobility index (www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/4331_Deloitte-City-Mobility-Index/London_GlobalCityMobility_WEB.pdf) London sees about 37% of trips done by car. Can you even fathom what traffic in London would be like if 85-90% of trips were done by car?! There will always be a demand for driving there, but an equilibrium is hit for many people where walking and transit make more sense than driving. If traffic was suddenly reduced, you would likely have people driving more often, but then of course that would induce travel demand and take things right back to congestion. Thanks again for watching and sharing!

Rich people will endure every pain to show off. Discouragement? I prefer outright bans for innocence vehicles. If we make it painful, the poor will be hurt more than the rich. If we make it illegal for the rich to drive, the poor benefit. Don't be soft on unnecessary traffic makers.

Absolutely! We all have to look in the mirror and see ourselves as traffic and not just blame everyone else!

Thanks for the support!!

We North Americans are the originators of car-centric development and sure know how to design cities for cars! The challenge is trying to bring things back into balance and creating more multi-modal and equitable cities. In practice it is not easy challenging car-centric policies and mind sets, but I celebrate our wins and keep pushing for a better future!

Thanks so much for the continued support! I love hearing about your ebike and that you are helping make our cities better! I hope more people will do the same as you. I am the same as you and I am always happy to use my bike to get around. I also just like to keep away from cars and prefer riding on separated bike paths. The good news for Utah is there are many more great bike paths to come and I hope the State continues to fund more active transportation and transit infrastructure!

Thank you! I really hope to keep creating awareness and especially help along the Wasatch Front!

That sounds amazing to have all that so close by! I haven’t been to Warsaw before but I have seen a video about some of the development boom happening there in the city center. We build cities kind of dumb here in North America and force ourselves to have to drive most places, at least if you can afford a car. I hope to see some places here start to do better, although many will unfortunately be stuck in an auto-centric spread out environment for the foreseeable future.

It definitely doesn’t have to be an attack on cars, in fact, driving is better if we can manage traffic better!

Yes, not like Not Just Bikes

Thank you!! It is going to be nice to be able to walk or bike to the store there! I’m sure I will see you around there too 😃

Thank you so much! I like your youtube name too 😃

Absolutely! I hope to see a shift to VMT as our traffic engineering metric, that would bring on a whole different approach to city and transportation planning. Thanks for continuing to come back and supporting the channel!

Thank you! I hope to keep improving too!

Thank you so much for the comment and support! The channel is still in its infancy, so hopefully over time the reach will spread and the videos will keep improving!

I have loved seeing how many people along the Wasatch Front watch this and other channels about trying to push for better city planning!

The problem is that the Karens of the world don't care. Their mind is already made up that high density housing and not widening the highways (like the last 4 times they did so) are the problem. You can't convince them otherwise. Hopefully videos like this will eventually educate enough of the public to stop the madness. But I've been advocating for this too long to think it will ever change.

@@gromm93 You probably have to explain it to them without calling them "Karens"...

@@clobberelladoesntreadcomme9920 I couldn't remember the K name that OP used. Not that it matters. Because that's totally what he meant anyway. He knows, just as I do, that there can be no explanation that will work.

It is definitely counterintuitive since people generally think “wider roads handle more cars”. Many don’t understand the true consequences of what actually happens with road widening, but I hope more and more people catch on, especially those making the decisions!

^ Yes! This is a great video, but I bet it could get a lot more popular if the sound quality was nice. Even just a regular mic in a room that isn’t so echo-y would go a long way

Definitely working to clean up the sound for future videos! Thanks for watching too!

@@bikequestwithmikewest You don't need sound dampening on your walls. The key is to take a few min to record some test audio, listen, and experiment to get the best results.

That is because the Netherlands actually does it right and has a true multi-modal system of transportation! It doesn’t have to be that bad, but sprawling auto-centric cities keep digging their hole.

Take a short look at my city of Tirana. What would you say would be the best solution to fix the congestion?

Sure thing! I have found my personal experience to be both rewarding and, at times, frustrating. I have certainly had a positive impact on the way the city develops, implementing more bike paths, working to get some mixed use development/TODs, and a connected local street network. You don’t get a magic wand to do whatever you want (unlike the belief of some residents) since there are many stakeholders involved and the town council makes all the decisions. The frustrating part is the resistance you sometimes meet trying to implement good planning principles. Although I am not all-knowing and there is always something new to learn as a planner, I do my best to help educate the council, planning commissioners, and residents on good planning principles and what it may look like in a particular city. In my day to day job I review development proposals, answer questions on the phone, work on long-range plans for the city, meet with people and developers to discuss what can be done with their property, much cut propose Code amendments, and many others! I also hope do a video at some point on what it is like to be a city planner. One last thing I will say, you need thick skin working at a city! It is impossible to please everyone with every decision, but you tend to have some upset residents! Thanks for watching and the field can always use more great planners that strive to implement great planning principles!

I love it and do the same!

I just took a look at Bracknell on google maps, and from a quick glance it does have a fairly well connected network of bike paths which is nice! If driving is more convenient, then it will be tough for biking to compete as a mode of travel. Increased traffic can change that over time! That is what I love about many of the cities in the Netherlands, they purposefully made primary roads go around built up areas but bike paths go straight through so they are faster and more direct. Thanks for watching!

@@bikequestwithmikewest I live in the Netherlands an a had a family member in the city of Almere (also the Netherlands) what is a relative new city that was built to make it more difficult for cars and better for walking and biking. From his house to the city center was about 10 minutes by car (on roads with a lot of turning, speed bumps and other uncomfortable things) and than you had to park your car in a parking garage an had to walk a few minutes, 3 minutes by bike and a 10 minutes walk. You can imagine, he never used his car to go to the city center. But if the city is already there it is much harder to implement changes to make the infrastructure worse for cars because lot of people will oppose to it. In my hometown they put some 'road blocks' in some streets, so cars cannot pass anymore (but bikes and buses can) but it took a while, because a lot of people where against it. I love it, because now there are less cars on my route to the city center, it feels a lot safer now.

@@XxXx-Evo thanks for sharing! I have learned how places like Houten were specifically designed as you said, with ring roads and a priority on alternative travel modes through the city center. It is so true though that it can be difficult to change things after the fact. I find that people are averse to change, but when change happens, people can be very adaptable. That is easier to say than do when you are a city planner talking to unhappy residents!

There are places that are doing things like congestion pricing, rethinking parking standards, reallocating funding priorities, etc. I have heard that places like Minneapolis are starting to rethink how they do their transportation planning too and are prioritizing more transit and active transportation. It definitely takes some time to start seeing the results of those efforts, and cities need to take it one step at a time but while maintaining a long range focus and vision. It definitely takes some good and consistent political will! Unfortunately many places don’t start considering changes until things are already really bad.

That looks like an exit ramp from I-15 around thanksgiving point, that sign is for the car traffic

@@birdrocket ahh thanks, seeing how the signs are next to the bike path and not the actual road caused some confusion for me.

@@codex4046 You can probably get an idea of the indented audience by looking at the scale. The sign here is very large and high, meant to be seen from a long distance, whereas if it were meant for cyclists I would assume they would be much smaller and on eye level.

@@birdrocket exactly right! The beauty is two-way active transportation travel and only one-way for vehicles on the frontage roads. It creates more options for biking and walking, which is needed to become anywhere near as competitive as a travel choice compared to cars.

@@ProfessordevilL definitely right! Although I laugh because that same trail has yield signs for the bike path that were also at a height for viewing by cars. That’s what you get when contractors and engineers who typically design and build roads, build the trail!

She's probably a daughter of Karen

@@TheKitMurkit definitely the daughter 😂

Thanks for coming along for the ride, I hope you will like what I have planned!

I love it!! Keep up the spamming haha and get others to join you! Someday someone will get in there with some better sense and an idea that you can still have cars in a safe and truly multi-modal city if you choose. I work for the government and I spam all my coworkers and neighboring governments with this kind of info. Now I am hoping to spread the word with this channel!

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for some tactical urbanism with some impromptu bike lanes

It applies to most. Here in Australia, things are very similar to the USA. Luckily some urban planners are beginning to see the light. Recently a nearby town rebuild their shopping mall area. Instead of widening the roads and creating multiple entrances to the parking lots. They narrowed to road, turned it into a street, with parking on both sides. Then brought the street up to the same level as the sidewalks. Now, people happily walk there assured the slower moving cars are more likely to stop when they cross the street

That is true. That's why we have traffic jams here in the Netherlands as well. The difference is here they last for about an hour in the morning and in the evening , and just in a few places and where there's been accidents. Increasing capacity where the traffic jams are most frequent does create new ones down the route through induced demand here as well. The real win ultimately isn't in shorter travel times, but in more beautifull cities, more sustainable and healthy lifestyles, more equality as people without a car can fully participate in society. The car was invented to improve our lives. The ultimate lesson is it does so best in moderation.

I definitely would like to do a video sometime dedicated to land use! It is where the city truly starts and determines what forms of transport will work and be convenient. I wish we saw more true mixed use neighborhood centers around that allow for an easy and peaceful walk to some services, stores, employment, and restaurants.

I will admit I will go to them sometimes too, but mostly by bike! My favorite is the looks on people’s faces when I take my bike through the drive thru 😂

@@Noam-Bahar I actually filmed one of my ride throughs and might have to use it for a video sometime!

I like the way you say that, let’s clean our cities! I absolutely love and advocate for residential and commercial mixed use, a city has to get land use right to really support micromobility modes and transit. Though in my experience as a planner, many vocal residents perceive residential and commercial as oil and water which can drive the local land use decisions of a city which is quite sad. Many don’t understand the true way to mitigate traffic impact is to ensure other modes of travel are generally safe and convenient, which requires more mixed and compact land uses. We need not be afraid of doing things better I say!

Thanks so much for sharing! I took a look around using your google link, and it is quite awful! There are definitely gaps in the sidewalk network and even apartments right next to that mall don’t have a direct sidewalk providing walkable access; rather the design forces a pedestrian to use the same entrance as cars. It is a complete auto-centric design. Sidewalks are an afterthought and the roads dominate. There is a narrow bike lane along Sugarloaf Pkwy, but I don’t know who in their right mind would enjoy using it. The bike lanes are put right in the clear zone of the roadway, which is designed to provide forgiveness to high-speed traffic. It is never a good idea to put vulnerable people in an area designed for high-speed traffic to veer into. Your situation is sadly all too common in the US. Even when locations are in pretty easy walking or biking distance, people drive because of how unsafe and stressful it is to walk along and cross high speed roads. They create barriers and really force people to drive, thus making traffic worse. Even worse is that an auto-centric design forgets about anyone that can’t drive or can’t afford to drive. I’m just saying that a place is so much better when our youth can walk or bike safely where they need to go (frees up parents from needing to chauffeur their kids all the time) and our older generations and those with physical and cognitive limitations can still be integrated into society when they can no longer drive places. To me, making a city walkable, bikable, and transit supportive is about creating a livable, safe, equitable, sustainable, and healthy city. A car is a tool that should be used when necessary, but just like in your situation, walking or biking could be the right tool if the infrastructure was designed to make it safe, comfortable, and convenient. Your last comment about biking home and turning left shows the need for intuitive infrastructure as well. I have an upcoming video where I am riding my cargo bike and pose the same question. The design must make it easy and predictable for people walking and biking to know where they should go and how to turn through intersections. I see that your channel is named after the famed Toyota Supra. I have found that even those who are auto enthusiasts can appreciate a more livable city. I admittedly grew up loving cars and not really knowing any different. I know better now and strive to make cities better for everyone. Even auto enthusiasts could enjoy more livable and multi-modal cities; because even they can enjoy walking and biking, as well as appreciate dealing with fewer drivers on the road that don’t truly care about driving in the first place. Thanks again for watching and for the great comment.

​@@bikequestwithmikewest ​ I really appreciate your time to respond to me! I've been reading a lot in regard to urban planning/development and road design based on the folks I follow on RU-vid. Books like Strong Towns, Walkable Cities, and Curbing Traffic really helped open my eyes to the world that we live in and the world we should have had... And yes, I made my channel after the Supra because I own one! Nice to drive and I made videos on it (I've privated them all because I got some weirdos figuring out where I lived to see my car based on my uploads). I've commuted to college with my Supra from home every day for a year (1 hour one way) and it was brutal. I always hate commuting, especially in Atlanta where traveling anywhere in the city requires a car... I look forward to seeing more of your videos!

@@BPEKSupraInteractive thank you for the encouragement! I used to drive to school before I got into planning and similarly took me 45-60 minutes to drive with traffic. Things were better when one of our new light rail lines opened and I could ride it to school and get homework done on the way! I also have owned a few different cars and got to drive things like a Lamborghini and McLaren. As much fun as that was, there is something to be said about living in a city that doesn’t force you to have to drive everywhere and how enjoyable it is to walk and bike places with proper infrastructure and city design. You are reading some great books too, keep it up!

I definitely love to watch all the Not Just Bikes videos! You’re right, downtown Houston and the inner suburbs were bulldozed for the car, and the later suburbs were designed purposefully for the car. Houston, as well as many other American cities, had vibrant, compact, and mixed use downtowns that were later torn up for highways and parking. Some cities have yet to resolve their auto-centric past, but others like Denver, are removing parking lots and infilling with development. Thanks for watching

Exactly! Even if people just drive their vehicles less often, it means there are fewer out on the streets.

I wouldn’t doubt it, especially federal funding priority influenced by the big 3 automakers!

I’m not sure how I feel about UDOT’s position on that! Circulating heavily trafficked roads around built up areas is a good thing so you don’t bisect the city and neighborhoods. Making more highways and wider is just going to invite more people to drive and cost the state a lot more money in capital and ongoing maintenance costs. If we want people to walk and bike more, we need to rethink funding and design prioritizations. Thanks for the comment and for watching!

@@bikequestwithmikewest yeah i think udot views are complete nonsense. They’re a kleptocratic government bureaucracy. Now that they have finished all the new freeway stuff at the point of the mountain and traffic is unsurprisingly still the same, they have now had the epiphany of implementing a BRT system to and from the lehi front runner station. Udot has been redoing that area as long as I can remember. Why do things right the first time when you can keep spending tax payer dollars to fix your bad designs every 3-5 years and then do it right when all other bad design choices have been exhausted.

That problem was just taken care of as I just ordered a better mic 😃 I should have invested in that before this video, but I will keep trying to improve the quality of this channel!

@@bikequestwithmikewest That’s great, and I really liked this video either way. I look forward to your next video

@@bikequestwithmikewest I wanted to say the same Thing. If you should need help with options drop a note, otherwise I'm glad you're addressing it as afaik that severly limits your reach (which should be higher). Cheers from Germany!

@@Jacksparrow4986 thank you for the offer, I am always open to ideas to improve! I did buy a new mic and tried some dampening in my recording area. I hope the next video will be better, but I am always ears if you have any suggestions! By the way, it is awesome having you watch from Germany!

@@bikequestwithmikewest we have some amount of traffic and a fair amount of ideological politicians that still see anything taken away from cars as an direct assault on freedom and mobility of poor people. Often they are the ones that care the least about freedom and poor people. So we sort of have the same issues here.

I have seen many videos of traffic there, and it is true that Utah traffic has nothing on traffic and driving in India!

Less likely does not equal will not use the car. And laziness is not an American thing, it is quite common all over the world, but I think some countries are less car centric than the US.