Hope you get your sidewalks! Recently I was talking to someone from the states who told me that in some (or most) states public transport and therefore walking/biking, is not really encouraged by the existing infrastructure.
I've never been, but that would definitely be a culture shock to me, since I expect a country like that to have those kinds of facilities all taken care of.
Just recently (ok maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago) seen a video where they explain how USA got their infrastructure built towards car owners and how pedestrians got the grunt of it. I'll have to find it and share it.
There are some good YouTube channels that talk about it. A lot of USAers don't seem to realize how it doesn't have to be this way and all the usual excuses we hear are bunk because it doesn't seem to be a problem in other countries that used to say the same things. I like the channel Not Just Bikes because it's a guy from Canada (which is similar to the US in this matter) who moved to the Netherlands and he talks about how North America's infrastructure is unsafe and terrible and how the Netherlands used to be the same but in the 70s they decided to change it and now it's super great for pedestrians and bicyclists.
I've indeed seen videos comparing the US infrastructure to that of some parts of Europe. Some even made a valid point that somewhere in history, USA had the chance to change the infrastructure because of city remodeling.
It is literally anti-anything but cars here. With rare exceptions like New York. It is very difficult to live without a car, especially in the west, where everything is far apart and built for cars.
We used to have trams in Denver like 100 years ago, and they GOT RID OF THEM. We only started having trams again recently, and it's a terrible system that is set up only for suburbanites who OWN CARS to park at a train station, get on the train, and commute into downtown or the tech center so they don't have to pay for parking or get stuck in traffic. They are NOT built for actual pedestrians/bicyclists/bus riders.
The land use is part of the problem ...getting anywhere FROM a train station? Nowhere near grocery stores, workplaces, schools, etc. Those are literally miles away. With no sidewalks or bike paths in between.
Yeah, so because the new york public transport system is always a thing in pop-culture, I grew up thinking it was like that everywhere in the US.
The car-centric situation you describe sounds a lot like my own country Suriname.
It is understandable though, that separate states can't come to one particular public transit system. Since they operate like individual countries in many ways, with different laws, people and views. Not to mention the large area of land that needs to be covered, compared any European country, or Japan for example. The trams are a start.
California is finally building a high speed railway, and it's compared to the very first one in Japan (that they built in the 70s I think?). It's taking longer and more money than initially expected, like a lot of projects do, but I hope it's a success and maybe we can finally get more trains all over the country. We could conceivably have one here in Colorado too, as most of our major cities are in a straight line north to south just east of the mountains, you could just link them all up next to the highway that is there simple enough.
Bureaucracy and projects like this take lots of time, unfortunately.
Would be great if they have connections like that in place when I eventually visit the states. So I don't have to fly multiple times, or travel by car for hours. Although, that's also an experience in itself, for a tourist.
I once told a friend in England about a road trip we had taken from Colorado to Louisiana where we drove for 36 hours straight (taking turns, not stopping to sleep) and we didn't even touch either coast. He was like, "If I drove for 36 hours straight I'd be in Turkey!!!" LOL So yeah, a road trip is an experience!
!lol, try Aruba. You can go from one point of the island to another in about an hour. I was there with my family for 7 days, and we literally saw every corner of that country.
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