When “improving” a road means destroying everything that makes it pleasant
In this post I will talk about a Fresno road project in which the importance of moving traffic trumps the aesthetic charm of a local road, to the point that a residential neighborhood is being leveled to let commuters speed by on two new lanes.
—-
Fresno is lacking when it comes to good looking roads. This isn’t intended as a bash on Fresno, but just an observation that is painfully obvious to anyone who lives here or stops by to visit. Fact is, most of our main streets are exceptionally wide and bordered with parking lots and signs. It simply isn’t attractive.
The sad part is, aesthetics of our main travel-ways is not set in stone, but a result of a series of policy choices. What is sadder is that instead of recognizing this failure in design, local government is pushing for streets that do not conform to ugly standards to be “improved” so that they too can be wide and depressing.