Share your stroad horror stories! And please forgive the overexposed footage. I'm still working out the kinks on a new camera 😬

@AntonWongVideo

2 жыл бұрын

I think it's your software's default colour space clashing with that of your camera. Usually, overexposed images increase the luminance of the black parts of the image and increase noise. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. It just seems oversaturated. I've had the same issue before and had to adjust the color space I was viewing on my PC I sent you an Instagram DM

@theKovenant1

2 жыл бұрын

From your neighbour to the north in Edmonton, the most obvious comparison is Calgary Trail / Gateway Blvd. However for me personally, Fort Road north of the Yellowhead as it turns into Manning Drive is a pain in my life. I live roughly 1 Km from an LRT station and this bad stroad makes me incredibly nervous when I bike there.

@pengcreations7413

2 жыл бұрын

Anton Wong video is probably right. I have a feeling it has something to do with filming HLG. Happy to help you find a solution. You put so much effort in your videos it’s a pity a camera setting would get in the way.

@adune23

2 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/p516zcGYd9XZpJs.html This is my reality for much of the winter. Archibald Stroad in Winnipeg has an incredible multiuse pathway that's atrociously maintained in the winter. As a result, I'm forced to either walk my bike through snow drifts, or cycle on the road.

@Teapot-Dave

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Tom. Don't worry about the overexposed footage. There is nothing you could have done to make the stroad look any better. 😉

In US suburbs, this is literally all that exists. 5 lane "stroads", with cars going up to 55mph, with no bike lanes, only sidewalks with cracks and holes, and barely any crosswalks

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

So many here in Canada too, but they make no sense. Bad for drivers. Bad for cyclists. Bad for pedestrians. Bad for business.

@austinhernandez2716

2 жыл бұрын

@@Shifter_Cycling I agree, it's bad for literally everyone. It's designed for cars but ironically it's terrible for cars too

@oniontoast8036

2 жыл бұрын

In some states, you're lucky if there are ANY sidewalks!

@TheSpaceBrosShow

2 жыл бұрын

@@oniontoast8036 OR the sidewalks will just randomly stop and resume on the other side of said 6+ lane stroad that you now have to cross

@austinhernandez2716

2 жыл бұрын

@@oniontoast8036 That's Georgia for you. Even some of the main roads in the city don't have sidewalks. That's how it was when I first went to a small college in Tifton, GA. The main road is a highway without sidewalks. You have to walk through the parking lots.

7:53 That's a great example! "If car traffic is so good for business why are there so many vacancies along this stroad?!?"

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

The ultimate irony, perhaps!

@gerritvalkering1068

2 жыл бұрын

I'm sure some apologist economist will point to a declining economy and the inherent vulnerability of outlying areas, completely ignoring that these places were vacant during times of economic prosperity too. What boggles my mind is that, surely, some of the people designing the stroads have been on vacation to Europe or Asia. And they probably came home and talked about the bazaar, and those little shopping alleys, and how they didn't need a car because they could walk everything. Then they go back to work and design another stroad. Obviously, the marvelous experience that enriches hundreds, thousands, ten thousands of cities and towns would never work in the US.

@Teapot-Dave

2 жыл бұрын

@@gerritvalkering1068 Or the UK. We've got some truly awful road/stroad monstrosities here too. We've had a hundred years or so of motorised traffic chaos and carnage on the roads, but they never seem to learn from it.

@swedneck

2 жыл бұрын

@@gerritvalkering1068 also like, maybe if we're in a time of decline we could do something to fix that? But nope just let things keep falling apart around the cars i guess

@jloveys

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I was happy to hear this false equivalency haha

Saw this video thumbnail and immediately thought "Oh this is probably going to be about Macleod trail." Lo and behold it was.

@themeatshow

2 жыл бұрын

I went to U of C with a guy who commuted in from Airdrie and one day he was telling a story about driving in Calgary. He didn't know road names so he said "I was on uhh, you know, the big dirty one" and three other people in the room in unison immediately said "Macleod Trail".

I moved to Calgary two months ago from Groningen, in the Netherlands, and I was a bit shocked when I borrowed my roommate's bike and was almost killed twice. I've cycled in some pretty rough places, in the commuter belt near London, in Berlin's suburbs, around Xi'an and even for a little bit on the M25 motorway, but I have to say that I have never felt less safe than cycling in rush hour along 17th South. It's so soul-crushing to see this amazing, vibrant street full of interesting bars and restaurants rendered pretty much inaccessible, even to pedestrians. Cars jump red lights all the time, the pavements are for some reason never de-iced properly, you can't cross unless at a light which you wait at for minutes at a time.

@grahambonner508

2 жыл бұрын

If you cycled on the M25 you're lucky you weren't arrested.

@AlbertaTrackside

2 жыл бұрын

If you enjoy pleasure cycling (vs. just for getting places), then you should absolutely check out the Bow River Pathway between the Peace bridge and Edworthy park once the weather warms up.

@johanwittens7712

2 жыл бұрын

@@AlbertaTrackside He's dutch. They cycle to get from A to B, not for pleasure. A trail like that is pretty, but also mostly pointless if it doesn't move people. What's the point of an isolated trail if you almost get killed cycling to get there every time, or if people get there by strapping their bike to their car and then only cycle there at location for recreation? Cycling should be an integral, safe, viable alternative to get around the city. Recreational trails are pointless if they cant be used to commute too.

@Cobalt985

2 жыл бұрын

I live near there, and it's quite interesting that you make this comparison because I've been genuinely considering moving to the Netherlands to escape exactly what you're talking about...

@grahvis

2 жыл бұрын

@@johanwittens7712 . I strongly suspect those who criticise cycling infrastructure while claiming they are also cyclists, only cycle on recreational trails and don't use a bike as a form of transport. A bit like those who claim they can't be racist because they have a black friend.

Holy crap evidently I have a black belt in stroads. I've ridden in terrible US cities for years and my ride style is one big link up of parking lots, alleys, sidewalks, grass, vacant lots, and a greenway here and there if I'm lucky. I ride a hardtail MTB because it's the only thing that will survive

@ReallyNoAlex

2 жыл бұрын

Same although I’ve found a gravel bike is somewhat more tolerable

@indigowendigo8464

2 жыл бұрын

@@ReallyNoAlex a gravel bike will be my next bike

@KermitOfWar

2 жыл бұрын

@@indigowendigo8464 I had to buy some carbon wheels for my gravel bike, because my front wheel kept breaking spokes & going out of true every week because of the potholes & rough terrain.

@indigowendigo8464

2 жыл бұрын

@@KermitOfWar I can patch a tube in ten minutes these days. And that's counting the 5 minutes to let the glue set up lol. Yeah the roads are pretty bad

@KermitOfWar

2 жыл бұрын

@@indigowendigo8464 I never use glue on my patches, tho, rubber cement would count as an adhesive. Usually, just a sticky rubber seal with rubber cement is all that's required for an easy patch. Rubber cement dries quickly, but cures in like 24 hours, depending on temperature. What kind of glue do you use on your tubes, when patching?

We've been building our cities based around the movement of cars for decades and it's a nightmare.

@timdowney6721

2 жыл бұрын

Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting better results.

@crytocc

2 жыл бұрын

Arguably, not even that; in the Netherlands, for example, car movement is actually *more* efficient than in the US!

@azathoththe3rd

Жыл бұрын

It's intentionally designed to force people to have to have a car. If your town or city is mostly stroads you have no other choice bit to have a car

@intellectualrebel5340

Жыл бұрын

​@@azathoththe3rd or a motorcycle

Bike shops on a route you can only really access via cars annoy me. It's like slapping a sign up that says "These things are toys, you need to take them somewhere else to use, oh btw you need a rack too" Fully realize in a lot of North America that's the only place you can locate them due to commercial zoning, but still friggin sucks.

@jeffparker1617

2 жыл бұрын

my local bike shop just relocated to a strip mall on a stroad, the city's bike path ends near it, but now to get to the bike shop you can be on the shoulder of an 80km/h stroad or weave through a bunch of parking lots :(

@planepower8523

2 жыл бұрын

Ironic that you mention this.... here in Edmonton, id say 2 bike shops are located in pedestrian friendly areas. Areas that see people walking and enjoying scenery without the noise of the city. Id imagine it has to do with economics. A friendly place for people to wander and shop will be more expensive vs a hostile stroad, where shoppers only come for specific needs and by car.

@tthomas184

2 жыл бұрын

These type of bike shops mostly sell high end road and mountain bikes to suburban customers who use them for recreation. Bike commuting? What's that?

@christophermorin9036

2 жыл бұрын

My city doesn't even HAVE a bike shop anymore. It closed down because no one was buying or using $600 bikes. The closest one to me is two towns over.

@derekparsons3363

2 жыл бұрын

All my local bike shops are accessible via my bike, but most of my roads aren't ideal riding.

I like the Not Just Bikes stroad videos, and I enjoyed the City Nerd stroad videos, but this is the best stroad video! You've really captured what noisy, awful places they are. Also, a great job exposing the 'cars are good for business' fiction. The businesses on stroads are mostly places that survive by offering discount prices. Then there's the empty buildings where even that wasn't enough.

@grahvis

2 жыл бұрын

It is a strange idea that a person driving at 50mph, is going to spot an interesting business and think, I'll just pullover and have a look at what they've got.

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

Don't forget that Strong Towns - the people who coined the term - has a YT channel. The videos are often very simple, but also very clear.

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

People think "cars are good for business" because there is almost no place left that's walkable. Cars really are good for business because we've left ourselves no alternatives.

I can understand why businesses fail on stroads. I get so anxious driving to those premises, having to slow down to locate them annoying drivers behind me and then the effort of getting back onto the stroad after doing business, So I avoid those places and aim to go to ones that are easy to access.

@spiderpickle3255

Жыл бұрын

Same. I especially hate having to make a left turn out of a parking lot onto a stroad and have gone out of my way to a completely different location just to avoid one stroad for another that wasn't quite as bad.

I feel like I can literally feel my blood pressure rising when I bike on a busy road with no good and safe bicycle alternatives.

@brian2510

2 жыл бұрын

I usually bike on back roads to get me places where I need to go. It's much more safe!

@Droxal

2 жыл бұрын

@@brian2510 I wish that was an option. I have to cross a busy highway to get to work ... where the only option to cross is to use other busy roads with no sidewalks. It's honestly horrifying.

How did anyone ever thinks that stroads were a good idea to implement? They are just an assault to all of your senses at the same time. Well done Tom for surviving to the end!

@Tokahfang

2 жыл бұрын

FWIW, I don't think most stroads start off with the intention to be that way. They are often either roads that get built up alongside, or streets that get endlessly widened. At least the ones around me are that way. Ours mostly exist in what use to be the "in between" of the small areas of civilization that existed here, before it became a big metro area.

@Teapot-Dave

2 жыл бұрын

@@Tokahfang You maybe right with some of the older versions, but they are still an abomination to behold. We tend to blindly copy the US here in the UK "ooh the Americans have done this so we will look cool if we do it too", so as a result we have got some truly awful stroads going to new "out of town" shopping messes.

@tduva

2 жыл бұрын

​@@Tokahfang That reminds me of playing Cities: Skylines or SimCity. Starting with small streets and a few buildings, maybe even planning for separate roads so that the through traffic is kept out of the neighbourhood. But after growing those small streets suddenly become congested with traffic and became major roads while still being right next to businesses and houses. And due to limited space the areas next to the separated through roads became occupied with buildings as well. So both the streets and the roads became stroads. I doubt these games simulate all the problems of a stroad, but pollution and congestion due to a lot of intersections certainly doesn't help there either. Now, I'm probably just bad at these games, but it's weird how actual city planners in real life appear to be making similar mistakes.

@johnathin0061892

2 жыл бұрын

Most developed organically, they were not designed that way. They usually started off as highways outside of cities/towns, then businesses opened up along them (often to serve the travelers)... the traffic increases, they widen the road, more business, then other adjacent development and the city expands out, more traffic and so it goes.

@reneharde3459

Жыл бұрын

My guess is that post-WWII auto industry lobbying and sales pressure pushed stroad development at the expense of alternative transportation - GM was found guilty in the 60's of subverting the nascent Rochester subway system, and given a slap on the wrist, if that...

Like others, I immediately thought of MacLeod trail when I saw the title, it's a terrible space for cars, bikes and pedestrians alike. I used to drive a taxi in Calgary, now I a bicycle courier in London England. It's not the most bike friendly town, but it's getting slowly better. At least cycling here is recognised as a form of transport, rather than just a leisure activity like in YYC.

Somehow, in my heart, I knew before even clicking on this video that it was gonna be about MacLeod trail. There used to be an excellent hobby shop along there, next to the 50th ave intersection, but they closed down a number of years ago due to a lack of business. The space they occupied is still boarded up several years later, and ever since they packed up, I've avoided that god-forsaken strip of asphalt like the plague. They closed down before I could drive on my own, but I can confidently say that if they were still there, I wouldn't go. MacLeod (and all other stroads like it) is just so terrible of an experience that it wouldn't be worth it to me. Now compare that experience to Banff, who is going to be closing their main street to car traffic again this summer. I know for me personally, it left a lasting impression in my mind walking around there freely, particularly how incredibly quiet it was without cars (the occasional bus still running down the street did not feel disruptive/out of place either). The main street closure is such a pleasant experience that it actively makes me want to go back again soon after I've gone back home to Calgary. Imagine someone saying they want to go back to MacLeod for the experience? I'd think they were insane. Maybe a future video idea of some kind there?

That stroad is trauma inducing. I went to Keith’s Deli one time using that route and it was hellish. There are plenty of great businesses I’d love to access if there was better infrastructure…

Great video! As a fellow KZreadr who has also made mistakes with overexposure and new cameras - check your camera's ISO, it's probably too high. Currently reading your book, Frostbike, actually! It's really great, just reached the epilogue so nearly finished it 😁

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

I wondered if he did that on purpose to make things look even more dreadful. I think it's a great effect. :-)

@justanotheryoutubechannel

Жыл бұрын

@@MrTwostring To me it makes the footage look like an Xbox 360 game, I kinda really like it. It’s like RE5 or some of the battlefield/COD a games with that brown-ish yellow colour tinge and blown out primitive lightning.

I once had to abandon my bicycle and climb and chain link fence to escape being dragged by a semi in a stroad area that suddenly got extremely narrow and was under construction. Stroads are often dangerous and create food deserts, especially for people without cars.

What a totally depressing environment for everyone except those whose only object is to speed through it as quickly as possible. On second thoughts it's probably depressing for them also.

Based on what I’ve seen of the US, I thought you were quite lucky to get a pavement. Also you’re very brave with where you leave your bike alone!

@atawoo2

2 жыл бұрын

I don't think Canada has as many brazen bike thieves as we do in the US.

@hellfreezer3037

2 жыл бұрын

@@atawoo2 its rly bad in both Toronto and Vancouver

This video is triggering my anxiety of 3 years of driving in Calgary. I had to go to Chinook Mall 3-4 days a week for my job and it was... absolutely miserable. My employer forced me to have (and paid for) a car so even if it was easy to get there, there was simply no alternative.

Converting to tubeless was a game changer. No more pinch flats, and unless debris completely tears open the tire, you're protected.

16 Avenue North is another unfortunate example of a stroad for much of its length. What's particularly sad about that one is that it's part of the Trans-Canada highway, so for many people passing through, it's the main impression of Calgary they'll get.

This video was really good, I loved the music choice and you really highlighted the crap-ness of being alongside a stroad, I thought walking down the 2-ish lane 35mph avenue near my house was bad but compared to a stroad it’s quite luxurious, at least we have trees and it’s only 3 lanes at the most with one for buses. Also, this is weird but this video really felt like an Xbox 360 game or something, the lightning was a bit blown out and yellow-tinged and it really felt like a 7th gen game.

So many empty businesses! On the one hand, we could blame it on the pandemic, but honestly, businesses on stroads really struggled before the pandemic. I want to like pedestrian overpasses, but I would love, love, love, even more, just getting rid of stroads entirely.

Imagine a world where McLeod Trail has dedicated pedestrian pathways, cycle tracks, BRT/Tramway and just a few lanes of 40km/hr vehicle traffic. Toss in advanced crossing signalling, roadside trees/shade structures/parks/rest areas and cross link them with the LRT and Elbow River pathway for some extra levelling up.. The LRT/McLeod Trail/Elbow River corridor has so much potential and its sadly one of the most decayed, neglected and unsafe parts of our city. Maybe one day a city planner will see your videos and be able to convince their elected bosses to fund such a revitalization.

@Cobalt985

2 жыл бұрын

There are so many damn cities that are just waiting to be great, but unspeakably terrible urban planning makes them just as awful as every other car centric city.

I believe real change will happen because of videos like this. Keep it up!....my eyes too have been opened to see the stroads everywhere. Whether driving cycling or walking, I hope for better design that makes all three truly enjoyable and generates revenue for our community.

I'm glad this issue is starting to get more coverage and attention. Strong Towns is great, and I appreciate KZreadrs like you, NJB, and others who are helping to draw focus to the problems as well. Down with the stroad!

It was traumatic just watching you stand on that narrow strip of footpath while the cars zoomed past just not two metres away from you at high speed. Yikes.

06:54 In the background you can see a pedestrian walking in the middle of the stroad. Yikes!! I've never really ridden on anything other than a stroad. That seems totally normal to me, except you're on the sidewalk. Round these parts you'd get a ticket for riding on the sidewalk.

You should get involved in our city council! I would love to see someone bring up issues with our transportation

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

Maybe we should all get involved with our own city councils. :-)

@epicbengal7239

Жыл бұрын

Not while fat greedy boomers that don't want to change anything are in power. They will die before they change anything in america.

"If car traffic is so important, why are there so many [building vacancies] along this stroad?" What a quote!! I can think of so many businesses in my native state of Texas that are vacant because of a stroad.

@johnathin0061892

2 жыл бұрын

The fact we are now in another Great Depression has a lot to do with it.

On a positive twist, I zoomed in on the apparently angry guy in a pickup at 2:30, and I'm pretty sure he's actually giving you the "metal" sign. 🤘

You're brave. I would NEVER, EVER attempt such a thing on any stroad in my city (Chicago, USA).

New subscriber here. As soon as you said "worst stroad in Calgary" I knew immediately you were talking about MacLeod Tr. I live less than a kilometer West from one of the most business dense sections (between Glenmore and Southland) of MacLeod yet I still take my car when I frequent businesses on MacLeod. I'm not willing to run that gauntlet as a pedestrian or on my bike. I wish that wasn't the case.

Hey Tom, great video! About you image quality issues, you might need to adjust the colour space you're editing in. It doesn't seem compatable with your camera's colour space. I can DM you on IG to help you fix that

That was a fantastic video. Very nicely done. Love that you address some urban planning on your channel.

When you talked about Shackleton, I thought you were going to make a joke that the bike shop in the background was like his stuck ship. But instead of it being a ship stuck in ice with no way to move, it was a bike shop stuck in the middle of a network of stroads making all of the bikes there essentially stuck in their own version of pack ice - unable to be actually used to move on. It just seems crazy - you buy something for transportation, leave the store and cannot even ride it home.

Nice one Tom, glad you made it back alive 👍 Thankful to not suffer "stroads" where we are... Good content

Another great clip from a great channel. The only surprise here is the bike shop. Their parking lot for cars with racks is a lot smaller than I would have thought (at least according to Google streetview) :-/

This is absolutely your best video I've seen yet! So much charming personality and jokes shine through while also taking statistics to prove your point further

You stopped just short of where there are actually bike paths on BOTH sides of Macleod Trail, south of Southland Drive! I've used it to go to Canadian Tire, get a haircut, and ironically, to deliver my Dad's spare car keys to him on my bike. There are also plans to extend the paths a bit to the pedestrian bridge at Anderson Station ( page 27 of Anderson Station Redevelopment Plan: www.calgary.ca/content/dam/www/realestate/documents/anderson-station-tod/anderson-station-area-plan.pdf ), where there's a lot of bike paths that come together from Anderson Park and running along the north and south side of Southcentre Mall. There's also some raised crosswalks on the north side of Southcentre Mall that I use quite often. It sucks that there aren't bike paths all the way along Macleod Trail, but there is always strategic progress, even if it's slower than we want. For now, I just use the bike route just west of Macleod going from Fish Creek to the Elbow River instead of actually using Macleod (5 St, Haddon Rd, Sacramento Dr, Canterbury Dr).

For me it's Broadway in Boise, ID! There is the disappearing bike lane, Z crossing, and fast moving cars. Recently a drunk driver crashed into a restaurant. I cross that stroad but avoid cycling along it.

Being able (and having the tools with you) to fix a flat by yourself is awesome. Feels so empowering to take off afterwards. But who am I telling that? 🙂

I got the priority bike because of you, and the pannier.

Wow, it's already spring for you guys. Here in Quebec, it's still very much winter lol. Really good video!

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

It was just a dry spell. It has since snowed several times!

@SeanNicholsEh

2 жыл бұрын

Not really. But because Calgary has chinooks that come through all winter, they tend to melt/blow away all the snow fairly often. About 3 weeks ago (early February) we had pretty much no snow around at all.

I found your channel somewhat recently and have really been enjoying your videos. Great stuff!

You are very brave, Shifter. I wouldn't dream of navigating a stroad without serious mountain bike tires.

The flat problem is why I have 27.5x1.4 puncture resistant tires and 26.1-3/8 thorn resistant tubes. Since I started using two layers of armor I haven't had a flat.

The one time, the *_one. time_* I took the stroad off of my preferred bike path because of a downed tree because of a relatively recent hurricane 5 miles away from my car I managed to hit some discarded staples that got *both* of my tires. U.S. Street/Roads are impossible to ride on without a full set of backup tubes or repair kits. At this point I'd rather just *not* and am sticking to walking paths and bike routes and forget about cycling around town unless I'm on some hardcore tires. I was lucky enough that a sympathetic driver gave me a ride to the parking lot instead of having to hoof it all the way.

When I think of places in Calgary that are shopping / entertainment destinations, I think of streets (Kensington, 17Ave., 8 Ave.). When I think of places I have to go for necessities, I think of stroads - where you go with a list so you can get out of there faster.

Re the elevated walkway at Chinook Centre: I definitely look at it as a great gesture not to impede the flow of car traffic. If it was really intended primarily to help pedestrians, they'd have kept the pedestrian crossing level and dipped the street under it. Decisions like these really do reveal whose needs are considered to be more important.

@scotthalland

2 жыл бұрын

A big issue I've found with it is that it's entirely there to serve the mall. When the mall is closed, the pedway is closed. You also can't take your bike across (I haven't tried, but it ends in a food court, so I can't imagine they'd like that. Maybe I'll try, and see what happens).

Great video Tom!! A perspective I hadn't considered before.. even as a cycle commuter and occasional MacLeod Trail driver.

I don't know what it is (overexposure/high contrast/whatever), but a lot is really white.

@MarceldeJong

2 жыл бұрын

To be fair, it did snow, but yeah the white balance and exposure is off on a lot of shots

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

I'm still figuring out the new camera. Stick with me! It will get better.

I walk to work on a 2 mile stretch of my local 'stroad' and sometimes i think i am a extinict speaks cause i don't see any other walker.

Such a great video. I too have always hated this ugly and awful road. I avoid it when driving and also when riding - would never consider walking on it. I tried crossing the road as a pedestrian once and almost got killed by a car that didn’t stop. Noisy, ugly and terrible. Keep up the great work on these videos!

very well explained thank you !

great video

Brilliant video.

Thanks, this was very interesting.

this man is risking his life for content!!

Many many true words spoken here! And in towns where the officials try to change towards to less pollution and noise and to more human conditions, many people say "If I'm no longer welcome with my car, I will buy in another town / online and this town will die!" Not realising that "More roads for more cars" cause more traffic (jam) and will lead to even more (broader) roads is a dead end -the end of human towns 😞

Thank you for sharing. I spent 2 or 3 summers in Calgary, and never enjoyed the transportation. I relied on transit. What a nightmare! It hasn't changed in over 25 years. I encourage you to visit Surrey, BC. We're trying to dig ourselves out of our stroad hell. There are a lot of great options.

Tom: "I have a 4ft sidwalk next to five lanes of traffic." Me: OMG, you have sidewalk! Meanwhile I'm trying to dodge parked scooters and cars in the painted bike lane beside 4 lanes of traffic passing heavily used shops with no sidewalk in a supposedly modernised city in East Asia. ;) No, but seriously, these points are important, and where the resources exist to deal with these problems, they should be dealt with. Good vid. :)

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the perspective. I guess you could say four lanes of cracked, forgotten sidewalk is better than nothing.

i see the shifter video production team got a budget raise

I hope that the department of roads and related agencies can reorganize a good line for cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians... ✌️ Example Jakarta city (Indonesia), which received the best number 1 prize of the world's 2021 world society, the construction of transportation roads, the subways, the monorail line, the line of cars and motorcycles, the pedestrian walkway, the walkway for the disabled, the walkway crossing, all lined up.

One of the biggest issues with collisions is cities are designed to keep drivers alive. They remove anything that might cause a drivers death if they lose control and go off road. Ignoring who or what they might hit, as long as the driver is okay. Not only does this reward the person most likely to be at fault for an accident, the less risky you make a road to drive on the faster people go. The more risk they take. Your not going to see many people going 70 mph, texting and drinking down a mountain road with a 200ft drop cliff and windy curves.

A good One Way street can serve a purpose though. It allows some traffic in, usually so delivery trucks and the like can get through but is generally the worst way to get through the area, especially if it's single lane. Mean while pedestrians and bikes who usually don't have to pay attention to street directions can go either way, often making it a short cut for them at least in one direction.

Great video! Wow did you make the Ernest Shackleton reference right before the locating of the Endurance Ship!?! You are on beat!

I just rode a bit on a stroad, not a super big or terrible one like this though, and similar to the honking someone yelled at me while driving by. I'm so confused by people doing that like are you annoyed that I am there? Just trying to scare or mess with me? Regardless, yelling is pretty funny since I don't think they realize you can't understand them when driving by that quickly.

@joeaverager

Жыл бұрын

I had a lady pull up beside me at a traffic light with the most concerned sound to her voice... "Don't you have a car?" Apparently it is unfathomable that someone likes riding a bike...

excellent, thank you. i'll get the book at a local book shop just down the stroad, wish me luck!

When I first heard the word "stroad" I hated it. I've come to see that this is the point. A nasty thing like a stroad needs a nasty name. P.S. Everybody who understand this should probably binge watch Strong Towns on KZread since Charles Marohn there coined the term. P.P.S. Now to watch Shifter's video. I'll probably hate that too -- in a good way -- since a nasty thing like a stroad needs a nasty video about it! :-)

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

Ok, now I've watched the video. I hated it just like I'd hoped. Thanks. :-) Part of me wondered if you used any color correction to make the places look even more dreadful. I suspect you didn't. I'm now feeling a little silly for mentioning Charles Marohn in my comment above since you give him so much credit. I think it was on Not Just Bikes that I first heard the term - so I found Charles Marohn and Strong Towns on KZread and binged watched the whole thing - great stuff - especially the early videos where he breaks down what works and what does not. I want to say to anybody who actually read this far that I just got my bike from the shop so I'm ridding again after not being a commuter for longer than I care to say. I decided to recondition my old bike - which I also called "trusty steed" as I wheeled it out of the shop. I'll be biking on sort of a super-stroad -- the access road of a limited access highway. Thank goodness traffic will be light and the distances short.

We have these in Malaysia too, and I absolutely hate it. Depending on where you're from geographically, our weather and landscape could be considered a blessing or a curse for cycling infrastructure. Netherlands' climate and mostly flat roads work well for them because it isn't too hot or humid. Looking back during my parents' younger years, I don't believe our weather is really that big an issue as some people make it out to be, as almost everyone then got around everywhere by cycling. We should seriously bring that back, and start re-designing our cities for better biking and public transport infrastructure. Urban flooding has only gotten worse because of the car-centric cities and highways built left and right, which looking back 10 years ago, wasn't that bad compared to what it is now.

Great video man but lately your footage is oddly overexposed. Can I please offer to help figure out what’s wrong? I have a feeling it’s some setting you’re using. I really like your videos and would like to see your channel grow.

Nice video! The one place I think one-way streets can work are for narrow, neighborhood streets, they can help to controll traffic, especially when you change the direction every so often. I just covered this in a video. Also, I think I recognize this stroad from another video.

@alex2143

Жыл бұрын

One way streets for neighborhoods still sounds very car centric tbh. Better to have cul-de-sacs where cars can only enter and leave in one end, but bikes and pedestrians can filter through. That way bikes and pedestrians have a nice and quiet shortcut away from cars. Note to lawmakers that read this: no, that is not a substitute for decent bike infrastructure. Build protected bike lanes.

@justanotheryoutubechannel

Жыл бұрын

@@alex2143 My suburban UK town has a lot of that, all of the closes in the residential warrens where I live have footpaths that lead to other closes and onto back streets and via these it’s genuinely faster for me to walk to the shops than it is to drive.

You're the bravest man I know on KZread. LOL.

Damn KZread didn't show this great video to me in the subs feed

In the Netherlands, I'm ok with no helmet, but not on a stroad even in a country as wonderful and polite as Canada, please be careful.

@harvey66616

2 жыл бұрын

To be fair to @Shifter (Tom), a helmet is unlikely to help much in most bike/motor vehicle collisions, especially along a stroad. Possibly in a low-speed one where the main hazard is just falling off the bike. But otherwise, most of the injuries are going to be related to blunt-force trauma to the rest of one's body, and even if the head is directly involved, bike helmets aren't designed to handle the wearer being struck by a motor vehicle traveling 60-80 kph or faster, such as one would find along a stroad. I personally wouldn't ever ride without my helmet. I've had enough "oopsie!" moments where I just plain fall off my bike, often due to no one's fault but my own, and the helmet has come in handy. But if a person is generally comfortable enough riding without a helmet in other environments, I'm not sure riding on or along a stroad is going to involve hazards significantly different where a helmet could still be useful.

@PhilipSalen

2 жыл бұрын

@@harvey66616 I so completely disagree with you about helmets. I hear motorcyclists make the same silly arguments about helmets as well; that is why we call them donorcycles. People fall off their bicycles all the time, sometimes because of potholes, sometimes because they are hot. Brain injury is the leading cause of traumatic death in the US. If someone falls off their bicycle, it's much better for their helmet to strike the macadam than their head.

@harvey66616

2 жыл бұрын

@@PhilipSalen I don't see how you can claim to "completely disagree" with me, and then go on to say basically the same things I already said. Very odd. My point isn't that there is no reason to wear a helmet. Indeed, I explicitly stated the opposite. My point is that your criticism of Tom for not wearing a helmet in an environment where the most significant hazards aren't going to be affected by a helmet is misplaced. Your criticism and your falsely claimed disagreement are especially ironic since by your own admission, you don't even wear a helmet all of the time, even when it could be most useful (i.e. falling off the bike for some reason other than a 2000 kg vehicle crashing into you at 80 kph, an event that is likely to kill you whether you're wearing a helmet or not).

@PhilipSalen

2 жыл бұрын

@@harvey66616 PS I always wear a helmet when riding my 🚲 and I ride every day

@harvey66616

2 жыл бұрын

@@PhilipSalen That's not what you wrote previously: _"In the Netherlands, I'm ok with no helmet"_. Nor does it explain the rest of your so-called "disagreement" that doesn't seem to disagree.

thanks for the content :)

That's a nice bike you have. I like it.

Has North America not heard of the ring road? There is no reason that amount of traffic in needed intra city, only inter. Route traffic around cities not through

@scotthalland

2 жыл бұрын

Calgary does have a ring road (mostly completed), but it's literally 10km to 25 km from the city centre depending on what direction you go!

Up highway 2 from you in St Albert, Mark Messier Trail is definitely the Stroad. They have sidewalks as a homage to the thought of walking/ biking but then they just end. But there is the scenery of mattress stores and liquor stores so you can stock up and have a drink in bed to calm your nerves after you are done biking along it.

Love the video

I'm in a Montreal suburb and I can't count how many stroads there is here... Taschereau blvd (the biggest), Cousineau blvd, Wilfrid-Laurier blvd, Leduc blvd, Marie-Victorin blvd, Touraine road, Curé-Poirier blvd, Rome blvd... it's sad to see that Montreal is such a nice city to bike, but not its suburbs...

Even when there are bike lanes I still ride on the sidewalk. people yell at me but I tell them "im not gonna risk getting hit by a car, sorry bro LOL"

Cool Video. As a European I would be put into Stroad hotels during business trips. You would try and get a meal and it was next to impossible to go anywhere without a car. Not even a taxi was close enough to take you anywhere and pavements were also unexistent. I thought it was quite curious that in USA I found myself walking in parking lots way more often than nice streets... It's a shame that some modern places in Europe are starting to look like that too

Seeing this Videos makes me happy to live in rural northern Germany. Wide Bicycle Lanes offset of the street, and you can travel across the land without get into contact with a car.

In the camera settings, he saw an option for "exposure" and said: "Dunno what that is, but I want MORE of that!" jk great video

Your other videos had be thinking Calgary must be a paradise. The stroad you showed us unfortunately is what most of my city looks like. People get really pissed when you complain about it too.

I hope our local politicians see your videos.

As a cyclist I understand the struggle Tom.

I like that you're riding a Priority bike!

@GordoGambler

2 жыл бұрын

But his broom handlebar sucks IMO. My 3 bikes are all IGH with steel swept riser bars. I easily do 100 mile highway rides with my 1973 CCM with a new SA XRD3. My tour heavyweight with a Rohloff14 is 120 lbs loaded. LOL.

@FelipePait

2 жыл бұрын

@@GordoGambler I'm happy you enjoy your rides and your bike!

Great video! Stroads are a nightmare for cyclists (nowhere safe to ride), impossible for pedestrians as everything inevitably gets so stretched out to accommodate huge parking lots around every business, but as you said, they're awful for drivers as well. Getting into the businesses along the side can be such a hassle as entrances are poorly delineated, you sit there for ages waiting to get back out into traffic when you leave, and when the place you're trying to get is on the other side of the stroad and there's no traffic light it way as well be on Mars. Plus they're just so awfully ugly. Endless strip malls, fast food, car dealerships, beat up neglected empty sidewalks and vast stretches of concrete...truly a quasi-urban hellscape.

Nice continuum!

Tom this is a great and accurate expose of street level life for the 99 percent who have little access to their corporate-governments. "The rest of the city's subsidising the creation of an environment like this"... yep, profit over people and planet. The profit of corporations, or more specifically the concentration of profit with the already wealthiest

Do you carry a spare tube in the panniers? I have a zipped soft case for my road bike that fits 2 tubes and a small pump and slots into a drink bottle holder.

"One way?! But officer I'm only going one way."

Another great video - thanks! Sadly there is no easy way to correct these design flaws. Our western Canada cities were designed/ changed to accommodate personal motor vehicles, and to try and change / modify it is always met with strict opposition as no other alternatives are possible without major costs. Its a fantastic juxtaposition: everyone loves the Kensington area, but everyone hates driving there, yet it is necessary to own an motor vehicle.

@Shifter_Cycling

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly this.

@be5952

2 жыл бұрын

_[Yikes---this got wayy longer than I wanted. I hope my points might be pondered regardless.]_ _"... there is no easy way to correct these design flaws."_ Aaannd there we go. And I can't really see any way out of it even if we had unlimited money and motivation. If we have spread out cities _(yes, there would have been ways to 'compact' them if we'd started with that concept _*_and_*_ if we had wanted that in the first place, given compact European cities have their own _*_big_*_ design problems that no one on these videos ever talks about)_ what are we to now do in order to: 1) *Have access to suburbs?* It's all fine and dandy to say _'walkable'_ and _'pedestrian and cyclist friendly,'_ [

@MrTwostring

2 жыл бұрын

> no easy way to correct these design flaws I agree. I'd feel better about the situation if I had any sense we could convince people that they are flaws. I've been actively concerned about this back when the only way to have a personal web page was on CompuServe (25 years ago) and nothing has changed. It's taken decades to get into this mess and it will take decades to get out of it... that is, if we could start building smarter.

@tduva

2 жыл бұрын

@@be5952 From what I understand a big issue with stroads is that they are both hostile to pedestrians and cyclists and also bad at moving cars/dangerous, due to a lot of intersections, driveways and business that create points of conflict, which slow traffic down and causes accidents. To have fewer points of conflict the road should not have direct access to businesses or private properties, those should only be accessible by streets that are connected to the road occasionally. So instead of turning off a stroad directly into a business (of which there are plenty along the stroad), you turn off a road into a lower-speed "neighborhood" of streets that have access to the businesses. There could still be the same stores and other businesses, but without a stroad. Obviously getting rid of stroads does not solve all the related issues of car dependancy/sprawl, but it would at least improve some. NotJustBikes has a good video on stroads as well: kzread.info/dash/bejne/gYausLyOlbiucbA.html And cars are definitely useful. What I get from these kind of videos (from various channels), is that the hostility towards cars they sometimes express (whether explicitly or implicitly) is due to when everything is built around cars, so everyone has to drive for everything, there is no choice, whether you like or hate driving. And trying to do anything else means moving around in an environment that feels hostile towards pedestrians and cyclists. So most people drive, and all the problems with cars (noise and air pollution, congestion, accidents) are exacerbated. I don't get the impression that any of these video creators seriously want to get rid of cars completely (maybe on specific streets), just that other ways of getting around should be getting the same attention. The Netherlands is often brought up as an example for great bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and cars are still everywhere. There are both parking garages for cars and parking garages for bicycles in Amsterdam. Drivers in the Netherlands have been shown as the worlds happiest drivers before ( inbox-static.waze.com/driverindex.pdf ). And it makes sense, if there are a lot of alternatives to driving then there is less traffic and only the people that need to or want to are driving, instead of everyone being miserable in a traffic jam.

I live in Montreal and i was planning a bike route. Google told be to ride down Décarie boulevard. Décarie is a 6 lane stroad that straddles either side of a 6 lane highway. Every time i’ve driven on the road i’ve almost been hit by another car. I cannot imagine riding a bike down that road

I was inspired to go actually ride on our bike-lane equipped stroad today; it's the painted lane with a 3' buffer between the bikes and cars, and it's strange how that feels effective in parts of the stroad and terrible in other parts. In the spots without traffic lights and constant 45-50 mph traffic, crossing to right the correct way in the opposite side bike lane felt like a deathwish...so I could ride backwards on the near side, or on the sidewalk. Both bad options. But on the parts of the stroad with some traffic lights and a low average speed, and lots of destinations on both sides, it actually was functional enough to use without fear. Not good for volumes of cyclists, not safe from distracted drivers, but better. I guess my main point is to just, even though it sucks, get out there, be visible, and get people aware of the possibilities.

Hey! Good video idea! My city is adding a bike lane to a section of road going through a "downtown" area.j