Jump to content
Create New...

Great Astra Review


Recommended Posts

I would say that in my own experience though that public transportation and highway maintenance is better in Western Europe.

I think in regards to highway maintenance, it's REALLY hard to generalize due to the fact that it really really depends on where you are in the states. Our states have widely divergent levels of highway/freeway pavement quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 156
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I wouldn't say that generally speaking, European policing or schooling are better than it is in the States. In this country at least, policing in many counties is woefully underfunded. The quality of state schools here can be hit and miss, as in the States, but things are improving now that schools across the country are graded based on exam results, teaching talent, etc. I'd say the standard of University education in the United States was second-to-none though, and probably the finest in the world.

I would say that in my own experience though that public transportation and highway maintenance is better in Western Europe.

so basically you are saying you get screwed by paying double for gas, getting nothing of substance out of it, and yet you endorse that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest aatbloke
I think in regards to highway maintenance, it's REALLY hard to generalize due to the fact that it really really depends on where you are in the states. Our states have widely divergent levels of highway/freeway pavement quality.

I'm going on what I've experienced and what other travellers like me have experienced. I've personally covered 31 US states, and while there's a significant variation in highway quality, overall they're nothing like as consistently good as in Western Europe. In this country, they waste silly amounts of money on highways - county councils won't get future allotted budgets from central government if they don't spent their allotment for any given year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest aatbloke
so basically you are saying you get screwed by paying double for gas, getting nothing of substance out of it, and yet you endorse that.

No, that's not what I'm saying whatsoever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going on what I've experienced and what other travellers like me have experienced. I've personally covered 31 US states, and while there's a significant variation in highway quality, overall they're nothing like as consistently good as in Western Europe. In this country, they waste silly amounts of money on highways - county councils won't get future allotted budgets from central government if they don't spent their allotment for any given year.

The autobahns I travelled in Germany WERE first-class. The secondary roads were not in any way superior to ours......roads in GB were the same....."freeways" were nice, secondary roads not really any better (or worse.....)

We have such a divergence here.....for example, drive on the 15 freeway from the desert of Califrornia into Nevada towards the greater Las Vegas area, and when you cross the state line, you come into Nevada on a now six-lane freeway that looks like it was built to be an autobahn.....and many of Las Vegas' freeways have been upgraded to a similar level of quality.

Well, the simple answer why is that with all the HUGE growth in the region, the local government KNEW that they had to spend major $$ in upgrading the freeway systems in southern Nevada and the Las Vegas area (and they're not done yet.) The 15 freeway along the Strip and into downtown Las Vegas used to be a 4-lane freeway (2 on each side) and now, last time I was there, it has morphed into a 10-12 lane freeway....even in the center of town. (And even with that, the city is now clogged with traffic almost as bad as Los Angeles')

On the contrary, go to say Detroit, and you have to cringe at the abysmal quality of the freeways there. (AND Detroit has improved them in recent years even....)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest aatbloke
The autobahns I travelled in Germany WERE first-class. The secondary roads were not in any way superior to ours......roads in GB were the same....."freeways" were nice, secondary roads not really any better (or worse.....)

We have such a divergence here.....for example, drive on the 15 freeway from the desert of Califrornia into Nevada towards the greater Las Vegas area, and when you cross the state line, you come into Nevada on a now six-lane freeway that looks like it was built to be an autobahn.....and many of Las Vegas' freeways have been upgraded to a similar level of quality.

Well, the simple answer why is that with all the HUGE growth in the region, the local government KNEW that they had to spend major $$ in upgrading the freeway systems in southern Nevada and the Las Vegas area (and they're not done yet.) The 15 freeway along the Strip and into downtown Las Vegas used to be a 4-lane freeway (2 on each side) and now, last time I was there, it has morphed into a 10-12 lane freeway....even in the center of town. (And even with that, the city is now clogged with traffic almost as bad as Los Angeles')

On the contrary, go to say Detroit, and you have to cringe at the abysmal quality of the freeways there. (AND Detroit has improved them in recent years even....)

I'm not discounting that in many areas, there is excellent road quality over there, but there are many that do not, particularly in areas which experience brutal winters. But on the subject of secondary roads I disagree with you, because in the States highway funding varies from federal, state, and local level, and in each case income and expenditure varies - all very different from the funding system here and the higher levels of excise duty and indirect taxation used for the funding. Secondary roads in the States - not all, but a good many - are the worst I have ever seen, especially in areas with little money to resurface them. Instead, either potholes are left or literally refilled and refilled to the point where the surface is jarring. There isn't the consistency of good road maintenance as there is here.

Successive British government studies over the years have concluded that building wider roads doesn't ease traffic congestion - all it does is attract more and more traffic.

Edited by aatbloke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search

Change privacy settings