scott wrote:
>> Riiiight... Well, I'd rather live in a place that had some *thought* 
>> put into it than some random thing that just *happened* by accident. :-P
> 
> So would I, but a lot of people find those places boring*.  Personally I 
> would much prefer a system of roads named H1,H2,... and V1,V2,... plus 
> the ability to drive through the town without getting stuck in a huge 
> traffic jam. Have you ever tried to drive from one side of Reading to 
> the other?

I tried to drive *into* Reading twice. And succeeded - eventually. But 
it wasn't fun. (I especially love the one-way system, and being told to 
"perform a U-turn" at a set of traffic lights on a 4-lane road in a 
residential area. That was great...)

Every year, Milton Keynes holds a demonstration of how efficient the 
road system is. We call it "The Milton Keynes Fireworks Display". 
Basically they detonate several hundred thousand pounds' worth of high 
explosives, and anybody who wants to can watch FOR FREE. They also have 
a very large funfair right next to it.

Probably something like 80% of MK turns up in their cars for this event. 
I wouldn't be surprised if a few peeps from Northampton or somewhere 
like that too. Slowly they all congregate in the central shopping center 
car park. But when the show finishes, THEY ALL TRY TO LEAVE AT ONCE!

So, 80% of the entire city's traffic, all concentrated at a single point 
in space, trying to leave. Simultaneously.

One could scarely imagine a worse scenario. The roads are (presumably) 
designed to handle the "typical" traffic volume plus a few percent of 
headroom. They're surely not designed at all to handle THE ENTIRE 
POPULUS trying to move through one grid at once.

Obviously, the actual car parks are stationary. But as soon as the 
traffic manages to get *out* of there, every 800 yards or so there are 
more and more turnings, the traffic volume drops off exponentially. 
Within about 20 minutes there is barely any evidence that anything 
unusual has happened. (!!)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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