A Peek Inside Car-Brain: 10 US Cities Where the Cycle of Car Dependency Has Spiraled Out of Control

We all know when we-re in a car-dependent city. Roadways and intersections that are designed for maximum motor vehicle throughput and minimum (if any) pedestrian and bicycle comfort. Freeway rings encircling downtown. Massive cloverleaf interchanges within city limits. 30 minute transit headways (if you're lucky).

Today we're going to break it down. We're going to talk about how the vicious cycle of car dependency still ruins land use and takes away your transportation choices in most US cities. And, this is CityNerd, so we're making a top ten list: the ten most car-dependent cities (metro areas) in the US, using data from:

The National Transit Database (to evaluate transit service per capita)
The Federal Highway Administration (to evaluate roadway and freeway lane-miles per capita)
The US Census' American Community Survey, to assess how people travel in each metro area, and how many cars they have access to

And -- it's not all bad news. When I get to honorable mentions I'll give you the ten LEAST car-dependent metro areas, too.

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Previous CityNerd Videos Referenced:
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10 Unexpectedly Walkable US Neighborhoods:    • 10 Surprisingly Pedestrian-Friendly Neighb...  
10 Most Ginormous Freeway Interchanges In the US:    • Top 10 GINORMOUS Freeway Interchanges in t...  
Big Cities With Terrible Transit:    • The 10 Worst Transit Cities: US Metro Area...  
10 US Cities That Held Their Own With Transit During the Pandemic:    • Pandemic Transit, Fare-Free Systems, and 1...  
What Extending Acela South Could Look Like:    • U.S. High Speed Rail: What's Next? Analyzi...  
10 US Cities With the Most Freeway-Heavy Downtowns:    • The Most Freeway-Heavy Downtowns in the US...  
10 Most Urbanist Soccer Stadiums In North America:    • The Most Urbanist Soccer Stadiums in North...  

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Resources:
https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropo...
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinform...
https://parkingreform.org/
https://luskin.ucla.edu/person/donald...
https://www.boston.gov/departments/ma...
https://www.census.gov/programs-surve...
https://www.zillow.com/home-values/61...

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Images
Kansas City Image by John Bergman from Pixabay

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CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (YouTube music library)

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