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Papas Fritas writes:
"Michelle Rindel reports at AP that despite being two of the largest cities in the Southwest, Las Vegas and Phoenix are linked by a road that narrows to two lanes, hits stoplights in a Depression-era town and until recently backed up traffic over the Hoover Dam. An effort to improve what's now a 4 1/2-hour drive to cover the 300 miles of desert between Sin City and the Valley of the Sun with a more reliable road has heavy-hitting allies, including business leaders and the Republican governor of each state. 'Long-term jobs are created by our connectivity,' says Steve Betts, noting that the stretch would be the first piece of a new shipping route between Mexico and Canada.
That the cities aren't already linked by an interstate is a fluke of timing. The Phoenix and Las Vegas populations exploded just after the national road-building frenzy that started in the 1950s. The Las Vegas metro area, population 2 million, is 40 times larger than it was in 1950. The Phoenix area, population 4.3 million, has grown 13-fold over that span. Highway supporters won a key victory last year when Congress formally designated Interstate 11. The legislation provides no funding, but it allows builders to tap into interstate construction dollars. An interstate could link Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas as partners in a 'megaregion' that competes with other regions, and could open a trade route from Mexico to Pacific Ocean ports and Canada. Arizona and Nevada are currently losing much of that flow and its attendant development to Texas and California, according to Betts, chairman of CAN-DO, an acronym for Connecting Arizona and Nevada-Delivering Opportunities. Still, other critics worry that pushing further toward the interstate dream would contribute to urban sprawl and hurt the environment. 'The last thing we need is another freeway,' says Sandy Bahr, president of the Arizona chapter of the Sierra Club. 'We need to look for other transportation modes.'"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cwix on Saturday March 08 2014, @05:11PM
If someone speaks of building a new highway from Sydney to Perth I do not need them to explain that those cities are in Australia. There really are not that many Las Vegases or Pheonixes.
So my question is were you actually confused by this article, just trying to make a point, trying to start a troll war?
If you were truly confused then perhaps you should pay more attention to world media. If you were just making a point perhaps you should wait for a submission that is truly confusing before you try to make that point. If you were just trying to start something perhaps you should grow up.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Saturday March 08 2014, @05:48PM
Outside of the US not everyone is familiar with major US cities, especially in non-English speaking countries that don't get a lot of US TV shows. It isn't necessary to mention the country every time, and if you do at least try to get it right (so no "London, England" please) but some hint wouldn't go amiss. On the other site the article could be tagged "usa".
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 09 2014, @08:44AM
I'm asking just to be a dick; is it common for the residents of those non-English speaking countries that don't get a lot of US TV shows to read English websites that occasionally mention geographic locations by name?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 08 2014, @08:20PM
When this site started everybody agreed to not make it so USA-centric like Slashdot.
i.e. using the metric system, news not only about USA, etc.
The thing is, this submission talks about a thing that only americans care about. Its impact over the rest of the world is zero.
It would have been ok if it talked about some new USA law affecting other countries too (e.g. copyright), or USA tech companies, etc.
Imagine a submission making to front page talking about a new road in Uganda.
This article should never been made to the front page.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 09 2014, @02:15AM
You would need to if you are telling that to an American.
And I hope I was joking about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 09 2014, @03:32AM
That's a poor example. Sydney to Perth is instantly recognisable as Australia, but only because Sydney is very well known as Australia's largest city. If it was just-about-anywhere-else to Perth, it would be worth mentioning ", Australia", since without the context of "Sydney", I imagine most non-Australians would assume that "Perth" was in Scotland, where it's always been...