It regularly gets below zero in Chicago and Toronto. Europe is generally warmer than Canada and the northern U.S. Without these underground tunnels, there would be no pedestrians during months of the year, and no amount of "improving their streets" would change that.

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jltsiren 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Winters in Chicago and Toronto look about the same as in Helsinki. That's mild enough that the colder days are rarely an issue for pedestrians, assuming that they are willing to dress for the weather.

The warmer winter days, with temperatures oscillating around freezing, are a bigger issue. Sidewalks can become dangerous without constant maintenance, as melting and freezing snow creates slippery surfaces and snow and ice fall off roofs.

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tptacek 19 hours ago | parent [-]

This is the first I'm hearing that cold days in Chicago are rarely an issue for pedestrians. Here's Brian Fitzpatrick:

https://therealfitz.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worryin...

(I don't do even 1/4 of this, but then, I would almost never walk any real distance during a Chicago winter.)

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jltsiren 18 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm from Helsinki, where winters are longer and a bit colder than in Chicago, but we get less snow. My main takeaway from that article was that Chicagoans are more willing to tolerate disruptions due to weather. In Finland, people are generally expected to go to work/school even during a blizzard. And some then complain that their morning commute took longer than usual, because snowplows could not be everywhere at once.

	▲	Scoundreller 15 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It’s taken quite a few public transit infrastructure improvements to make Toronto’s more reliable in snowfall. Trams used relatively unreliable trolley poles instead of pantographs until ~10 years ago. Most of the tram network “street runs”, so slow automobile traffic slows them down. Bicycle lanes become snow dumps when it snows a lot. There has at least been a more recent push to clear them of snow somewhat regularly at least instead of abandoning them entirely for maintenance. The metro/subway still runs largely above-ground. Lots of gas/electric train switch heaters installed on the regional train network but it can still fall apart in a snowstorm.
	▲	esseph 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Interesting! I lived in Alaska for several years, and schools would get called off if it was snowing heavily.

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hamdingers 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There are still pedestrians in Toronto when the weather is below zero despite the existence of the tunnels.

I've been one of them many times.