Are see that's the roads - personally I was born with feet to walk with, and don't judge a place by the character of it's provisions for the automobile. However, if you are going to consider transport when critiquing Milton Keynes there are a number of key things you need to appreciate.
1.) Roundabouts are considerably more efficient at traffic control than traffic lights.
2.) Roundabouts allow for additional landscaping, pedestrianised crossovers and foci of signage where traffic light controlled intersections do none of these.
3.) National-speed limit dual carriageways allow the population to travel across the city's V & H road networks in times that would make most other city dwellers cry in despair - the road system is entirely independant of the "centres" in such a way that congestion, even on peak-Saturday shopping runs, is essentially nil.
4.) The reason why you can't see anything from the roads is because all of their levvies are banked to provide acoustical padding, which when coupled with the generous landscaping & planting (now very mature after 30 years) limits all traffic noise on the estates to next to nothing.
All of these (and more) bring me back to my original point; I'm human - and measure the qualities of life by as much, so if posed the questions:
"no road noise in a residential area, or a "view" for drivers?" or "dual carriageway traffic by a school, or a "view" for drivers?"
Hmmm mmm- no brainer.
To me Stony is nothing more than a quaint, confused & dying dive; full of shops no one wants to shop in, pubs no one wants to drink in and a general populace who think living in a villagey offshoot to massive sprawling urban utopia is "cool" and/or "upper class" - these people however are the same who wouldn't dare admit to the fact they rely heavily upon said nearby city to get by.
