Nah. Madness isn't made lesser because of its brevity.

Nobody thought maybe his car broke down?

Conversely, a Toyota Camry rolling down the sidewalk is also totally cool.

It's not "social engineering" to be concerned that you have to worry about people walking around dangerous places. Do you think people should be walking around active runways and manufacturing areas as well?

They have nothing comparable to I-5. Nothing.

Yeah, nothing. Except for sidewalks. And trails. And footbridges. And stairways such the Harbor Steps and the Howe Street stairs. Hmm.

Oh, I know - pedestrians definitely do not have their own dedicated Interstate highway for those who'd prefer to walk to California! Except for the Pacific Crest Trail. Damn.

@4 I think you totally miss the point.
It's not cool to put yourself in harms way by walking on a runway or a highway, even though I-5 is usually a parking lot. The point is the vast expanse and resources we've allocated to motor vehicles compared to the space and means allowed for the simple, environmentally friendly, healthy, and free transportation of walking.

It shouldn't be out of the ordinary for someone to use the quickest, straightest, and most level road in their city for transportation regardless of the means of conveyance.

@5 as an avid biker/walker I can inform you unequivocally that their is nothing in the bike/pedestrian infrastructure as straight forward as I-5. If I could safely bike on that and Aurora, getting places would be so much easier and faster. A lot of my cross city travel involves planning to avoid and get around those concrete parallel scars.

Also, comparing the winding, lugubrious albeit majestic Pacific Crest Trail, to the straight forward dash of I-5 for travel is laughable.

I miss Goldy.

Dude is a leader of a post-automobile world. I say we embrace him as a hero, and have daily marches covering all lanes of I-5.

Another tossed Mudede salad of extrapolations and projections, with a vinaigrette dressing.

@7, you do know that bikes aren't banned from state highways (see bikes on Aurora all the time). They're banned from interstates.... you know, those things funded by federal taxes that are made to quickly get from one state to the other and which have lower speed limit guidelines to prevent 60 mph cars from being right next to 5 mph uncushioned people.

Let me tell you from personal experience: while it may be legal to bike on Aurora, it is neither fun nor safe.

Is he wearing a reflective vest? It looks like it. Is he, perhaps, someone who has official business there?

@12 Yes I do. What @13 said.

And the rest of your paragraph neither refutes or even addresses my point. Do I not pay federal taxes? Am i exempt because I bike? Does my accountant know about that break?

I was saying, what I believe Mudede is trying to convey, is that traveling on the quickest path between two points by anything but a motor vehicle is only insane in our present era of "cars cars cars, everything for the cars" mindset.

@6: If I could safely bike on that and Aurora, getting places would be so much easier and faster

Really? It's gotta be Aurora and I-5? The dozens of other bikeable streets just don't cut it?

comparing the winding, lugubrious albeit majestic Pacific Crest Trail, to the straight forward dash of I-5 for travel is laughable.

I see - so you think more people would travel interstate by foot if the PCT wasn't so windy? "Put your sneakers on, kids, we're taking the new I-5 footpath to Portland! Should cut our travel time by 2 days compared to taking the Pacific Crest Trail."

Maybe we should consider reopening the Oregon Trail?

@14: He's wearing a backpack and a hipster knit hat. Highly unlikely it's official business.

@12: Bicycles are NOT banned from all interstates. That's a myth.

You can cycle on much of I-90, for example.

@5: you forgot Discovery Park, Magnusson Park, Seward Park, the Arboretum, etc...

Why do these idiots never do anything special, like jump onto the hood of a car, then it's roof, and start doing dance moves? Then start dancing from car to car. This would be especially wonderful if they were vintage era 1980s Michael Jackson moves. The cops are lunging forward to pull him off of the roof of a Subaru Outback, by trying to grab his ankle?

He just moonwalks backward like a smooth criminal.

Once Charles gets Alzheimer's, his word salad affliction will disappear & his speech will become straight forward and understandable.

No different from the "vehicular cyclists" who ride on narrow bike lanes with fast moving traffic on one side, and car doors opening on the other.

In fact, at least one side of this guys walk is safe...making him more sane than the bikers.

@22 you've already admitted many times you're too chicken to ride your bike properly, Bialo, noting instead you ride on the sidewalk like a fuckwit, endangering pedestrians.

Most are missing Charles' point - however foolish, misguided, crazy or bothersome the walker's behavior is, it is dwarfed by the traffic to the right of him, and the pattern of growth and transportation it represents. We call the first crazy because it is rare; the second is normal because it is ubiquitous, but that does not make it any more sane.

It is perfectly safe to walk on I-5 at most times of the day (including whenever that photo was taken), because the cars are barely moving.

Y'know what would be even more incredibly cool? If he was walking on I-5 with somebody else's flat screen TV. That would be awesomely, incredibly cool!

@16 Yes, it would be nice to bike on I-5 and Aurora, for the reasons I've already listed. Flatter, direct, less stopping. Why do the cars get all the attention? Oh right, because we live in a country that's ruled by the oil industry and everyone grows up being indoctrinated with this belief that's it their RIGHT to drive a car from sixteen ever after. And damn these kids with their old fangled human powered transportation!

And re: I see - so you think more people would travel interstate by foot if the PCT wasn't so windy?
Why shouldn't it be an option?

If we all made enough money to live near where we work, we'd all happily walk each day. But try telling a Marxist that their expectations are out of whack, see how well that goes.

Walking on that raised curb there seems a better idea, but he is not in a travel lane, so he really shouldn't be disrupting the drivers around him. And, as earlier mentioned, there's no evidence he didn't just break down and was walking seeking help. MOST people have cell phones today, but certainly not everyone.

I now have some very direct options for walking/biking/taking public transit to where I need to go, but in the past I've lived in places where the best (possibly only) option was a high-speed (though not interstate) road, and I always felt for those who had to walk and bike them for lack of a car. They at least had good shoulders so they could be safe-ish, but, in hindsight, it was a serious injustice that someone could live only 2-5 miles from the major employment center and have to risk their life to get to and fro every day without a car. Biking 5 miles will take a normal person less than 30 minutes, but most of the country behaves like you CAN'T POSSIBLY traverse that distance without burning up some dinosaurs.