I wish more roads were NW/SE and NE/SW to make the sun’s position less of an issue
In June, the sun rises in the NE and sets in the NW; in December, it rises in the SE and sets in the SW. If I’m modelling the geometry in my head correctly, W/E roads are indeed worst overall, but N/S roads are best.
ETA: I’m pretty sure that a global change as you suggest would still be an overall improvement.
Assuming you’re not in a polar region, you should be able to set up a network of NW/SE, and NE/SW roads that never face directly towards the sun; using these, you can get anywhere. As you get farther from the equator, however, the NW/SE and NE/SW roads have to get ever closer to being due N/S roads, so travelling E or W becomes ever more inconvenient. And once you reach an (Ant)-Arctic Circle, no directions are safe.
The effect exists at all latitudes where a sunrise or sunset actually occurs, but the precise direction (how much N or S of W or E) will vary with latitude (as well as date, of course). The extreme case is the point near the pole where the sunrise or sunset is barely averted, where the position of the sun will be due N or S (neither W nor E since it is simultaneously rise and set); even at the equator, however, the sun will be somewhat N or S of W or E. The exception is when sunrise or sunset occurs at the precise moment of equinox; then all latitudes will experience a sunrise or sunset, and all (except at the poles themselves where these directions don’t exist) will experience it as due W or E. (All exact claims are theoretical assuming a perfectly spherical Earth, but the general phenomenon should occur any time that’s not very close to the equinox and any place that’s not right up next to a cliff or something.)
In June, the sun rises in the NE and sets in the NW; in December, it rises in the SE and sets in the SW. If I’m modelling the geometry in my head correctly, W/E roads are indeed worst overall, but N/S roads are best.
ETA: I’m pretty sure that a global change as you suggest would still be an overall improvement.
Unless, of course, I want to get somewhere east or west of me.
Then they aren’t so useful.
Assuming you’re not in a polar region, you should be able to set up a network of NW/SE, and NE/SW roads that never face directly towards the sun; using these, you can get anywhere. As you get farther from the equator, however, the NW/SE and NE/SW roads have to get ever closer to being due N/S roads, so travelling E or W becomes ever more inconvenient. And once you reach an (Ant)-Arctic Circle, no directions are safe.
Are those effects latitude dependent?
The effect exists at all latitudes where a sunrise or sunset actually occurs, but the precise direction (how much N or S of W or E) will vary with latitude (as well as date, of course). The extreme case is the point near the pole where the sunrise or sunset is barely averted, where the position of the sun will be due N or S (neither W nor E since it is simultaneously rise and set); even at the equator, however, the sun will be somewhat N or S of W or E. The exception is when sunrise or sunset occurs at the precise moment of equinox; then all latitudes will experience a sunrise or sunset, and all (except at the poles themselves where these directions don’t exist) will experience it as due W or E. (All exact claims are theoretical assuming a perfectly spherical Earth, but the general phenomenon should occur any time that’s not very close to the equinox and any place that’s not right up next to a cliff or something.)