Judge — May 2, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# The Year 2000: Roof-top Boulevards to Relieve Traffic This is a futuristic satire imagining urban traffic solutions in the year 2000. The cartoon depicts a towering multi-story building surrounded by multilevel parking structures and elevated roadways on rooftops. Small cars navigate various levels, with vehicles and pedestrians shown at street level, mid-level, and rooftop heights. The satire mocks speculative urban planning: as traffic congestion worsens, the proposed solution is building upward rather than addressing root causes. An elevator sign reads "ELEVATOR TO THE STREET EVERY HOUR OF THE HOUR," humorously suggesting the street itself has become inaccessible. The joke targets early-20th-century optimism about technological fixes for metropolitan problems. Rather than reducing vehicles, planners imagine literally stacking traffic vertically—a solution both absurd and revealing about how cities might continue prioritizing cars over comprehensive transit reform.