Walkability in Amsterdam

I'm particularly excited about walkability initiatives. I spend some time imagining a walkable corridor from my neighborhood on one side of KMart to Soldiers Field on the other side. Right now to walk or bike that 2 block distance is treacherous: with 6 retail wide driveways in one city block, no buffer between the traffic on 9th St and the sidewalk, a bicycle tire inner-tube eating railroad crossing. You get the picture.

So I thought that Amsterdam by all reports would have walkability figured out, and I could take inspiration from that, and come back and get 'er done. But I soon realized that every solution is complex.

For instance, there's a picture I have which I can't seem to figure out how to upload here but it shows the traffic lights in Amsterdam: one for cars, another for trams, another for bikes, and another for pedestrians - a bouquet of traffic lights on every corner. Now imagine being a pedestrian with two children, one of which is a nine year old who likes to move. You have a bike lane, an automobile lane, a tram lane, then an automobile lane, and a bike lane again to cross - five lanes of traffic. There is a pedestrian "island" between each lane, and the lights go at all different times. After 1 day in London we figured out the traffic comes from the opposite direction, but after a couple days in Amsterdam fully tune in to transit, I still didn't have it figured out.

I do much prefer the American Walk-when-it-says-Walk thing, With the bicyclists in Amsterdam, Germany, and Austria, they don't seem to pay attention to their lights, and there are a lot of bicyclists so you just watch out - even if the light says walk!

My point is that I had gone hoping to learn something about how transit/biking/walking/cars are used in harmony. But the harmony there is not easy to see. And I think we can do better than Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Traffic Lanes
Amsterdam Traffic Light Tree