We should be spending up big on roads??

By: willy*bach (Registered ) on 18-10-2007 02:41

Dear AlanK 
 
Conventional wisdom says that we should be spending up big on roads and more roads. But we might be missing some important constraints unless we notice what is going on around us. One of these is the amount of road-space. We cannot build more roads without destroying the cities they were meant to serve. 
 
Another constraint is the number of vehicles that can fit onto the available road-space before the moving speed drops to walking speed. We have already reached something close to this, yet more vehicles are added every day as though there was no tomorrow. 
 
Yet another constraint, rarely mentioned by the old political parties is the price and availability of fuel. This one is starting to really bite. Subsidising people to use more fuel will be self-defeating as the price will continue to soar. Even worse, we are past the peak of production and both availability and price are problematic. The war in Iraq is all about making a grab for the oil resources of the Middle East region. I don’t want to be fighting resource wars for the remainder of this century. I don’t want people to die so that I can drive my car. 
 
We need to start immediately adapting to the changed circumstances and global climate change. We need to modify our behaviour and become more aware of our environmental footprint. Price signals will be part of this process. Legislation will be needed to require less polluting, more efficient vehicles and a huge investment will be needed to encourage perhaps 80% of our journeys to be made by public transport. European cities already take this for granted and most people accept that - so, why not us? 
 
Willy Bach 
Greens candidate for Griffith

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