Re: new roads don't solve congestion

Pippa's example is a good one, and I also agree with the comments made by Carlos.
 
A useful general reference is the British Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) report "Trunk Roads and the Generation of Traffic" (2004). This is credited with triggering the end of the 'predict and provide' road-building policy, and the beginning of 'new realism'. Sorry, I don't have a copy. The lead academic on this issue in the UK is Phil Goodwin: http://www.transport.uwe.ac.uk/staff/phil.asp.
 
If one wishes to probe further into the reasons we continue to build roads despite everything we now know, one needs to understand some of the perverse economic appraisal tools used by conventional transport planners. So-called time savings (which are nothing of the kind, as people simply travel further within the same time budget) are used to justify the provision of new capacity, assuming free-flow traffic conditions. In Britain, motorists' value of time is typically assigned a larger number than that of pedestrians and cyclists. Add in the revenues from fuel taxation, and you have a system that will almost always favour new road construction or widening. I have a paper "The Myth of Travel Time Savings" if you'd like it off-list.
 
I have mentioned all of this on-list, as I think a great WCN project would be to develop http://www.worldcarfree.net/resources/stats.php by pooling our knowledge to develop an expanded online resource dealing with such matters. For every argument offered by the pro-car lobby (that's a lot of websites to check, and many lengthy arguments in the pub!), we need an instantly available and even better counter-argument drawing on the latest statistics and peer-reviewed research. This would need to be distinct from the VTPI encyclopeadia and similar resources, perhaps through the use of humour (Singer cartoons?) and non-technical language.
 
Simon.

--- On Sun, 25/1/09, Pippa Gallop <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Pippa Gallop <[email protected]>
Subject: [carfree_network] Re: new roads don't solve congestion, examples needed
To: [email protected]
Cc: carfree_network-/[email protected]
Date: Sunday, 25 January, 2009, 11:30 AM

Dear Ian,

I would recommend the Council for the Protection of Rural England's

"Beyond Transport Infrastructure: Lessons for the future from recent 
road projects (Newbury Bypass evaluation)
An analysis of the ‘Five-Years After’ Post-Opening Project Evaluation 
for the A34 Newbury Bypass"

http://www.cpre.org.uk/library/results/roads

All the best,

pippa

Ian Fiddies wrote:
> 
> 
> Can anybody help me by suggesting examples of urban highway projects 
> where the amount of traffic a new road attracts far exceeds the amount 
> predicted by the planners.
> 
> 
> What I need are examples that show how a new road, in a heavily 
> trafficked area will not solve congestion problems.
> 
> 
> /Ian
> 
> 
> 
> Skype- ianfiddies
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Invite your mail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live 
> Spaces. It's easy! Try it! 
>
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-- 
==========================
Pippa Gallop
Research Co-ordinator
CEE Bankwatch Network
http://www.bankwatch.org
Skype: pippa.gallop

c/o Zelena akcija
Frankopanska 1 pp.952
10 000 Zagreb
Hrvatska/Croatia
----------------------------





      
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