Ways to solve traffic problems

THE EDITOR: I am thinking back over the last 30 years or so to try and figure out how much actual useful road mileage has been added to the system, and I am hard pressed to come up with more than about 30 miles or so, some of it by dualling. I must have overlooked some. I then wondered, in a simplistic way, how much road would be needed to accommodate the increase in vehicles using the roads. Let us say that the average vehicle is about 12 feet in length, and usually about half a car length exists between cars in one of our all-too-familiar jams, about 18 feet per vehicle will be used in a jam. Per 100,000 cars added, the “jam space” needed would be 100,000 multiplied by 18 divided by 5280 (feet per mile). This comes out at 341 miles. I repeat that this is an unrealistically simplistic analysis, but it does make you think that one fateful day the last car might drive out and completely gridlock the whole country.

The National Transportation Plan is clearly of increasingly vital and urgent importance. We are already way behind the rate of road-building required, and something must be done to reduce the dependence of our citizens on cars for every aspect of their lives outside their homes. Efficient mass transit must be “fast tracked,” as must be Goverment (and Business) de-centralisation. A dedicated school bus system (as in the USA and UK) is another important factor. Staggered or flexible work hours must be seriously examined, and then implemented. In the longer term, infrastructure planning must include provision for citizens to be able to undertake cycle journeys in relative safety (not possible presently). Cycle paths and dedicated cycle lanes are being used in many European countries to encourage citizens to improve their health, congestion, and the environment at the same time. (All cost savings to Governments!)

Whilst on the subject of transport planning, a couple of random thoughts came to mind. The arterial road system should be planned in a way that takes into account the heavy industry aspect of our country. It should be possible to transport significantly oversized loads from any of our ports to any of our industrial parks. That would mean consideration of width, height, length, and weight implications. There should be bypass roads to go around any limiting walkovers and flyovers, and intersections and junctions should be designed with as wide a radius as reasonable. The proliferation of overhead wires in close proximity to, and crossing roadways, should be discouraged or eliminated wherever possible. If we decide to go with an elevated rail transit system, the space below might be worth consideration as a revenue generating way of solving the street vendor dilemma in the busier areas of the East-West corridor. OK guys, so when do we start?

SIMON KELSHALL
Diego Martin