[bruin]

Well if PO hits in 2008, as expected, none of these programs will pan out anyways. If PO hits in 2020 or something, then we'll need these roads. So either way, it'll all work out.

So let's sing a happy song...la da da da da

[Omnitir]

- But in the mean time they are spending (read wasting) billions of taxpayer dollars on projects that won’t eventuate to anything, and could have been put towards some kind of post peak strategy. Even simply investing in mass transport would prepare for PO, plus have benefits pre peak. Expending freeway systems is just a waste of funds.

[Madpaddy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ireland_hill_of_tara

Yes it's true, the bastards are going to desecrate 4000 years of history to build a motorway that will be useless before it is even complete. Even without PO the benefits of this motorway once complete are questionable. The only thing that can save Tara now is an immediate recession

[formandfile]

Really this topic really lays out the reasons why I'm jumping into the transportation planning field...far too many planners today are completely clueless. Atlanta's regional planning authority calls for billions in new road construction, all of course assuming that the population will spike (which it may, for the city center at least) and that all these people will be driving their 1.4 cars per household (which is far less likely, for obvious reasons). Whatever happens, its obvious that there is little regard for the fact that Atlanta's air quality is nothing to write home about, and a car-heavy transportation network really does nothing to address this.

The reasons for this are obvious though, as real-estate and construction are keeping the US economy afloat right now. Highways induce sprawl, which in turn encourages the most development. Various forms of transit (esp. rail based) encourage development and growth too, but it tends to be more compact and concentrated in nodes around stations. Hence, less overall development. So my theory is that the powers that be are heavilly swayed by the development racket to open up more and more greenspace in the hinterlands to keep the bottom line looking good, regardless of the societal costs.

The icing on the cake is the costs involved in upkeep and maintenance of all these roads. I wont dive deep into this, but lets just leave it at this: steel rails tend to last much longer than asphault roads over time without complete overhaul. The transit agency i work for has been chugging along 21 hours a day, every day and all year for the past 25 years without major track maintenance. No highway carrying the equivilant load could hold a candle to that.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('formandfile', 'R')eally this topic really lays out the reasons why I'm jumping into the transportation planning field...far too many planners today are completely clueless.

[ArimoDave]

Since the Interstate system was originally designed for miltary transport -- yes military transport -- maybe the real reason is not for our vehicles at all, but something more sinister. See the national I.D. threads elsewhere.

If riots are anticipated, the military may be ordered to deploy to one city or another as "demand" requires. Our government may actually be anticipating this.

Don't know for sure, but this is as rational as anything else, I would think.

ArimoDave

[HonestPessimist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ArimoDave', 'S')ince the Interstate system was originally designed for miltary transport -- yes military transport -- maybe the real reason is not for our vehicles at all, but something more sinister. See the national I.D. threads elsewhere.

If riots are anticipated, the military may be ordered to deploy to one city or another as "demand" requires. Our government may actually be anticipating this.

Don't know for sure, but this is as rational as anything else, I would think.

ArimoDave