[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', 'T')he auto/highway/road buidling juggernaut is in overshoot right now.

It's as if they've driven off a cliff but their forward momentum is so strong that they haven't started to feel the pull of gravity or notice that there's no ground under their feet anymore.

Once they hit the ground I since that it will be shocking and unexpected.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', 'T')he auto/highway/road buidling juggernaut is in overshoot right now.

It's as if they've driven off a cliff but their forward momentum is so strong that they haven't started to feel the pull of gravity or notice that there's no ground under their feet anymore.

Once they hit the ground I since that it will be shocking and unexpected.

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Why are we still building highways?

[k_semler]

The same reason the USSR had one assembly plant biulding cars, and another one tearing them apart. The same reason why the army has you dig a 6 foot by 6 foot hole and then fill it in again. The same reason the new deal was done to get us out of the great depression. It is just a make work project to keep people busy, so we can pay them. With thier pay they buy not only the essentials to life, but also various consumer goods. If you want the economy to grow, you have to have an increase in the labor force.

Also, "Idle hands do the work of the devil". If people are busy earning a living, they are far less likely to commit crime, protest, and generally act opposite to the progression of society. Why else do you think most war protesters are full time college, (or high school), kids? Because they don't have to worry about how they are going to pay thier mortgage, or keep thier power on. Mommy and daddy do that for them, so they have all the time in the world to protest.

[medicvet]

What gets to me is with our current infrastructure falling apart, we are talking about building new roads instead of repairing the ones we have, and we REALLY need to be looking at repairing and building up our railway system!

[Roy]

Good question.

The Mayor of Baton Rouge has requested $11 billion from the Federal Gov't to finance the construction of new roads in and around the area. This is due to the 45% increase (figure given by the state dept of transportation) in traffic here since Katrina here. This increase is easily observed and is due to the near doubling of the population here from all the displaced people relocating here.

I wonder why there are no voices speaking up for some sort of mass transit system. I know why. Because it is seen as inferior. After all, only poor people use mass transit here. New roads will make a great deal of money for a select few. That's pretty much the bottom line for every policy, plan, or procedure as far as I can tell.

I've given up on this community. Katrina is/was the last straw. We're finally going ahead with our relocation plans, hopefully within the next six weeks. Using a car in this town has become a major pain in the ass. In fact the quality of life here as declined dramatically in the last 30 days due to the population increase.

Leadership? I don't see it here. All I see is SUVs and big pickup trucks clogging every road, and people driving very angry.

More roads are definitely the answer!!! <sarcasm>

[Wildwell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')efying every driver’s perception of worsening traffic conditions, a survey has shown that road congestion is actually easing.

Trafficmaster, which monitors traffic flow across the UK, has recorded an average 3% reduction in congestion levels between 2004 and 2005. The biggest drop was on notoriously busy sections of the M1 in the East Midlands, where congestion dropped by 5%.

The fall coincides with a 20% increase in the price of fuel from an average of £3.62 per gallon in January to £4.35 in September. “High fuel prices will have had an impact,” said Paul Watters of the AA Motoring Trust. “Some people may have switched to public transport or cut unnecessary journeys. It could also reflect a downturn in the economy.”

Another factor is a fall in new car sales, down by 3.2% last month to their lowest level in five years, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Motoring groups say the government’s plans to introduce road pricing should now be shelved as motorists are already being deterred from non-essential journeys.

Congestion remained particularly high in the southeast and the West Midlands, however. On the M6 in Birmingham congestion increased by 75% in October following a price rise on the new M6 toll road from £3 to £3.50 in the summer.

[NeoPeasant]

I'm betting on it

[frankthetank]

Didn't realize that these toll roads were actually "leased" by private companies. I live in an area without tolls, and have only used them when traveling once to Ohio and again during a trip to Chicago.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')n Monday, Governor Mitch Daniels said a Spanish-Australian consortium had bid $3.85 billion to run the Indiana Toll Road, a 157-mile highway across northern Indiana that runs from the Illinois to Ohio, for 75 years.

[NeoPeasant]

I imagine toll roads will prove to be a piss poor investment post peak. Who's gonna pay the toll to avoid the no-longer congested local roads?

[woodman]

All of America is for sale. No joke. This includes our politicians and our children. Sold into slavery under an ideal of free marketeering. When we import products made by slaves we condemn ourselves to that same quality of life. Things will reach equilibrium. It is OK to buy things made by those who have no choices because we pray to the god of capitalism. As long as the holy freemarket ideal is upheld then it is alright in many peoples minds.

I am not against free markets. I'm all for it. Problem is tollways aren't free; otherwise they'd be called freeways. Freeways aren't free either but I'd rather pay the taxes than waste time and money on stopping and paying wages for the tollbooths and money takers. There is something shoddy and half-assed about the toll road system.

Collectivism is the quickest road to slavery but the freemarket and selling off our assetts is just as sure. I believe human greed will take us all down to the mean. This freemarket isn't free. Nobody rides for free.

Sorry to pontificate and for veeriing off post.

[128shot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('woodman', 'A')ll of America is for sale. No joke. This includes our politicians and our children. Sold into slavery under an ideal of free marketeering. When we import products made by slaves we condemn ourselves to that same quality of life. Things will reach equilibrium. It is OK to buy things made by those who have no choices because we pray to the god of capitalism. As long as the holy freemarket ideal is upheld then it is alright in many peoples minds.

I am not against free markets. I'm all for it. Problem is tollways aren't free; otherwise they'd be called freeways. Freeways aren't free either but I'd rather pay the taxes than waste time and money on stopping and paying wages for the tollbooths and money takers. There is something shoddy and half-assed about the toll road system.

Collectivism is the quickest road to slavery but the freemarket and selling off our assetts is just as sure. I believe human greed will take us all down to the mean. This freemarket isn't free. Nobody rides for free.

Sorry to pontificate and for veeriing off post.

[UIUCstudent01]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('128shot', 'I') bet you'll see alot of that in the future. or you just pay an autofee and it scans a bar that says you're a "member" and can travel the road.

[alpha480v]

We have E-Z Pass in New York State.You still have to stop briefly though for the scanner to pick up your chip in your vehicle.

[mermaid]

I wouldn't give a nickle to an asphalt-lane

[duke3522]

The state of Indiana has decided to privatize the Indiana Toll Road by selling the road to a group of foreign investors. For those that don’t know, the Indiana Toll Road is heavily traveled because it runs along the very northern edge of Indiana connecting Chicago to the Northeastern US.

The lease/selling price is $3.8 billion up front money. With the possibility of more cash in years to come.

On the surface, to a PO guy like me this sounds like a good idea. Selling off a road that’s value will only decrease as the effects of PO set in. And the state could use the $3.8 billion to help prepare for the continuing increases in energy costs.

But what has Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Bushco crony, decided to do with this windfall of funds? You guessed it!!! The worst possible thing TPTB could do with the money!! Build More Roads!!!

So, considering the above, can we really say that TPTB really know what is going on with PO? After all Governor Daniels is a Bushco insider who is betting the future of the State of Indiana on continuing cheap over the road transportation.



Duke of Indiana

Article

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('duke3522', '
')So, considering the above, can we really say that TPTB really know what is going on with PO?

[NeoPeasant]

It does not matter to the powerful interests pushing to build roads whether peak oil will soon render them pointless or not.

My state of Utah is in a literal frenzy to spend billions to expand existing roads and build more of them. I have attended public meetings and sought opportunities to speak about peak oil and it's implications on future travel and the need for more roads. They listen politely and immediately dismiss me as a tinfoil hat nutjob. Because after all, if there were such a serious issue, it would lead Fox news daily wouldn't it?

I have posted several comments on this road advocates blog until he turned on his comment moderation specifically to make me disappear.

I'd like to hear other's opinions about when and under what circumstances the building of auto dependent suburbs and the roads to service them will end.

[ab0di]

For an insane road building plan check out this.
Your tax dollars at work.


"The NAFTA corridors system currently under construction will irreversibly divide the U.S. geographically, economically, and socially for the sake of profit. The cumulative consequences of this "biggest engineering and construction project in the history of the U.S." promise to be more damaging than any natural disaster in modern times.

"The largest of these massive transportation corridors, designed primarily to accommodate NAFTA traffic from Mexico across the U.S., will be 1,200 feet wide and consume 146 acres (almost 1/4 of a square mile) per mile. Because the corridors will contain high-speed passenger and freight rails and underground water, gas, and petroleum pipelines, as well as multiple high-speed truck and passenger vehicle lanes, they will be constructed at grade level and permanently divide the areas through which they pass. To make matters worse, the extensive grading and construction of barriers to protect the high-speed traffic will alter air currents and watersheds and prevent the movement of wildlife.

"The two priority NAFTA corridors under construction, I-35 and I-69, will divide the nation in half from south to north. The I-35 corridor, beginning at the international border at Laredo, will split the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa in half, and lop off the southeast corner and the eastern edge of Minnesota. The I-69 corridor will sever the Gulf Coast from the state of Texas and cut diagonally across Arkansas. It will then slice off the western margins of Tennessee and Kentucky before bisecting Indiana and cutting a big chunk out of southeastern Michigan."

[duke3522]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('duke3522', '
')So, considering the above, can we really say that TPTB really know what is going on with PO?