Sloan
Jun 26 2012, 09:10 AM
QUOTE
Transportation planners, policymakers and other true believers who have embraced the notion that taking away our freeways is a surefire strategy to pry us from our automobiles and force us onto mass-transit systems would be well-advised to adjust their thinking.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/column...0ac21673e8.htmlThe premise is false. I have never read any article that reports on planners using transit to "force" folks into transit. Further, the solution to freeway congestion is not by adding more lanes but by offering a balanced transportation system that gives people freedom of choice to use both autos and rail transit........IMO.
Sloan
EvergreenRailfan
Jun 26 2012, 02:48 PM
I have heard the "force to give up the car" argument being peddled time and time again. I wonder if it is getting more vocal, because it is failing to work anymore. Here in the Pacific Northwest, rail transit has made progress to get votes. In 1968 and 1970, Forward Thrust was defeated in part by AAA Washington calling public transit in general a step backwards. By the 1990s, we at least got it down to just the cost issue, and usually passes on the second attempt.
As for the more lane issue, adding an extra lane only increases traffic at times. There is a stretch of I-5 here, where it is 6 lanes each way and gets clogged during rush hour.