MOST people in Britain support a bigger and better road network, but backing dwindles greatly when downsides are weighed, says a consultant's commentary in the UK's Transport Times,
All kinds of measures for the Major Roads Network win support, said Jim Steer. All favour improved safety, facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and bus users through bus lanes as part of a wider scheme.
'So, what's not to like? Subject to the funding being forthcoming and to DfT being able to process the applications, this reads like a sensible part of a multi-year, multi-objective, roads investment strategy,' Mr Steer said.
'Increasing the capacity of the national road network as a priority doesn't sit well alongside measures to improve human health in dense urban areas through traffic restraint measures designed to improve air quality,' he said.
Few recall today that the universal popularity of President Dwight Eisenhower's Interstate Highways ran into stiff opposition in some quarters.
'Furious protests took place in Baltimore as a key cross-city element of his Inter-State Freeway programme surfaced on the west side of the city,' said Mr Steer.
'He had happily, but wrongly, assumed that the Interstate would be built across the wide-open plains of the Midwest rather than penetrate cities and require wholesale property demolition,' such things are of as much concern today as they were in the 1950s, he said,
WORLD SHIPPING
All kinds of measures for the Major Roads Network win support, said Jim Steer. All favour improved safety, facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and bus users through bus lanes as part of a wider scheme.
'So, what's not to like? Subject to the funding being forthcoming and to DfT being able to process the applications, this reads like a sensible part of a multi-year, multi-objective, roads investment strategy,' Mr Steer said.
'Increasing the capacity of the national road network as a priority doesn't sit well alongside measures to improve human health in dense urban areas through traffic restraint measures designed to improve air quality,' he said.
Few recall today that the universal popularity of President Dwight Eisenhower's Interstate Highways ran into stiff opposition in some quarters.
'Furious protests took place in Baltimore as a key cross-city element of his Inter-State Freeway programme surfaced on the west side of the city,' said Mr Steer.
'He had happily, but wrongly, assumed that the Interstate would be built across the wide-open plains of the Midwest rather than penetrate cities and require wholesale property demolition,' such things are of as much concern today as they were in the 1950s, he said,
WORLD SHIPPING