thoughts on the news of the day: traffic

hmmm…..

            “Carmageddon” has begun.  The Interstate 405 corridor in the Los Angeles area is being  shut down for 53 hours while construction crews struggle to begin road work on a 10 mile stretch.  This construction is intended to widen the freeway and lessen the traffic load into L.A.  Commuters were warned of the shut down days ahead of time.  Rooms were made available to local hospital workers to insure they would be on time for work.  Helicopters are on call for transport of patients and an airline has even offered budget fares for planes flying across the city between airports.  They sold out almost immediately.

            Recently, several European cities have closed thoroughfares to automobiles in an effort to curb congestion and limit pollution.  The streets in most European cities were built long ago and are very narrow; so opportunities for widening are limited.  Travelers are now encouraged to take trains, busses and/or ride bicycles.  The upside of this inconvenience is that roads are completely open to foot traffic and a new relaxed ambience has overtaken whole areas of the cities.

            I wonder where we will be on the traffic dilemma in the next ten years.  Will interstates become wider and wider until they overtake our cities.  Will we finally begin to really embrace mass transit in this country?  Will it even matter to folks in rural towns like Mountain Home, where, as one transplanted Californian remarks, it is heaven to pull out on Hwy #178 and not see a vehicle driving in either direction?   

            “Carmageddons” may come and go, which is why I love my Mountain Home where the roads are hilly and curved but nevertheless almost devoid of travelers.

            hmmm…..