AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 14 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTunnel vision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The topic of building a tunnel to divert some traffic off of Roswell Road has resurfaced, and after mulling the idea over for a year I no longer think it’s a bad idea.
I think it is a bad idea of colossal proportions.
In my time in and around Atlanta I can’t think of a fix for a traffic situation that ever really fixed the problem. Roads get widened and re-routed. New roads get built. Lights are installed. The problem never really goes away.
Part of the problem is that we don’t live in a Lego world where cities can be torn apart and re-assembled in 15 minutes. Problem roads can’t just be rolled up and unfurled where they will work better.
But in large part the problems we complain so bitterly about are of our own making. In this case we’re way too in love with our cars.
Do you know anyone who carpools? I can’t name one person I know who even shares a ride with one other person.
Do you know anyone who rides the bus? I don’t. We all have excuses why we can’t use public transportation. We’re too busy to ride the bus. We’d rather waste our time in traffic, I guess.
And while we’re at it, I can’t recall the last time I saw a crowded school bus. There are plenty of kids on the bus routes to fill the yellow monsters, but too many kids “have” to be driven to school. Or they get to be 16 and their parents add one more car to the busy streets.
Gas has nosed above the $3 per gallon mark, but I don’t a push toward conservation by using our cars a little less. Years ago when gas prices went up the used car lots were dotted with gas-sucking muscle cars. Now sales of big-engine vehicles continues to rise, and few are getting left in the driveway.
Do we walk or ride our bikes to get around town? Not that I can tell. We “need” to get where we’re going and can’t be bothered.
So now we have an atrocious traffic problem and we’re looking for the politicians to fix it so we don’t have to change anything we’re doing. Perhaps we’ll spend millions, build a tunnel, get a few days or weeks of relief until a few months later when we’ll be stuck in traffic once again.
What do you expect from self-imposed tunnel vision?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Jim Osterman
Comments
By Dave III
January 14, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
The trouble with bikes and walking? Same as I said last time, the city is all but designed to prevent people from doing that. Try it: Walk to the nearest gas station from your home. Unless you live ON Roswell or Peachtree or some major artery I bet five dollars it’ll take at least twenty minutes with less than 60% of the way paved with sidewalks. Ya wanna ride your bike? I bet you’ll have to be prepared to ride in the gutter or on the non-existent sidewalks, if you don’t want to end up as someone’s hood ornament.
Will bike lanes and sidewalks solve all the problems? No, among many other things there’s still the matter of the insane zoning issues… but it would be a start, I think.