Comment 23103

By Thom (anonymous) | Posted May 14, 2008 at 16:20:23

I'm concerned about the comment that the new expressway reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Sure compared with driving in the city, the constant speeds and no stops on the expressway mean that fuel is burned consistently and therefore there are fewer emissions. But really this is a limited argument.

The best way for each of us as individuals to actually reduce our personal GHGs is to dramatically reduce, if not eliminate, our driving. There are plenty of inexpensive options available including transit and cycling.

Driving on the expressway you might save a ton of GHG over a year compared with Centennial but you would save 20 tons or more if you took the bus for most of your trips. That's a really compelling argument.

And in terms of congestion on the expressway, just wait, it's a well known fact (except perhaps in Hamilton) that trips increase to fill new road capacity. If you know that you won't get stuck in traffic you'll run separate trips instead of combining them to minimize the bother. Then roads fill up and drivers complain and we get more roads.

So building roads and highways are terribly short-term solutions but so are most things that all governments do. Alas.

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