More convenient, environment friendly and safer mode of commute is need of the day.
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| image: flickr |
Roads are being built by human beings since the invention of
the wheel and axle. They take different formats in terms of carpeting or no
carpeting. On the one hand these roads and highways have proved to be the most
popular mode of intra country or intercountry transportation; they have proved
to be a burden on the society in several ways.
Highways carry huge volume of passengers and goods everyday
making the modern consumerism feasible. On the hindside if we look at it
closely, we find it has perhaps caused more damage to the planet than the good.
Let’s try and look at damages with a rational mind (without
letting our swanky cars and powerful motor bikes getting us biased).
Cost of construction and maintenance:
Billions of dollars are being spend
every year in construction and maintenance of roads and highways worldwide. According
to worldhighways.com, a study of highway construction costs in eight European
countries highlights Austria as the most expensive. The report says that
highways in Austria cost €12.87 million/km. The next most expensive country is
Hungary at €11.21 million/km, followed by Slovakia at €9.56 million/km and then
the Czech Republic at €8.86 million/km. At the other end of the spectrum, costs
in Denmark are only €5.89 million/km, in Croatia €6.682 million/km, in Slovenia
€7.29 million/km and in Germany €8.24 million/km. Construction of highways in
mountainous terrain is most expensive in Germany at €25.99 million/km followed
by Austria with €24.97 million/km, with the Czech Republic, Slovenia and
Croatia following in descending order.
According to eastlothian.gov.uk, cost
of road maintenance per km comes to about €12668/km
Above figures merely indicate that every
country spends huge amounts of money constructing and maintaining the roads and
highways. Just imagine, this volume of money going into finding alternate mode
of sustainable transportation and building them would throw up what kind of
results!
Accidents on highways and roads:
According to WHO, number of road
traffic deaths were 1.25 million globally. Almost half of
all deaths on the world’s roads are among those with the least protection –
motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. Staggering stats, in spite of all road
safety awareness campaign expenditures and measures to control them.
Imagine, if we
had no roads, an alternate safer mode of transport, how many lives would be
saved per year worldwide.
Pollution in building and maintaining the highways and roads:
According to Wikipedia, “the environmental
impact of roads (both positive and negative) include the local effects of
highways such as on noise, water pollution, habitat destruction/disturbance and
local air quality; and the wider effects which may include climate change from vehicle emissions. The design,
construction and management of roads, parking and other related facilities as
well as the design and regulation of vehicles can change the impacts to varying
degrees. Roads are known to cause significant damage to forests, prairies,
streams and wetlands. Besides the direct
habitat loss due to the road itself, and the roadkill of animal species, roads
alter water-flow patterns, increase noise, water, and air pollution, create
disturbance that alters the species composition of nearby vegetation thereby
reducing habitat for local native animals, and act as barriers to animal movements.”
There are several other negative
impacts of highways and road construction mentioned on the same website. In the
developing countries, the pollution generated by carpeting of the roads are
much more grave with usage of asphalt in large quantities.
Road rage:
According to brandongaille.com thousands
of people are killed or injured in road rage incidents every year. 1 out of 3 drivers that live in one of
the largest cities in the United States spends over 40 hours per year being
stuck in a traffic jam. Cases of road rage are increasing every year with
increase in traffic and more new cars coming on the road. Though there is no
official and authentic data available, I think almost all of us would have experienced
road rage at some point in time or the other. Needless to mention, it gets
fatal at times.
Restrictive mode of transportation:
Highways and roads
are built only on the land and it doesn’t work on water. Earth’s 71% surface is
covered by water. Road doesn’t make sense in more than 80% of the earth
surface, if we include high altitude mountains and terrains. So, unlike
airways, it’s restrictive too.
Let’s give it a
thought and join the discussion. Can humanity find a more sustainable, viable
and safer means of transport?
Resources:
http://brandongaille.com/21-startling-road-rage-facts-and-statistics/
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