A few interesting things spring to mind. And these come from someone who is both a car driver and a cyclist.
“Relevant Academic Papers”. These are papers, right? Not actual evidence? As with most academic papers, they can be argued and evidence found and use to back up the hypothesis. Some academics have argued such things as the holocaust never happening. As for the traffic modelling, are these models just that? Models? I have a questioning mind, so it would be interesting to read the academic papers and see what evidence the papers are based on. Just as a passing off the cuff remark, I have met many academics who have no concept of reality and common sense, although this certainly does not account for all of them. Oh and the saying “Lies, damn lies and statistics”. I know, I work with them and my statistic prove that my results are excellent this year!!
"Unleash suppressed demand is also interesting". My logic (and common sense) would suggest that it would merely divert traffic from other more congested areas. As a car user and cyclist, I know many rat runs, short cuts and what routes to take and not to take at specific times in York. I never use the ring road as it is so congested and instead weave my way through town. I’m sure the ring road would ease town congestion and divert traffic to the dual ring road.
This would have many benefits. It would cut pollution as when cars are moving, they emit fewer emissions and use fewer resources. My car does over 50mpg when moving. When it is stationary or moving slowly in heavy traffic, it can be down to less than 20mpg. If there are fewer cars in town, more people would be encouraged to use bicycles and public transport would flow quicker. Which is the main problem with public transport. It goes round the houses and still has to sit in traffic so it takes a really long time. You can’t take your DIY stuff back on the bus either. And another thing, the last time I went to London on the train for a training course, it was over £160. If four people went, you could almost buy a car for the total amount and fuel would only cost £40 for the journey. It doesn’t really encourage use of the public transport system.
Cyclists are scared of traffic, so by easing town congestion, more people would be encouraged to cycle. Incidentally, there does seem to be a large increase of cyclists recently, so long may that continue.
Building of roads is not always the answer to easing congestion, but sometimes it must be. Logic and common sense surely point the way to dualling of the ring road to be a good idea for all the reasons aforementioned.
On another slightly connected note, I’m sorry to say that the government are not going to take a blind bit of notice of the petition. They never have yet!!
It seems that in this country the type of government system does not encourage cooperation for the common good.
“The millions of pounds required for such a project could be used
instead to invest funds in public transport to help reduce congestion on the
current ring road.”
What could actually be done to easy congestion with public transport? People who use cars, generally use cars and wouldn’t be seen dead on public transport, they would rather cycle instead. I can’t see what could be done. Maybe more, longer buses. Tadcaster road could be one long bus. But then get a couple of the big ones head to toe and they would fill Tadcaster road. Perhaps a conveyer belt would be best, like they have in airports.
I don’t really trust traffic planners to plan cycling facilities properly anyway. I’ve seen some really silly cycle paths. Hasn’t anyone been to the Netherlands (Holland as it is widely, but incorrectly known. Holland is just a small number of provinces and the whole country should be referred to as Nederland – or the Netherlands.) to see how it should be done.
Perhaps it is best to look at both sides of the argument before rushing to say “no” to the dualling and to perhaps walk a mile in another mans shoes. We do rely on cars heavily. I use a car to get to races as well as the commissaires using them in the races. I also use mine to get me to Dalby forest. Can you imagine taking a mountain bike on a bus or a train? Oo, sir, you’ve got to book that on three months in advance and have a special ticket and if the train is too full on the day, you can’t come on.
Is there a corresponding petition in favour of dualling? That would be interesting and would actually give a fairer indication of public opinion. The people who are against dualling would not amount to many in relation to the total number of York residents, so would one assume that those who did not sign are in favour? It would be interesting to get the stats on those pro and those against, but since the government will ignore it anyway, what’s the point.
And anyway, if we don’t build more dual carriageways, how will time triallists have anywhere new to ride?:wink:
As part of the design process, a really fast 10 course could be built.
