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The Thoreau Institute (www.ti.org) invited me to speak about my research on traffic calming projects in the United States and abroad at their conference, "Preserving the American Dream," held in Portland, OR., April 16-18, 2004. The Thoreau Institute is concerned about the determination of many city planners and local governments to impose high density growth on our communities. It is the belief of radicals in the "new urbanist" movement that only by modeling cities after densities similar to Europe will they achieve mainstream shift away from the automobile. Part and parcel of this dogma is the emphasis on heavily subsidizing the building of light rail lines at the expense of overlooking badly needed road improvements across America. Traffic calming is an element of the new urbanist's plan to force people onto other modes of transportation by increasing congestion and making driving difficult. Literature from Europe, where traffic calming first emerged, quite openly supports the building of devices such as speed humps to make travel by car slow and uncomfortable. Not only is it believed that the implementation of slowing devices on city streets will make public transport more attractive, but that the resulting labor of travel will socially engineer people away from the mobility to which they have become accustomed. (See: The Greening of Urban Transport by Rodney Tolley, United Kingdom, 1990) The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths, by Randal O'Toole, Director of the Thoreau Institute is a book I highly recommend for a clear and well researched portrayal of the political movement behind new urbanism and traffic calming. I think you will be quite surprised to become acquainted with the hidden agendas of local officials, planners and engineers intent upon imposing calming projects in our communities. The book can be purchased on the Thoreau website at: www.ti.org/va.html
Kathleen Calongne, |