* * * * *
Traffic
> Since 1970, the population of the United States has grown by forty per
> cent, while the number of registered vehicles has increased by nearly a
> hundred per cent—in other words, cars have proliferated more than twice as
> fast as people have. During this same period, road capacity increased by
> six per cent.
>
The New Yorker: The Slow Lane [1]
A long but interesting article about traffic trends in the United States (and
New York City in particular) and it sounds like thing will get worse before
they get better (if they get better at all).
Obligatory Sidebar Links
Traffic Waves [2]
The Physics of Gridlock [3]
The physics of traffic [4]
Microsimulation of road traffic [5]
Kinematics of Driving: Some “Real” Traffic Considerations [6]
I also believe that zoning laws also contribute to the traffic problem.
Strict zoning (like the zoning down here in Lower Sheol) creates traffic
problems since to get anywhere you have to drive. There are no closeby
commercial areas to The Facility in the Middle of Nowhere (which is why I
gave it that name); the closest is about two miles away whereas back in Condo
Conner, there was a small shopping center just around the corner, and a major
one about a mile down the road. Heck, the closest park is over two miles
away, whereas my paternal grandparents lived right next to a park.
Don't get me wrong—I love my car and I certainly don't want to get rid of it.
I just wish there were more places close by that I could walk to (then again,
I would certainly settle for about a 60% reduction in the number of cars down
here).
[1]
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?020902fa_fact
[2]
http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html
[3]
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/12/budiansky.htm
[4]
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/12/8/9
[5]
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/index.html
[6]
http://www.dctech.com/physics/features/0700.php
Email author at
[email protected]
