The Road More Traveled: Why the Congestion Crisis Matters More Than You Think, and What We Can Do About It

by Sam Staley, Ted Balaker

Though often dismissed as a minor if irritating nuisance, congestion's insidious effects constrain our personal and professional lives, making it harder to find a good job, spend time with our family, and maintain profitable businesses. After centuries of building our cities into bustling centers of commerce and culture, we are beginning to slow down. The Road More Traveled shines a new light on the problem of traffic congestion in this easily accessible book. You'll learn how we can reclaim our mobility if we are willing to follow successful examples from overseas, where innovations in infrastructure and privatization have made other nations stronger and more competitive. By thoroughly debunking the myths that keep our policy makers trapped in traffic, the book argues that we can and should build our way out of congestion and into a fast-paced future.

Genres: Politics

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2006

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

written at a fourth grade level, this book nonetheless offers extraordinarily sound thinking on what we must do to address ever-worsening congestion on our roadways. anyone who lives near a city can attest to how debilitating traffic is becoming, yet the authors make a convincing case that the tools for solving this problem are within our grasp. strong leadership is needed to implement innovative transportation policy solutions. transit does not fare well in this book, the authors believe that its high construction costs only make sense in very high density areas. they strongly advocate private-public partnerships in building and maintaining roads -- america is behind the curve in this regard. a lot of myths about the supposed ill-effects of car use are demolished. the authors make the case that cars and roads and suburbs are not the villain (this may make kool-aid drinking green types who take these things on faith uncomfortable). this is eye-opening stuff for anyone with an interest in the subject, though you have to slog through a lot of banalities to get to the goodies.

[Jeff Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read all the way through on a cross-country flight. An excellent answer to the bleatings of the transit dorks.

Gave me information I was not aware of even as a regular follower of these issues (e.g. the relatively large amount of recent road innovation in Europe).

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The changing face of transportation