To see Wellingtonians still making the case for the
Transmission Gully route at a time when the need
to reduce carbon emissions should be overriding all
other considerations is a bit like watching people
squabbling over deckchairs as the Titanic sinks.
Anyone even toying with the idea of letting this
proposed superhighway go ahead needs their head
read. Yet still its supporters bleat, claiming that
Wellington and the nation must have the new road
at all costs—otherwise (quel horreur!) it might take
seven minutes longer to drive north or south by the
existing coastal route. Get a life, guys. The ubiquity
of car travel, as we know it, is already history; you
may have cars in your eyes but those of us in the real
world don’t: we see that the golden age of the private
car has peaked, and the only credible demand now is
for transport alternatives—none of which involve
four-lane highways and single individuals chewing up
space and speed in tonnes of steel and chrome.
Astonishingly, even the Dominion Post has finally
recognized reality and pronounced the Gully route dead,
though (of course) purely for economic reasons. Which,
though they may not know it or care to acknowledge it,
are one and the same as environmental reasons.
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2 comments:
Get a life yourself, Welch.
Try reading some robust Civil Defence analysis of Wellington region's needs instead of the fiction that seems to inform your flabby opinions.
People are still going to need private transport in the next century, whatever it is fuelled by. Properly planned roads are essential to us all, until we grow wings or our private transport does. Don't hold your breath.
Anon's comments reflect the black and white dysfunction of many on the Right.
Transmission Gully isn't necessarily essential for "properly planned roads".
Moreover, the "corrugated plateau" for oil prices appears to have arrived....and roads will over time see fewer vehicles simply because people will use their cars less and won't go as far in them as often. We've already seen it this year. That won't be the last time. Not even close.
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