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Articles on Roads

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The time savings calculated in road project planning are based on incorrect assumptions about driver behaviour. Mick Tsikas/AAP

Modelling for major road projects is at odds with driver behaviour

Projects like Sydney’s WestConnex and Melbourne’s Western Distributor don’t account for real world evidence of driver behaviour in estimating travel time savings.
By persuading some drivers to travel a different route or at a different time, congestion charges can dramatically improve the flow of traffic. AAP/Andrew Brownbill

How to make cities work better – here’s what the government needs to do

Bigger cities increase wages, output and innovation, but also problems of congestion and pollution. Congestion charges can minimise these problems by dramatically improving traffic flows.
Major development banks are funding logging, mining and infrastructure projects that are having enormous impacts on nature. Here, forests are being razed along a newly constructed road in central Amazonia. William Laurance

Development banks threaten to unleash an infrastructure tsunami on the environment

Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
A well designed user pays system for Australian roads would help boost productivity. Image sourced from shutterstock.com

Road users must pay, sooner rather than later

The longer Australia waits for reform to road use pricing, the more commuters will ultimately end up paying.
If the choice is between waiting in their cars and long waits on inefficient public transport, many people prefer to drive. AAP/Julian Smith

Traffic congestion: is there a miracle cure? (Hint: it’s not roads)

Once a new road opens, people switch back to cars and congestion increases back to a steady-state point of gridlock. For lasting effectiveness, policy needs to include congestion charges and better rail services.
The mathematical modelling of traffic networks can throw up conflicting results. Flickr/Wendell

The maths of congestion: springs, strings and traffic jams

The planning for any new road should include plenty of mathematical modelling. But getting the right numbers can be a challenge and there’s the odd paradox to deal with as well.
More mines, more roads, as the government puts its drive towards economic development ahead of all else. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

There are no green shoots for sustainability in this Budget

Amid talk of paths to surplus and investing in infrastructure, both sides of politics seem to have forgotten Australia’s longstanding responsibility to govern sustainably, and not just for the economy.

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