Despite efforts to encourage a shift to sustainable transportation, traffic congestion is often the focus of debates over mobility. Motorists endlessly demand more roads, but is this really a solution?
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Roads
Displaying 81 - 100 of 159 articles
Just as America’s highways, sewage systems and water pipes need fixing, so does the growing gap between rich and poor. Trump and the Democrats could use that money to address both.
Patching concrete sidewalks, roads and bridges after every season of snow and ice is expensive. A team of engineers is now testing a new approach harnessing bacteria to patch the potholes and cracks.
Despite boasts of ‘record’ infrastructure spending, relative to GDP it’s comparable to previous budgets. What’s different is that Treasurer Frydenberg has chanced his arm more over the longer term.
The focus on roads reflects the fact that this infrastructure program lags well behind the growth of our biggest cities, resulting in less-than-ideal transport patterns.
The major parties are promising projects costing tens of billions of dollars, with a surprisingly large overlap between them. Yet only two have been endorsed by infrastructure authorities.
US cities were designed and engineered around cars. Now some are working to increase walking and biking, but the shift isn’t easy.
When it snows, it pours – but why do municipalities treat the roads with salt? A chemist explains how salt affects water and ice.
Whichever party wins, Victoria’s new government will have promised the biggest transport infrastructure project in Australian history. So what are the promises and are they backed by proper assessment?
Smart roads in Africa could help reduce the impact of flooding and other disasters that affect rural communities.
Our new invention tackles one of the greatest impediments to fish migration in Australia: culverts, those tunnels or drains often found under roads.
Various attempts have been made to complete Cape Town’s Foreshore Freeway scheme. A new approach is needed.
Solar roadways have been promoted as a way to fight climate change, put people to work and make driving safer. But on closer inspection the reality is less than impressive.
Bumps in the road are dangerous, expensive and difficult to fix.
We need to consider why transport infrastructure is so controversial, and how politicians can ensure they have the public’s trust when making announcements for all transport projects.
Australian bridges are generally safe, but we don’t have transparent information about how often they’re inspected or maintained.
Bridge engineering does not end when construction finishes and traffic starts to flow.
‘The Mother Road’ is one step closer to becoming a National Historic Trail, which would allocate funds for struggling towns along the original Route 66.
Everyone doesn’t simply wait their turn at traffic lights. Signals are set up to enable a ‘green wave’ for cars and adjust to heavy traffic, making walkers wait longer no matter how many there are.
‘Bendable concrete’ is not an oxymoron. Mimicking designs found in nature, engineers are making concrete that gives under stress without shattering – an advance that could improve US infrastructure.
Top contributors
-
Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute
-
Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
-
Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
-
Associate Professor of Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne
-
Associate, Grattan Institute
-
Associate Professor in Infrastructure Management, University of Sydney
-
Researcher in Road Ecology, Nottingham Trent University
-
Honorary Professor of Transport Studies, UCL
-
Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University
-
Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science, Oregon State University
-
Professor in Transport and Logistics Network Modelling, University of Sydney
-
Director, Centre for Western Sydney, Western Sydney University
-
Honorary Fellow in Environmental Sciences, Swansea University
-
Transport Fellow, Grattan Institute
-
Professor of Transport, University of Sydney
