While
reading the blog “The so called transportation system” written by Carrie, it is
difficult to not shake my head in agreement. While making the point about the
ridiculous traffic in Austin, Carrie begins to present the reader with crucial
evidence from the Austin Chamber regarding “high incidents and fatality rates”
to make her case. Traffic costs the city of Austin, a lot. “This very
congestion costs Central Texans $930/year per person!!!” She makes the case
that not only does traffic cost time and headaches, it hurts the local economy.
Sitting in traffic means less time to purchase goods, and causes more time for
pain and agony. It doesn’t help that the city of Austin’s population and growth
rate is exploding. With an increase in people migrating to the rapidly growing
city, it doesn’t do a bit of help for the already horrific traffic problem.
“Austin Chamber says that in the next 25 years Texas will see population
increase of 65%, road use increase by 214%, and state road capacity.
However,
growth doesn’t seem to be the only problem pointed out by Carrie. It is the
fact that the local government has done almost nothing to combat a worsening
traffic highway model. Instead of focusing on a light rail system (which only
applies to a small % of the Austin population), the government should be
focusing on public transportation. An idea of hers includes the production of
double decker busses so that they “take up less room on the road than those God
awful extended busses” In conclusion; we need to be innovative when it comes to
the means of tackling our flawed transportation system. In order for that to
ever be accomplished, the people of Austin must make their voices heard.
