Adrian Betteridge from Wokingham Active Travel Community Hub (WATCH) writes:
Tucked away at the south eastern corner of Wokingham Borough is the headquarters of the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory. Since 1933, its work has shaped the UK’s roads, vehicles, pavements and cycleways.
One of TRL’s eminent alumni is the late Professor Reuben Jacob Smeed, who first identified the self-regulating nature of road congestion.
Smeed found that when roads become congested beyond a given level, people find alternatives to driving.
When congestion falls, for example due to road improvements, traffic grows and congestion returns to the original level.
This has been found to hold true around the world, whether for multi-lane highways or whole towns and cities.
With increasing road capacity failing to solve congestion, many towns and cities have tried a different approach.
By making alternatives to driving more attractive, such as walking, cycling and public transport, drivers are less willing to tolerate congestion.
This leads to sustainable reductions in traffic, with the bonus of reduced carbon dioxide emissions, improved air quality and, if the alternative involves human power, improving health and wellbeing.
Having seen the results, cities such as Paris, Seoul and even the US Federal government are now removing road capacity in favour of alternative solutions.
So how does this relate to Wokingham Borough?
With many new houses planned, some new roads are clearly needed.
But beyond these, will the further investment in roads and reducing congestion have a beneficial effect?
The council’s own Overview and Scrutiny Committee asked this same question in September 2020 after they were briefed on a 2011 successor to Smeed’s analysis, the Fundamental Law of Traffic
Congestion.
It may be argued that funding alternatives to driving is unaffordable at the moment.
Yet we continue to invest massively in the roads in the name of reducing congestion.
At best, this may be ineffective.
At worst, it acts against the limited investment being made in the sustainable alternatives, and will exacerbate the problems of carbon dioxide emissions, poor air quality and sedentary lifestyles.
At WATCH, we believe that it is time for a different approach, to challenge outdated thinking and invest in a more sustainable future.
You can find more from WATCH at facebook.com/watchwokingham
