has also led to an intensive and widespread yearning to own a car, even just to drive
only during the week end.
In fact, transport problems are not easy to analyse except at a very superficial
level. Although calculating the savings in man-hours and tonne-kilometres that
could result by reducing or decreasing certain road trips, is straightforward, these
are only the obvious parameters and not the only ones. Thus, a scheme which might
be subject to such easy analysis as above, may exhibit some complications when
compared against others. Any scheme improving transport facilities will affect
(significantly or less so) other land uses and thus impact on the traffic flow which
initiated this transport improvement scheme being planned. This is quite an important parameter in urban areas, where significantly improving transport facilities
entail major upheavals in land uses.
Although up to a threshold road traffic flows may be treated in isolation – a first
diversion and re-channelling them, in canals or channels, so to say, just as water
flows could be conveyed – this is a mistake of assuming that traffic flows are
independent phenomena that can be individually processed. Unfortunately, traffic
flows result from many other activities and unless this is recognised, it will be
difficult to solve traffic problems. The morning traffic entering into a town most
likely includes the following components:
(a) people going to work;
(b) business or pleasure trips;
(c) to be consumed in the town;
(d) transport of materials for manufacture or other processes in the town;
(e) people and goods travelling through the town towards some other place, etc.
At one time, the railway became an important means of transport, particularly for
long distances, but often the last (or first) leg of the journey was by road. However, in
the recent decades, road transport has achieved new peaks with new technology in
road construction, motorways and with motorised vehicles.
Railways now show relative advantages under the following circumstances:
(i) transport of heavy goods over long distances, such as cars, petroleum and bulk
cement which can be easily transhipped.
(ii) commuter traffic between the suburbs and big urban centres concentrations,
with distances ranging between 20 to 60 km.
(iii) fast inter-urban traffic where the plane alternative might not happen to be
convenient.
When the road network is comparatively undeveloped, the number of motor
vehicles is usually small, but as the inhabitants (1) acquire more wealth and
(2) experience the defects of available transport facilities, they will try to acquire a
car. This may quickly increase the national vehicle fleet by several times, thereby
increasing road traffic considerably.
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1 Introduction to Infrastructure
only during the week end.
In fact, transport problems are not easy to analyse except at a very superficial
level. Although calculating the savings in man-hours and tonne-kilometres that
could result by reducing or decreasing certain road trips, is straightforward, these
are only the obvious parameters and not the only ones. Thus, a scheme which might
be subject to such easy analysis as above, may exhibit some complications when
compared against others. Any scheme improving transport facilities will affect
(significantly or less so) other land uses and thus impact on the traffic flow which
initiated this transport improvement scheme being planned. This is quite an important parameter in urban areas, where significantly improving transport facilities
entail major upheavals in land uses.
Although up to a threshold road traffic flows may be treated in isolation – a first
diversion and re-channelling them, in canals or channels, so to say, just as water
flows could be conveyed – this is a mistake of assuming that traffic flows are
independent phenomena that can be individually processed. Unfortunately, traffic
flows result from many other activities and unless this is recognised, it will be
difficult to solve traffic problems. The morning traffic entering into a town most
likely includes the following components:
(a) people going to work;
(b) business or pleasure trips;
(c) to be consumed in the town;
(d) transport of materials for manufacture or other processes in the town;
(e) people and goods travelling through the town towards some other place, etc.
At one time, the railway became an important means of transport, particularly for
long distances, but often the last (or first) leg of the journey was by road. However, in
the recent decades, road transport has achieved new peaks with new technology in
road construction, motorways and with motorised vehicles.
Railways now show relative advantages under the following circumstances:
(i) transport of heavy goods over long distances, such as cars, petroleum and bulk
cement which can be easily transhipped.
(ii) commuter traffic between the suburbs and big urban centres concentrations,
with distances ranging between 20 to 60 km.
(iii) fast inter-urban traffic where the plane alternative might not happen to be
convenient.
When the road network is comparatively undeveloped, the number of motor
vehicles is usually small, but as the inhabitants (1) acquire more wealth and
(2) experience the defects of available transport facilities, they will try to acquire a
car. This may quickly increase the national vehicle fleet by several times, thereby
increasing road traffic considerably.
20
1 Introduction to Infrastructure