http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/the-road-widening-fallacy/articleshow/57089001.cms
Another wound pierces the green heart of Goa along the highway leading down from Verna to the Zuari Bridge. From times immemorial, lush and well-irrigated rice paddies have lined both sides of the road, always glistening brilliant emerald with multiple crops throughout the year. That emblematic sight is now forever marred. Tens of thousands of square metres of the richest agricultural land in the state have been overnight filled up for pointless "road widening", expanding the perfectly adequate highway to a vast tarmac. Like similar works under way across the bridge on the bypass at Agasaim, it appears the contractors acted without consulting local authorities and stakeholders, and before undertaking the necessary environmental impact surveys. The hasty, shoddy, careless nature of yet another deeply dubious and wasteful scam infrastructure project by the current administration will come as no surprise to state citizens. Over the past five years, Goa has seen its public debt soar past sustainability to danger of bankruptcy, as the cabinet of ministers wilfully approved a long string of alleged "development" that no one wants, needs, asked for or benefits from — other than a small coterie of cronies and crooks. The modus operandi has been near identical in each case — highly opaque procedures, instant approvals without any public oversight, huge cost overruns, and zero accountability. Rampant road widening projects under way all across tiny Goa's landscape are inevitably described as "essential", an imperative need. Whenever traffic jams state highways and bridges — as routinely occurs throughout the winter months — this administration seizes on the delays as its excuse and justification to continue to spend thousands of crores, and consume vast amounts of farmland, for "infrastructure improvement." But that reasoning is thoroughly fallacious, and has been comprehensively debunked everywhere in the world. In fact, road expansion inevitably leads to more traffic with increased numbers of vehicles. As the noted American urban planner Lewis Mumford wrote, "building more roads to prevent congestion is like a fat man loosening his belt to prevent obesity." Decades ago, transportation experts detected a broad phenomenon they called "induced demand". Mumford was among the pioneer researchers. He wrote in 1955, "people, it seems, find it hard to believe the cure for congestion is not more facilities for congestion." He found that everywhere and always, expansion of road facilities have never resulted in a decrease in traffic. Instead, several other converging factors quickly come to bear, to ensure no perceptible or lasting change. Some commuters are emboldened to change their driving schedules, others switch routes, and even greater numbers become motivated to purchase individual vehicles rather than rely on the vagaries of public transport. One of Mumford's immediate successors, Anthony Downs then formulated a "universal law of highway congestion" that "on urban commuter expressways, peak-hour traffic congestion [always] rises to meet maximum capacity." It has been proven again and again — no matter how many lanes, no matter how wide the roads, the entire system will inevitably and unavoidably become choked with traffic unless two other crucial factors come into play. The first is congestion pricing, which is likely unworkable in Goa (with the possible exception of Panaji). The other is the most abused and ignored aspect of India's infrastructure — robust and scalable public transportation. In this regard, Goa's abject failures merely reflect a wider national disgrace. India's transportation woes severely drain on the economy and carry a critical price in multiple areas, from food security to public health. Chaos and mayhem on the roads are a major factor in the perilous air quality which plagues most urban centres in the country. According to World Health Organization's air pollution database, 10 of the 20 unhealthiest cities on the planet are in India, with by far the main cause being vehicular congestion. Air pollution is one of the biggest causes of death in India. The average citizen loses years of life simply by breathing. There is no excuse at all for Goa to plunge directly to such hazards, but that is precisely what is unfolding in plain view. Just last year, the Goa State Pollution Board warned repeatedly that alarming spikes were recorded in "respirable particulate matter" (which is caused by vehicular exhausts) in both Vasco and Panaji, that were more than two times the national ambient air quality standard. It's a clear red flag that points to a frightening impending health emergency. Whatever political alignment shapes the next government of the state, the lurking air pollution problem deserves priority, along with its interlinked corollary, a working and adequate public transportation system.