Article over Transportation in Urbanized Areas

[Hope Schufeldt]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/sprawl-is-good-for-y...

This article addresses Urban Sprawl and the problem of traffic congestion in many cities- specifically in Atlanta. Many claim that building more public transit systems will help traffic flow well; however, according to this article, public transportation systems do not aid much with this traffic problem since many people drive personal vehicles even when public transit systems are readily available. Granted, some people do use these systems in very closely knit areas in the center of cities, but the funding used for this mode of transportation could perhaps be used more effectively.

      I chose this article because first of all, it is relevant to recent class discussions and secondly, because moving to a big city such as Dallas has shown me the importance of keeping the flow on the roads going smoothly. As this article suggests, I also agree that we should invest the money used for transit systems to help users of personal cars instead of spending so much on public transportation.

One thing that could be extremely helpful is increasing the technology and usability of self- driven cars. These cars would offer the pleasure of having a personal vehicle and the ease of automatically guided direction. As a Christian, I believe that we should use our time in the best way possible whether that be taking advantage of quiet time during traffic jams or getting to places more efficiently than we do now. I also believe that those in need should be helped and thus, some form of transportation should be kept for those who are not able to drive, who cannot afford a car and etc. Therefore, although public transportation has its place, more of the money used in these systems should be used to help those who are currently clogging up the roads to become less congested.