Description
Book SynopsisThough often dismissed as a minor if irritating nuisance, congestion''s insidious effects constrain our personal and professional lives, making it harder to find a good job, spend time with our family, and maintain profitable businesses. After centuries of building our cities into bustling centers of commerce and culture, we are beginning to slow down. The Road More Traveled shines a new light on the problem of traffic congestion in this easily accessible book. You''ll learn how we can reclaim our mobility if we are willing to follow successful examples from overseas, where innovations in infrastructure and privatization have made other nations stronger and more competitive. By thoroughly debunking the myths that keep our policy makers trapped in traffic, the book argues that we can and should build our way out of congestion and into a fast-paced future.
Trade ReviewThis book adds three unusual assets to the congestion debate—it's bright and readable, chock-full of facts, and provides real world solutions. The Road More Traveled should be required reading not only for planners and their students, but for anyone who loves cities and wants them to thrive as real places, not merely as museums, in the 21st century. -- Joel Kotkin, Irvine Senior Fellow, New America Foundation, and author of The City: A Global History
The Road More Traveled is a well-written, logical, and practical approach to congestion mitigation in America. I strongly encourage that it be read by every public policy maker who is struggling for real solutions to the traffic congestion crisis facing our nation. It dispels long-standing myths, replaces them with factual data, and offers results-based solutions. -- S. David Doss, State Transportation Board of Georgia
The Road More Traveled provides a thoughtful analysis on the causes of congestion and offers detailed suggestions for relieving it in America's cities. Balaker and Staley clearly debunk the myth that there is nothing we can do about congestion. -- Mary E. Peters, National Director, Transportation Policy and Consulting, HDR Inc. and former Administrator for the Federal Highway Administratio
The Road More Traveled clearly outlines the transportation infrastructure problems facing our country and examines several innovative funding solutions. This book will change the way Americans view our highways and interstates and show them how we can build better roads at less expense for the next generation. -- Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina
The Road More Traveled is an important wake-up call to us all, but especially to policy makers and transportation officials. Balaker and Staley convincingly show how costly traffic conjestion is. But more importantly they demonstrate that the defeatists who claim that we should just learn to live with gridlock are wrong. The book lays out a road map for restoring our lost mobility. One can only hope that policy makers, government officials, community leaders, and the media read this book. -- Robert D. Atkinson, president of The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and author of Supply-Side Follies: Why Conservative Economics
Many people complain about highway traffic and many policy makers respond with plans for more transit and more HOV lanes. To help us all get past the quackery, Balaker and Staley argue persuasively for policies that might actually work. Buy their book, read it, and then send it on to your favorite political representative. -- Peter Gordon, School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of Southern California
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Part 2 Part I. Mobility matters more than you think Chapter 3 1. The Speed of Life Chapter 4 2. What Mobility Has Created Part 5 Part II. Congestion matters more than you think Chapter 6 3. Slowing Economic Life Chapter 7 4. Stopping Life Part 8 Part III. Why congestion keeps getting worse Chapter 9 5. The 10 Myths of Car-Crazy Suburbia Chapter 10 6. The Congestion Lobby Part 11 Part IV. The Solution Chapter 12 7. Learning from Overseas Chapter 13 8. Houston Takes the Congestion Bull by the Horns Chapter 14 9. Bringing Customer Service to the Road Chapter 15 10. Getting from Here to There: Top 10 Congestion-Busters Chapter 16 11. The Road More Traveled
