Video: Sprawling from Grace

[ozbob]

Sprawling from Grace -->

The unintended consequences of suburban sprawl inform David M. Edwards' documentary detailing the dangers Americans face should we fail to reevaluate our approach to urban development. The suburban way of life isn't simply at risk; it's in absolute peril.

How can a country support such inefficient horizontal growth patterns when the very existence of such patterns threatens to bankrupt the entire nation? By interviewing close to thirty experts on the subject, Edwards discovers that we can no longer continue building our cities as we did in the past. While the suburbs once seemed an essential part of out maturation as a society, it now contributes to pollution, increased health risks, and a decreasing quality of life.

But as non-renewable fossil fuels are being slowly depleted, Americans remain trapped behind the wheels of their own cars. With each new subdivision, strip mall, and corporate office block, the promise of a better tomorrow slips further away. So is there a solution to making our society sustainable in a post-fossil-fuel world?

By exploring the efforts of state and city governments to invest in such viable alternatives as BRT (Bus Rapid Transit, commuter rail, and light rail, Edwards reveals why innovative thinking regarding land use and transportation is essential to keeping our society functional.

[Stillwater]

The Queensland Government is building the Ipswich Motorway upgrade in the full knowledge that the level of service (travel times, congestion etc) it will provide the motorist on the day the works are finished will be about the same level of service as today.  This is due to growth and population expansion in and around Ipswich.

They say Australia is running 5-10 years behind trends in the USA.  On a trip to LA, I noticed there were no corner fresh fruit and veg stores (or none where I went about the city).  The fruit and veg was available in supermarkets, but everything was packaged.  You could not buy 2 potatoes or 1 carrot.  The packaging was injected with gas to preserve the life of the fruit and veg.

On inquiring, I was told that independent greengrocers found it too difficult, or too costly, to source product and get it through the road network in big cities on a regular basis.  The supermarkets were able to do so because of their supply logistics efficiencies.  However, a supermarket only ever got fruit and veg deliveries two or three times a week, hence the gas-filled packaging to maintain shelf life.

LA's freeway system is hampering the delivery of fresh produce to its citizens.
 

[Jonno]

The service levels after completion of the upgrade is not due to population or economic growth but to growth in motor vehicle usage. By building the road they create the demand to fill it.  SEQ population grew by 20% whilst car usage grew by 100%.

[Stillwater]

Yes, and the usage is due to the opening of new estates and industrial zones.  The Redbank Peninsula, around the railway workshops, is planned as an industrial estate providing 10,000 jobs when fully developed.  As soon as the Ipswich Motorway is widened, massive new development will occur in the corridor, adding to the Ipswich Motorway congestion.

The only alternative then would be this project, which was proposed as an alternative to the current Ipswich Motorway widening, but rejected: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/4be2120b-8d4f-4e35-a748-61776054a022/businesscasereport.pdf

Chapter 3 (page 11) makes for interesting reading.  Scroll down to the Business Case Planning Report (an attachment) and read sections 5, 6 and 7.

The alternative alignment will be needed before people know it.  Its scale and cost means it most probably will have to be a toll road.  Unless they catch a train to work, the people of Ipswich will have to pay for a morning and evening commute to work in Brisbane or around Gailes and Wacol.

[#Metro]

The Queensland Government is building the Ipswich Motorway upgrade in the full knowledge that the level of service (travel times, congestion etc) it will provide the motorist on the day the works are finished will be about the same level of service as today.  This is due to growth and population expansion in and around Ipswich.

They say Australia is running 5-10 years behind trends in the USA.  On a trip to LA, I noticed there were no corner fresh fruit and veg stores (or none where I went about the city).  The fruit and veg was available in supermarkets, but everything was packaged.  You could not buy 2 potatoes or 1 carrot.  The packaging was injected with gas to preserve the life of the fruit and veg.

On inquiring, I was told that independent greengrocers found it too difficult, or too costly, to source product and get it through the road network in big cities on a regular basis.  The supermarkets were able to do so because of their supply logistics efficiencies.  However, a supermarket only ever got fruit and veg deliveries two or three times a week, hence the gas-filled packaging to maintain shelf life.

LA's freeway system is hampering the delivery of fresh produce to its citizens.

That's appauling

[colinw]

LA is slowing reinventing itself as a rail transit friendly city.

My own experience of LA was that it was very slow to get around, particularly on the Metro buses, but as soon as you hit the light rail (Blue Line from Long Beach, change at 7th street to Red Line subway) it was easy travelling.

When I visited LA the only rail operating was the Blue & Green line light rail, and the Red/Purple line subway through Hollywood.

Since then the Gold Line to Pasadena has opened, and now the Expo line branch off the Blue Line is under construction with the first phase in test operation.  They have also rolled out diesel commuter rail across much of the extensive freight network - none of that was running when I was there.

Over the next few years quite a bit more light rail will open in LA - Expo line extension to Culver City, Crenshaw corridor light rail connecting the Expo & Green lines via LAX (connection to terminals via automated people mover).  Gold Line extension, and down town connector to join the Blue & Gold lines.  Extensions of the subway are also planned, in particular to the beach at Santa Monica.

They are also progressively extending the commuter rail along more former freight corridors, including some proposed line opening.

LA has got the message. I wonder when we will?