If aliens were watching Earth, they’d think cars were the apex species. I mean, just look. If they looked down, this is what they’d see:
Roads
Road, roads everywhere. 20% of the earth’s surface is within 1km of a road, and the rest is vivisected into 600,000 pieces, most of them tiny.
Where there aren’t roads, there’s parking.
Parking
Parking, parking, with no one there. In LA there’s more parking spaces than human spaces (housing). As Strong Towns says, “parking is the dominant physical feature of the postwar American city,” and this car cancer has spread all over the globe.
Aliens can see it from space.
Predators
May 2020) £90bn road revamp planned despite drive for green travel – The Times
Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent May 26 2020
The roads funding plan came days after the government pledged £2 billion to boost cycling
A £90 billion upgrade of England’s motorways and main A-roads is planned despite commitments during the pandemic to fund green transport.
An official document shows that Highways England, the government-owned company, has proposed significant improvements to the country’s busiest roads over the next 15 years.
This month the government announced a £2 billion package to promote cycling and walking. Last weekend it unveiled a further £283 million to increase bus and tram services.
A day policing a smart motorway
In the March budget, the chancellor announced a £27 billion investment in motorways and main A-roads in England over the next five years.
At the same time, the Office of Rail and Road, the official watchdog, published its own “efficiency review” into Highways England’s longer-term plans.
Bath ‘green corridor’ will be first of 20 to improve access to nature – theguardian.com
Steven Morris
A “green corridor” inspired by the 18th-century fashion of perambulating for both pleasure and therapy is to be created, linking the city of Bath with the rolling hills that surround it.
The corridor is the first of 20 projects that the National Trust is planning to design to connect urban areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to green spaces on their fringes.
In Bath, the conservation charity has acquired water meadows close to the River Avon which were threatened with development to help piece together a three-mile green corridor, which will also use existing footpaths.
Hilary McGrady, the director-general of the National Trust, said the route – and the 19 others that are planned to follow by 2030 – would help reconnect people with the countryside.
Walking and cycling must be made safe in England. Here’s our plan to do just that | Chris Boardman – The Guardian
Chris Boardman
A little over a decade ago my daughter Aggie asked me a question that changed the path of my working life. She asked: “Can we ride to the park?” It wasn’t her question that altered everything, it was my answer – which was: “No.”
We live in a typical northern seaside town, and the park in question was – I know because I measured it later – 549 metres away, a distance that takes a little over one minute to ride. I, an ex-Olympic cyclist, didn’t feel I could keep my daughter safe on our roads for one minute. And that felt very wrong. It wasn’t what I wanted for her, and it wasn’t the place I wanted to live. So I decided to do something about it.
Notorious road floods yet again after heavy downpours – manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A busy road besieged with flooding problems has been deluged with water once again after heavy downpours.
The A555 Airport Relief Road in Handforth was closed by police last night and has remained shut today.
The road has continually flooded after spells of heavy rain since the £290m route, which links Hazel Grove to the airport, was completed in 2018.
M4 Reading set for Extinction Rebellion pollution protest – readingchronicle.co.uk
Brad Young
Extinction Rebellion are set to protest against new roads which demonstrators say will lead to more deaths by pollution.
The climate change campaigners will unfurl banners on bridges above the M4 tomorrow (Saturday) at junction 11 (A33) and the footbridge at Cutbush Lane.
Reading teacher and XR demonstrator Dani Esposito said she will be at the protest for her three sons.
“I want them to have as good a life as I’ve had. I’ve had the privilege. I’ve had all the benefits and I’ve been very lucky. I just dread and I’m terrified to think what’s down the line for them,” she said.
Read more: The worst fly-tipping areas in Berkshire – find where you live
“We all want a better life for our children, it’s natural for parents to want that and the ultimate duty we have to them is to fight for the environment.”
Cycle lane trial in Haverstock Hill due to begin – Ham & High
Nathalie Raffray January 27, 2022
The construction of new cycle lanes is due to begin in Haverstock Hill next week.
On Monday (January 31) work will begin to provide segregated cycle lanes on Haverstock Hill and Rosslyn Hill between the junction with Prince of Wales Road and Pond Street.
The 18-month trial will see lanes connect with existing schemes on Prince of Wales and Chalk Farm Road, adding a potential 3km of new protected cycle lanes to Camden’s cycle network.
Boardman takes lead role at Active Travel England – transportxtra.com
Deniz Huseyin 25 January 2022
The newly formed Active Travel England (ATE) is to be led by Olympic cycling gold medallist Chris Boardman on an unpaid interim basis while the DfT conducts a “full and open competition” for the permanent commissioner role.Boardman will be involved in the recruitment of ATE’s chief executive and management team. He will leave his role as transport commissioner at Greater Manchester, where he has overseen the roll-out of the ‘Bee Network’ of walking and cycling routes
News on the Stop the A38 Expansion Campaign — Mair Bain
Mair Bain 12/12/2021
A new report by the Green Alliance evidences how at the same time as accelerating the switch to electric vehicles, we need to cut traffic to meet UK climate targets.
West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries – theguardian.com
Karen McVeigh 28/01/22
In the first two days of January, the average Briton was already responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than someone from the Democratic Republic of the Congo would produce in an entire year, according to analysis by the Center for Global Development (CGD).
The study, which highlights the “vast energy inequality” between rich and poor countries, found that each Briton produces 200 times the climate emissions of the average Congolese person, with people in the US producing 585 times as much. By the end of January, the carbon emitted by someone living in the UK will surpass the annual emissions of citizens of 30 low- and middle-income countries, it found.