4 ms·

We have motorways that go to every major city, why on earth wouldn't we?

chrisseaton 8y ago
There are a few major cities that have no motorway anywhere near them. Of course it depends on what you think is a major city, but Aberdeen for example, the third biggest city in Scotland, has no motorway closer than a hundred miles or so. There are highways between every mainland settlement though, obviously.
- smcl 8y ago
  As an Aberdonian who hasn’t been back for a while - does the A92 ever get clogged enough to the point that a motorway is required? Or is there some suggestion that linking Aberdeen-Dundee-Edinburgh/Glasgow with motorway would stimulate the economy? I’m pretty disconnected from this stuff back home so this is an honest question :-)
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    No idea - I've never been there - I just know it doesn't have a motorway anywhere near it.
    - smcl 8y ago
      Ah never mind :)
  - GordonS 8y ago
    Aberdonian here. Not sure about the A92, but the A90 between Aberdeen and Dundee does carry enough traffic to warrant a motorway, and really needs to lose the unsafe junctions, tractors and cyclists. The state of the dual carriageway has been atrocious for 10+ years (at times dangerously so). Also, the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness is still not even dualled, something that has been slated for decades, and will likely come as no surprise to you. Something that perhaps will come as a surprise is that Aberdeen now has a bypass. The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) was finally opened recently - although after something like a decade and incredible costs.
    - smcl 8y ago
      Oops I mixed up the A92 and A90. But that's interesting, and I figured Aberdeen-Inverness would likely be mostly single carriageway. I also remember A9 from Inverness to the south being a bit hairy at times
oblio 8y ago
That was my point, that's the correct answer: "why on Earth wouldn't we?". Because for Romania, we're asking the same question: "why on Earth don't we?" 30 years after the fall of Communism. That's why people are angry.
- rohit2412 8y ago
  That's unbelievable. Romania's GDP per capita PPP is 25k$, same as Greece and turkey. How Is Romania so undeveloped? Some of the things about railways and road connectivity are even better in poor country like India
  - oblio 8y ago
    Romania's GDP has doubled since 2000. It used to be very low in the 90's when it fell from numbers comparable to today's, but the old ones were based on fake, communist numbers. We were very poor until 1945, close to Third World poor, we still had famines until then. Then the communists helped us industrialize a bit, but then refused the Marshall Plan. Then from 1963 to 1989 we had a Kim/Mao wannabe dictator building heavy industry and paying external debts while people were starving. We also sold - literally - our German and Jewish communities to their home countries. About 1 million people out of 23 at the time. So a combo of uneducated populace, Soviet control, communists headhunting elites (again, literally). We're trying to build something now but these things take decades if not centuries.
    - jayalpha 8y ago
      Wiki "The economy grew between the 1950s and 1970s at one of the fastest rates in the world, changing Romania from a predominantly agricultural country into an industrialized country. Almost 30% of the population moved during this period from rural to urban areas to work in the newly-built factories." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Republic_of_Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Repub... You "Then from 1963 to 1989 we had a Kim/Mao wannabe dictator building heavy industry and paying external debts while people were starving." Not defending him, but what I found interesting is that it is the only country that comes to my mind that actually paid its debts off without defaulting: "By 1986, it paid half its debt[7] and it finished paying its whole debt early in 1989, ahead of schedule." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_austerity_policy_in_Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_austerity_policy_in_Roma...

There are a few major cities that have no motorway anywhere near them. Of course it depends on what you think is a major city, but Aberdeen for example, the third biggest city in Scotland, has no motorway closer than a hundred miles or so. There are highways between every mainland settlement though, obviously.

smcl 8y ago
As an Aberdonian who hasn’t been back for a while - does the A92 ever get clogged enough to the point that a motorway is required? Or is there some suggestion that linking Aberdeen-Dundee-Edinburgh/Glasgow with motorway would stimulate the economy? I’m pretty disconnected from this stuff back home so this is an honest question :-)
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  No idea - I've never been there - I just know it doesn't have a motorway anywhere near it.
  - smcl 8y ago
    Ah never mind :)
- GordonS 8y ago
  Aberdonian here. Not sure about the A92, but the A90 between Aberdeen and Dundee does carry enough traffic to warrant a motorway, and really needs to lose the unsafe junctions, tractors and cyclists. The state of the dual carriageway has been atrocious for 10+ years (at times dangerously so). Also, the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness is still not even dualled, something that has been slated for decades, and will likely come as no surprise to you. Something that perhaps will come as a surprise is that Aberdeen now has a bypass. The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) was finally opened recently - although after something like a decade and incredible costs.
  - smcl 8y ago
    Oops I mixed up the A92 and A90. But that's interesting, and I figured Aberdeen-Inverness would likely be mostly single carriageway. I also remember A9 from Inverness to the south being a bit hairy at times

oblio 8y ago

That was my point, that's the correct answer: "why on Earth wouldn't we?". Because for Romania, we're asking the same question: "why on Earth don't we?" 30 years after the fall of Communism. That's why people are angry.

rohit2412 8y ago
That's unbelievable. Romania's GDP per capita PPP is 25k$, same as Greece and turkey. How Is Romania so undeveloped? Some of the things about railways and road connectivity are even better in poor country like India
- oblio 8y ago
  Romania's GDP has doubled since 2000. It used to be very low in the 90's when it fell from numbers comparable to today's, but the old ones were based on fake, communist numbers. We were very poor until 1945, close to Third World poor, we still had famines until then. Then the communists helped us industrialize a bit, but then refused the Marshall Plan. Then from 1963 to 1989 we had a Kim/Mao wannabe dictator building heavy industry and paying external debts while people were starving. We also sold - literally - our German and Jewish communities to their home countries. About 1 million people out of 23 at the time. So a combo of uneducated populace, Soviet control, communists headhunting elites (again, literally). We're trying to build something now but these things take decades if not centuries.
  - jayalpha 8y ago
    Wiki "The economy grew between the 1950s and 1970s at one of the fastest rates in the world, changing Romania from a predominantly agricultural country into an industrialized country. Almost 30% of the population moved during this period from rural to urban areas to work in the newly-built factories." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Republic_of_Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Repub... You "Then from 1963 to 1989 we had a Kim/Mao wannabe dictator building heavy industry and paying external debts while people were starving." Not defending him, but what I found interesting is that it is the only country that comes to my mind that actually paid its debts off without defaulting: "By 1986, it paid half its debt[7] and it finished paying its whole debt early in 1989, ahead of schedule." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_austerity_policy_in_Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_austerity_policy_in_Roma...