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“Goldfarb writes, and our collective future will bring many more cars and the need for even more roads.“ Is this true ? I can already see things like working f

“Goldfarb writes, and our collective future will bring many more cars and the need for even more roads.“ Is this true ? I can already see things like working from home, e bikes and drone delivery significantly reducing the need for roads. In Japan, for example, roads are abandoned due to lack of use. A trend that seems to be happening in other countries such as China and Korea. Aside from this, I love this article and I feel it’s really important to consider his arguments.

puchatek 3y ago
Depends on the country and the ruling powers. In Germany the current minister of transportation is in favor of building more roads.
- manxman 3y ago
  More unrestricted autobahns I hope! ;)
  - hutzlibu 3y ago
    He is, but majority leans more to restrict it all.
manxman 3y ago
> In Japan, for example, roads are abandoned due to lack of use. A trend that seems to be happening in other countries such as China and Korea. From what I saw on my recent travels in Japan, I'd suggest it was more a case of government vanity projects, local government corruption/desire to spend budgets and other mismanagement that resulted in over-engineered roads being put in places where there was clearly a very low population density. The same was true of lovely new concrete/granite boardwalks and cycle paths on some of the remote islands in Okinawa Prefecture that were overgrown with vegetation and were impenetrable by bicycle (and almost impassible on foot). Similarly new roads are being built on some of those islands given that there is noticeable traffic congestion.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  I'm literally talking about when people have been told to move away from villages as the roads will no longer be maintained year round. This includes snow clearing in winter. There just isn't the population to support it all.
RetroTechie 3y ago
> Is this true ? I can already see things like working from home, e bikes and drone delivery significantly reducing the need for roads. It's not hard to imagine car ownership rising in developing nations. Usually leading to road networks being improved & extended. And once a road is laid, chances are it'll stay for a looong time.

puchatek 3y ago

Depends on the country and the ruling powers. In Germany the current minister of transportation is in favor of building more roads.

manxman 3y ago
More unrestricted autobahns I hope! ;)
- hutzlibu 3y ago
  He is, but majority leans more to restrict it all.

manxman 3y ago

> In Japan, for example, roads are abandoned due to lack of use. A trend that seems to be happening in other countries such as China and Korea. From what I saw on my recent travels in Japan, I'd suggest it was more a case of government vanity projects, local government corruption/desire to spend budgets and other mismanagement that resulted in over-engineered roads being put in places where there was clearly a very low population density. The same was true of lovely new concrete/granite boardwalks and cycle paths on some of the remote islands in Okinawa Prefecture that were overgrown with vegetation and were impenetrable by bicycle (and almost impassible on foot). Similarly new roads are being built on some of those islands given that there is noticeable traffic congestion.

ChatGTP 3y ago
I'm literally talking about when people have been told to move away from villages as the roads will no longer be maintained year round. This includes snow clearing in winter. There just isn't the population to support it all.

RetroTechie 3y ago

> Is this true ? I can already see things like working from home, e bikes and drone delivery significantly reducing the need for roads. It's not hard to imagine car ownership rising in developing nations. Usually leading to road networks being improved & extended. And once a road is laid, chances are it'll stay for a looong time.