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10 October 2018
Category Archives: Transportation
ImageLane Closures 9-3 at Main & North Streets Monday, 11/24
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Roundabouts both safer & better for climate too
From the NYT.
Posted in Climate, Environmental, Safety Committee, TOMCAP, Transportation
Roundabout chronology by Sharon Tatro
From the Medfield Patch, the following is Sharon Tatro’s summary of her exhaustive and detailed investigation of the history of the proposed improvement of the RTE 27 and West Street intersection. Sharon emailed this letter to Select Board members on Monday. –
Letter from Sharon Tatro Regarding the West St/Rt 27 Intersection
Letter sent to Select Board, Town Admin and the DPW Director on 9/9/24. Select Board will address this at tonight’s 9/10 Mtg at 6pm.
Colleen M. Sullivan,Patch Mayor
Posted Tue, Sep 10, 2024 at 3:34 pm ET
Letter from Medfield resident and former member of the Medfield Warrant Committee, Sharon Tatro…
September 9, 2024
“In advance of the Select Board meeting on Tuesday, September 10th , I wanted to reach out
to all of you about the intersection at West Street and Route 27. I want to open by reminding all of you, I was a member of the Warrant Committee from Sept 2014 to May 2023. During my tenure on the Warrant Committee the safety concerns of that intersection became the subject of potential warrant articles that all were pulled prior to Town Meeting due to the desire of the DPW Director and Town Administrator to try to find either state or federal grants to help the town pay for it. Given the fact that I live on West I always volunteered to work on that article. In March of 2024 a horrific crash occurred at that intersection that had a profound impact on myself and others that I care deeply for. Immediately following the crash many of us contacted the state representatives and senators to find out the status of the funding. I have attached for you the response we received from Denise Garlick’s office on March 18th. This was the first time that myself and many others learned about the $1.3M Federal earmark from 2022 (Exhibit A).
I have now spent a tremendous amount of time pouring over the documents on this topic
from 2021 to present. I have also watched every Select Board meeting from 2021 to present that had the topic of any intersection in town not just this one. What strikes me is a combination of two things, personal preference predispositions that have clouded the ability to see what actually is in the best interest and safety of towns people and then those same people creating a deafening silence due to inaction because they didn’t like what they were being told. The consequence in front of us right now is that the funds will expire in September 2026 if it has not been expended….not planned….expended.
This intersection was constantly a topic and an urgent issue leading up to 2020. It was
such an issue that the town negotiated payments from some developments to have to pay
the town funds to go towards it. That was in addition to applying for and receiving a
Housing Choice grant in 2021 for design (Exhibit B) and a Federal Community Project
Funding Grant in 2022 for construction (Exhibits C1, C2, D, E, F & G). And then the silence
begins until March 13, 2024 when the need for a MedFlight helicopter seems to have
brought us here.
I have had people ask me about how many crashes are at that intersection. When the town
was notified in March 2019 that it was a Top 200 Crash Location there had been 22 crashes
between 2014-2016. I asked the Chief to compile the data for the last 10 years. (Exhibit T).
You will see that the number of crashes from when we got the Federal earmark through
when I received this last week there were 11, well now there is 12 as there was one around
1pm today. In 2022 alone there were 13 therefore in the last three years 2022-2024 there
are already 24 counting today and we still have 4 months left in the year.
In my discussions with the Town Administrator and DPW Director, they explained to me that
the crashes were mainly due to left turning crashes. However, when you read the reports
done that is not true. In fact, in the crash statistics used by MPO (Exhibits C2 and J) 28 of
the 46 crashes were due to “angle collisions”. Only 6 of the 28 were from left turns. The
remaining 22 were from red light violations caused by either:
– Speeding
– Intersection Environment
– Signal Visibility
– Signal Operation
– Sun glare
It is and always has been clear that something needs to be done. So how did we get from
working diligently on this to total inaction and jeopardy of losing funding if we don’t act
now?
The timeline is this:
March 13, 2019: Medfield was sent a letter about the intersection being on the list of
the top 200 crash sites. (Exhibit H)
– May 20, 2019: Medfield was notified by MassDOT that a Road Safety Audit would be
conducted. (Exhibit I)
– November 7, 2019: The 27/West Intersection was chosen by the MPO as one of 30
intersections that needed to be studied for safety improvements. A review was
given to study advisors on 9/16/2020 (Exhibit C2) and then a complete report was
issued on 10/22/20 (Exhibit J)
– December 8, 2020: Medfield begins to engage BETA to participate in the Housing
Choice Grant application. (Exhibits K1 and K2)
– March 23, 2021: Medfield receives the Housing Choice Grant for a design study of
the intersection. (Exhibit B)
– April 20 through May 5, 2021 emails: Medfield works with BETA and the MassDOT to
gather information needed to submit for the Federal Community Project Funding
Grant. (Exhibits L1-4)
– May 25, 2021: The Select Board voted to have BETA complete a study for the
engineering and design of intersection improvements at West Street and Route 27
using the Department of Housing and Community Development grant awarded the
Town for $160,500 grant (FY2021 Housing Choice Community Capital Grant).
– Between 5/25/21 and 6/30/22 the DPW Director and BETA work on the study. BETA
informs the town in April 2022 the cost of both a roundabout and a signalized
intersection and informs them that MassDOT will more than likely require the more expensive roundabout.
- March 31, 2022: BETA and the town of Medfield submit the project to MassDOT TIPs program (Exhibit M)
- April 25, 2022: Town of Medfield reaches out to BETA to get additional information for the Federal Grant application and is reminded that MassDOT has told them it will probably need to be a roundabout and gives a project cost for the signalized intersection and the roundabout. (Exhibit N)
- June 1, 2022: MassDOT accepts the project and lets Medfield know they have until June 1, 2024 to do three things (Exhibit O) (note.NONE.of.this.has.been.done.and.the.deadline.has.passed)¿
- Receive MassDOT Approval of the project’s scope/workhours
- Secure a signed contract with a design consultant
- Identify design funding and provide proof of a Town vote/Chapter 90 approval
- June 30, 2022: BETA issues their report (Exhibit P)
– March 1, 2022: Select Board hears a presentation from Nitsch Engineering about
five other intersections in Medfield that they studied in 2020. The 27/West
intersection was not part of this presentation.
– July 7, 2022: BETA submits a contract to Medfield to complete the work as required
in the June 1, 2022 letter. (Exhibit Q) (note.we.NEVER.respond.or.present.this.to.the.
Select.Board)
– December 20, 2022: The town is notified of the successful Federal grant (Exhibit D)
for construction and told it will be administered by the DOT. See below for the
portion of the Federal press release (Exhibit E) for what was approved:
Project: Reconstruction of the West Street / Route 27 Intersection
Amount of Request: $1,300,000
Project Sponsor: Town of Medfield
Address: 459 Main Street, Medfield, MA 02052
Project Description: The funding would be used for the reconstruction of the intersection
at West Street and Route 27 (North Meadows Road) in Medfield. The intersection is
identified as a high crash location by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) (top
5%) for 2014-2016 and 2013-2015. It is also a MassDOT Top 200 Intersection Crash Cluster
Location.
Funding Subcommittee and Account: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development –
Federal-Aid Highways: Highway Infrastructure Programs
-February 8, 2023: The town asks how to access the grant and are reminded that
MassDOT will administer it. The town is also told that all $1.3M must be fully
expended by September 2026. (Exhibit G)
– March 13, 2023: The town gets an email from BETA asking about status because the
MassDOT reached out to them on 3/7/23 for the status of the 25% Design project to
be funded by Chapter 90. (Exhibit R)
Next comes the silence.
The next time there is any activity again talking about this intersection is after the near tragedy on 3/13/24. I have been told by the Town Administrator and the DPW Director that they didn’t move
forward because “the town” preferred a signalized intersection and not the roundabout that
MassDOT was more than likely going to want. The core issue to this is that there was never one Select Board meeting where this was discussed nor was it ever brought to the town. So
“the town” they refer to is the two of them and perhaps a few other town officials asked in side meetings and never was a formal vote or discussion taken. The reports prepared by the MPO and BETA have never been presented. I have checked every agenda since 1/1/21 and watched every meeting the DPW Director was present at. Never once is the Select Board shown the studies, asked to opine on the studies or ask if the town has a preference on what design to select.
In fact, if you look closely at the submission sent to Rep Auchincloss on 4/20/22 (Exhibit
C1) you will see that a web link is provided as backup which is the presentation from
9/16/20 that MPO had for a review meeting (Exhibit C2). However, on 10/22/2020 MPO had
submitted a full report as a result of that meeting (Exhibit J). It can be noted that the key
difference is the additional analysis including the roundabout as a potential long-term
improvement. On page 24, they state when referring to the roundabout that it “would slow
down all the traffic through the roundabout and would reduce the crash severity most
significantly.” They go on to say “All of these should be further investigated at the functional
design stage.” My biggest concern here is that we had the report from 10/22/2020 but
chose to submit with the Federal Grant the less robust power point presentation that does
not include the full picture. This shows the predisposition by those participating in this to
the signalized intersection but without any input from the Select Board or the towns
people.
Individuals who are not traffic safety engineers have talked amongst themselves, disagreed
with experts and never asked the “town”. The “town” gets asked during the Public Hearing
process that comes with a 25% Design Phase process but the “town” has never been given
their due process because for two years our town leaders have failed to move this forward
for the good of the town.
I also have been told by the Town Administrator and the DPW Director that the Federal Grant is for signals and not a roundabout. Actually, that is not true. Look at the grant application (Exhibit C1)…it never once says how we want to fix the intersection it just discusses how dangerous it is and that it needs to be reconstructed. Look at the grant award (Exhibit E)…” the reconstruction of the intersection”. It does not say signals at all. The grant application submitted used the lower number for signals but the grant is not for signals…its for reconstruction. The reconstruction is then managed by MassDOT. MassDOT requires you to have a roundabout considered, the town officials knew that and they ignored it because they didn’t like what they were being told. The only application submitted by the town on this that talks about the signalized intersection is the one to MassDOT when the town needed a project number to be assigned (Exhibit M).
The only meeting between 2021-2024 about completed intersection studies was on 3/1/22.
At this meeting Nitsch Engineering gives a presentation on a study they did in 2020 on five
other intersections in town. I was struck while watching this that once again town officials
questioned the traffic safety experts and made suggestions based on personal preferences
and conveniences ignoring the counter points on traffic safety given to them. This behavior
repeated itself on 5/28/24 when this intersection at 27/West finally appeared as an agenda
again. No one that spoke at that May 28th meeting was a traffic safety expert but those that
did speak had no issues making statements to question the validity of what they were being
told those experts say.
In the meeting on 5/28/24, the DPW Director tells the Select Board that the town “recently”
received a Federal grant for construction. You may disagree with me but I would not define
18 months ago as “recently”. A few slides are shown of the design concepts but the
presentation that was used was from the MPO work and not the BETA study the grant paid for. Its unclear to me why that was done. Leading up to this meeting on 5/28/24, on
3/21/24 the Town Administrator and DPW Director emailed to see how to move the project
forward with signals and not having to consider a roundabout but are reminded that is not the case and that the MassDOT will more than likely require a roundabout in the end. (Exhibits R1-3) All of this was clear in 2022 as you can see from everything above.
In the meeting on 5/28/24, there were good questions raised that no one had the answers
to even though those questions have been known since 2022 when BETA sent the
roundabout versions. Two years have been wasted in the silence. The only way to get the
answers is to do a 25% Design Phase and start moving. We must move quickly because the $1.3M will expire two years from now in September 2026.
I hear your concerns that a roundabout is more expensive and requires some land takings. I also hear the experts saying that a roundabout is safer. The town had the opportunity to ask for $2M to be able to cover either option when the application for the Federal Grant was submitted but the town didn’t. In July the DPW Director and Town Administrator met with MassDOT and the BETA group to discuss all of this. As reported on 8/20/24 it was confirmed the town must consider a roundabout. (Exhibit S) It was also confirmed that MassDOT says they will assist in finding the gap funding. You may argue that none of this is in writing, but you will never get that if you don’t move forward and advance the discussion through the 25% design phase. The 25% design process is laid out in the contract the town received 26 months ago and never acted upon even though the town received the Federal Grant 21 months ago. I invite you to read it as everything is laid out and confirms that a roundabout in addition to a signalized intersection needs to be considered. (Exhibit Q).
In the Federal Grant we committed this project could be completed within 12 months and stated it would happen between October 2022 and 2023. (Exhibit C1) We were told by BETA to meet that commitment we needed to start the 25% design by May 2022. We were also told that if a roundabout is needed the project will take longer. (Exhibit N). That means that the project is a minimum of 16 months away from completion after we start the 25% Design Phase. We have 24 months until we lose the funding. If you do not act on this tomorrow we have a very real chance of losing the funds. As the saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right. There have been too many wrongs over the last two years to count, its now time to make it right before we run out of time or worse yet someone loses their life. I’m going to close with a quote from the traffic safety consultant from Nitsch that presented to the Select Board on March 1, 2022. “We don’t want to wait until a tragedy occurs. One crash may be too many for someone in your family.”
Lets do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Sharon K. Tatro, 12 West Street
**All EXHIBITS are available view on this Google Drive!!
SELECT BOARD MEETING: September 10, 2024 – Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Town Hall, Chenery Hall, Second Fl., 459 Main Street,Medfield, MA 02052
Posted in Transportation
WEST & RTE 27
Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler shared her Summer 2024 TOWN ADMINISTRATOR UPDATE with Select Board at our meeting on Tuesday, and I especially wanted to share the part below in blue font which is a follow up about the planned improvements to the West Street and RTE 27 intersection. At the Select Board meeting, Kris shared that in her meeting with MASSDOT that the state said that if Medfield builds the roundabout, as the state wants, that the state would find the town all of the monies to construct the roundabout. Whereas if we opt to install a traffic light, we will have to pay the entire $1.9m. cost on out own dime, as we will lose the $1.3m. Federal earmark.
To be clear, this Select Board member preferred the roundabout from the outset. It was the other two Select Board members who said they preferred the traffic light and who asked to have Kris pursue the traffic light option with the state.
The town now has the roundabout, which the MASSDOT traffic engineers say is the safest alternative, available to the town at no cost, versus a less safe traffic light option that will cost the town $1.9m. – should be an easy choice. If the town builds the traffic lights, your family’s share would be $4-5,000.
West Street and Route 27 Project Update
Maurice Goulet, Director of Public Works and I met with Beta Engineering and the MADOT engineering team to discuss the two different paths forward for the project as requested by the Select Board. For the first path, MADOT has confirmed that if we would like to utilize the 1.3 million dollar earmark we would have to continue with the MADOT process and that would include the consideration of a roundabout for this location. The total cost of that project is $1.9, however, MADOT indicated they would assist the Town in securing the remaining funding. MADOT believes that this location would benefit from a roundabout design. The next step if the Select Board elects this option is to go to the 25% design threshold.
Posted in Development, DPW, Federal Government, Planning, Safety, State, Transportation
David Temple’s roundabout information for RTE 27 & West
The email below is from David Temple to follow up on his Tuesday Select Board meeting comments in support of installing a roundabout at RTE 27 and West Street instead of new traffic lights and to share his data sources (NB- David did not include a reference to the Roman philosopher Cicero materials he cited). David noted that all who study the issue seem to agree that roundabouts are safer and significant improvements over lights for multiple reasons.
MassDOT prefers we install a roundabout thereso much that we would lose our Federal earmark for $1.3m. and it would cost the town over a $1m. more to install traffic lights instead.:
I spoke in support of installing roundabouts instead of traffic lights in Medfield, and I presented documents from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Massachusetts Dept, of Transportation, and the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation. They asked for electronic copies, for which I have attached links. Please forward them to the board and Kristine. Thanks.
Posted in DPW, Safety, State, Transportation
Correction re roundabout & traffic lights – lights will cost us + $1.1m. more per DPW Director
Chris Potts kindly shared with me her notes from listening to the MTV version of Maurice Goulet, Director DPW presenting to the Select Board last week about the MassDOT preference that the RTE 27 and West Street intersection be improved with a roundabout instead of new traffic lights and the link below to the MTV recording.
“Here’s a link to the recording that starts at the point in the discussion when costs were noted: https://youtu.be/VemA9lcCRhQ?t=1903” I see that the presentation on the intersection begins at 27:00.
Chris’ input got me to listen to the MTV video of the meeting about what Moe said, and I now supply a more accurate account. Moe said:
- it will cost the town $1.1m. more if the town opts to do new traffic lights instead of the roundabout.
- the costs are
- traffic lights:
- $1.4m. +$300,000 for design costs
- town would not get the $1.3m. Federal earmark
- = $1.7m. net cost to town.
- roundabout:
- $1.8m. + unknown amounts for takings of slope easements and temporary takings
- town gets the $1.3 Federal earmark
- = $500,000 net cost to town.
- traffic lights:
- How Moe gets to the $1.1m.of extra cost to the town, instead of $1.2m. I do, is not clear to me, but it might be the needed takings he references.
- Moe also used the words that MassDOT will “require” the roundabout, and that MassDOT is “adamant” about employing roundabouts unless one proves that a roundabout will “not work” at the site.
- My prior post stated a $800,000 increased cost to do traffic lights instead of a roundabout, and that was wrong. The increased cost of the traffic lights is either Moe’s $1.1m. or the $1.2m. that I figure.
Posted in DPW, State, Transportation
MEA’s EV Car Show Sunday 1-3 – test drives & ice cream!
From Chris Gordon, Medfield Energy Committee.
I just wanted to give you our latest flyer that has updated information, including we will have EV BMWs for test drives, and what my kids are most excited about, an ice cream truck.
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Posted in Children, Climate, Council on Aging, Energy Committee, Entertainment, Environmental, Events, Green, Information, Medfield Environmental Action, Transportation
Town gets $160,500 state grant
The email below came this afternoon from the Department of Housing and Community Development about the Town of Medfield being awarded a $160,500 state grant towards engineering and design of intersection improvements at West Street and Rte. 27 – which needs a better traffic signal.
| Medfield | The Town of Medfield will direct funding toward engineering and design of intersection improvements at the Route 27 (North Meadows Road) and West Street intersection. | $160,500 |
Assistant Town Administrator, Nick Milano tells me that credit is mainly due to Town Planner, Sarah Raposa, qualifying the Town of Medfield under the Choice Community program.
Dear Chair Peterson –
Please find attached a copy of the award letter for your community’s FY 21 Housing Choice Community Capital grant. Congratulations, and thank you for all the work you are doing to promote housing production in Massachusetts. Please keep this digital letter, no hard copy will be sent. Here is a link to the Commonwealth’s press release about the grant awards.
I expect the grant contract will be sent to you and your staff in the next few weeks.
Sincerely,
Chris Kluchman______________________________
Chris Kluchman, FAICP
Deputy Director, Community Services Division
DHCD, 100 Cambridge Street, Ste 300
Boston, MA 02114
cell: 857-288-9141 *please use this number until further notice*
desk: 617-573-1167
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Posted in Planning, State, Transportation
Car ownership to cease
I think that the Town of Medfield will need to plan for this coming sea change in how we get around. I see:
- less need for buses at the Council on Aging;
- requiring fewer parking spaces for the Medfield State Hospital development;
- no real need to spend money to alleviate the current parking congestion in the downtown, as it will disappear on its own; and
- since we receive about $2m. a year from the auto excise taxes residents pay, the town will need to find a replacement source for those receipts as they dry up as car ownership declines.
Click here to read on-line
Why you have (probably) already bought your last car
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESI’m guessing you are scoffing in disbelief at the very suggestion of this article, but bear with me.
A growing number of tech analysts are predicting that in less than 20 years we’ll all have stopped owning cars, and, what’s more, the internal combustion engine will have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
Yes, it’s a big claim and you are right to be sceptical, but the argument that a unique convergence of new technology is poised to revolutionise personal transportation is more persuasive than you might think.
The central idea is pretty simple: Self-driving electric vehicles organised into an Uber-style network will be able to offer such cheap transport that you’ll very quickly – we’re talking perhaps a decade – decide you don’t need a car any more.
And if you’re thinking this timescale is wildly optimistic, just recall how rapidly cars replaced horses.
Take a look at this picture of 5th Avenue in New York in 1900. Can you spot the car?
Image copyrightNATIONAL ARCHIVESNow look at this picture from 1913. Yes, this time where’s the horse?
Image copyrightLIBRARY OF CONGRESSIn 1908 the first Model T Ford rolled off the production line; by 1930 the equestrian age was, to all intents and purposes, over – and all thanks to the disruptive power of an earlier tech innovation – the internal combustion engine.
So how will this latest transportation revolution unfold?
The driverless Uber model
First off, consider how Uber and other networked taxi companies have already changed the way we move around. In most major cities an Uber driver – or one of its rivals – is usually just a couple of minutes away, and charges less than established taxis, let’s say £10.
The company’s exponential growth is evidence of how powerful the Uber business model is.
Now take out the driver. You’ve probably cut costs by at least 50%.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESSo if we’re trying to work out when this revolution will begin in earnest the key date will be when self-driving vehicle technology is available and – crucially – has regulatory backing.
That could well be sooner than you think. The UK has said it hopes to authorise the first fully autonomous cars as early as 2021.
And, say enthusiasts for autonomy, it will only take one city to prove the technology is safe and useful and the rest of the world will very quickly rush to catch up.
So self-driving cars have cut our £10 journey to £5.
The switch to electric
Now imagine the current mostly fossil fuel-powered taxi fleet is replaced with electric cars.
At the moment electric vehicles are more expensive than similar models with internal combustion engines, but offer significantly lower lifetime costs.
- Electric vehicle sales surge in UK
- The UK firm hoping to take on Google’s driverless cars
- Driverless cars on UK roads by 2021 – really?
They are more reliable, for a start. The typical electric car has around 20 moving parts compared to the 2,000 or so in an internal combustion engine.
As a result electric vehicles also tend to last much longer. Most electric car manufacturers expect their vehicles to keep on going for at least 500,000 miles.
These factors aren’t that important for most consumers – after all, the average driver in England does less than 10,000 miles a year and our cars are parked 95% of the time. However, they are huge issues if you’re using a vehicle pretty much continuously, as would be the case with a self-driving taxi.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESAdd in the low cost of recharging batteries compared to refuelling and you’ve got another dramatic reduction in costs.
And it’s worth noting that the cost of electric vehicles is likely to continue to fall, and rapidly. As they become mainstream, returns to scale will drive down costs. That’s the logic behind Tesla’s $5bn (£3.8bn) battery plant, the so-called “Gigafactory”.
How does this affect our £10 journey?
It brings another dramatic reduction. Fully autonomous electric taxi networks could offer rides at as little as 10% of current rates.
At least that’s what tech prophet Tony Seba reckons. He and his team at the think-tank RethinkX have done more than anyone else to think through how this revolution might rip through the personal transportation market.
‘Transport as a service’
We’ve now cut our £10 fare to just £1.
Mr Seba calls the idea of a robo-taxi network “transport as a service”, and estimates it could save the average American as much as $6,000 (£4,560) a year. That’s the equivalent of a 10% pay rise.
And don’t forget, when the revolution comes you won’t be behind the wheel so now you’ll be working or relaxing as you travel – another big benefit.
You still think that car parked outside your flat is worth having?
What’s more, once this new model of getting around takes hold the benefits are likely to be reinforcing. The more vehicles in the network, the better the service offered to consumers; the more miles self-driving cars do, the more efficient and safer they’ll get; the more electric vehicles manufactured, the cheaper each one will be.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESDon’t worry that rural areas will be left out. A vehicle could be parked in every village waiting for your order to come.
And range anxiety – the fear that you might run out of electricity – won’t be a problem either. Should the battery run low the network will send a fully charged car to meet you so you can continue your journey.
You’ve probably seen headlines about accidents involving self-driving cars but the truth is they will be far safer than ones driven by you and me – they won’t get regulatory approval if they are not. That means tens of thousands of lives – perhaps hundreds of thousands – will be saved as accident rates plummet.
That will generate yet another cost saving for our fleets of robo-taxis. The price of insurance will tumble, while at the same time those of us who insist on continuing to drive our own vehicles will face higher charges.
Human drivers banned
According to the tech visionaries it won’t be long before the whole market tilts irreversibly away from car ownership and the trusty old internal combustion engine.
RethinkX, for example, reckons that within 10 years of self-driving cars getting regulatory approval 95% of passenger miles will be in these electric robo-taxis.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESThe logical next step will be for human beings to be banned from driving cars at all because they pose such a risk to other road users.
Take a moment to think about the wide-reaching effects this revolution will have, aside from just changing how we get around. There will be downsides: millions of car industry workers and taxi drivers will be looking for new jobs, for a start.
But think of the hundreds of billions of dollars consumers will save, and which can now be spent elsewhere in the economy.
Meanwhile, the numbers of cars will plummet. RethinkX estimates that the number of vehicles on US roads will fall from nearly 250 million to just 45 million over a 10-year period. That will free up huge amounts of space in our towns and cities.
And, please take note: I haven’t mentioned the enormous environmental benefits of converting the world’s cars to electricity.
That’s because the logic of this upheaval isn’t driven by new rules on pollution or worries about global warming but by the most powerful incentive in any economy – cold hard cash.
That said, there’s no question that a wholesale switch away from fossil fuels will slow climate change and massively reduce air pollution.
In short, let the revolution begin!
But seriously, I’ve deliberately put these arguments forcefully to prompt debate and we want to hear what you think.
You can comment below, or tweet me @BBCJustinR.
Posted in Information, Planning, Transportation
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