In Defense of Connectivity

I will rarely advocate the construction of new roads — I'd have a long argument that there are enough inter-city roads in North America and Europe now to last us through all time. But the developing world is not so lucky.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has put forward a plan to integrate Africa's hodgepodge of highways into a vast, transcontinental network spanning all but a few countries. It would require filling in a few gaps, and more than a few upgrades, but it could bring a new future to regional trade in Africa.

The legacy of colonial construction links the hinterlands with the ports, and nothing else. A higway network in Africa, like the interstates of the US, would provide mobility necessary for real economic growth.

Unfortunately I see a band of unrest stretching from DR Congo (which, incidentally, has fewer roads per person than any other African country — less paved road than the east-west length of the country) through CAR, Chad and Sudan that essentially isolates northwest and southeast Africa. Let's hope times change to make regional integration a possibility.

On Expenditure

I am baffled by the sheer amount of public motivation and effort required to stop construction of a highway — and that the same amount of effort is required to start a transit initiative.

Consider the Spadina Expressway in Toronto, or Robert Moses's various plans for cross-Manhattan expressways. That these plans required momentum to stop — to prevent them from being built — is a testament to the blind motivation of urban planners of recent decades.

That transit takes such great initiative to start, and is subject to further public scrutiny than highway construction, is undoubtedly because the public will not only fund construction and maintenance (as is with roads) but also operation of transit infrastructure.

Nevertheless we should consider ridership first. But if we think a highway through greenfields will provoke new development, why shouldn't transit do the same?