Specific demands for suburban motorways (SVI2000/446)
Overview
Background & policy context:
Suburban motorways are part of the local road network and are therefore congested during peak-hours. Increasing road capacity causes traffic to shift to new routes and times of day. Increased road capacity also leads to increased use of the automobile instead of public transport. Therefore, the problem of congestion (including slow-moving traffic) is not resolved by increasing road capacity. Experience shows, that even when new roads initially reduce congestion-time, a short time later, the former levels of congestion are reached.
Objectives:
In light of these facts, it was concluded that the purpose of suburban motorways is to channel traffic in order for the local road-network to function smoothly, optimised for local needs, keeping the negative aspects of road traffic such as noise, air pollution, and accidents away from residential areas. Therefore the travel time between two points must be shorter by way of the suburban motorway than by travelling over the local road network. Depending on local conditions
speed-limits between 50 and 80 km / h may be enough. Overall road-capacity and safety have priority over higher speed.
When congestion on the suburban road network (motorways and other arterial roadways) is unavoidable, it is necessary to see that a common traffic regulatory system be established. Through coordinated efforts residential neighbourhoods, public transit, and traffic flow outside the congestion area, should be protected from the negative impacts of congestion. The question and main objective of this project arises: how to deal with the congestion issue.
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