Sacrificing Transportation Efficiency

In a Forbes article by Timothy B. Lee entitled, “The Case for Tearing Down Urban Freeways,” there is a discussion of the decision to replace Philadelphia’s “aging” I-95 freeway. The article cites examples in both San Francisco and New York in which the demolishing of an urban freeway has resulted in “higher property values, tourism and more housing for city residents.” Having emphasized the importance of the railroad in the development of the United State’s internal economy, I find it interesting that we have reached a point where transportation efficiency can be so easily sacrificed. The automobile and the network of freeways on which it depends has surpassed the efficiency of the railroad to such an extreme that it may be considered unnecessarily efficient, and therefore some transportation efficiency can be sacrificed for environmental quality.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2011/11/15/the-case-for-tearing-down-urban-freeways/