Traffic issues

I am soon going to start commuting a longer distance. With that commute I have been forced to face the transportation issues of the area in a very practical way. I will be stuck in traffic a lot more than I was before.

I recently read an article about traffic issues in North Texas. The article suggests that the reason one stretch of highway had so much traffic was due to communities keeping another proposed freeway from being built.

In this case the democratic process worked. Vocal citizens against a freeway proposal killed the idea. At the time it likely seemed practical. Today, in hind-sight, it was probably a bit ill-advised.

As I have formulated opinions of late about traffic issues, I wonder, how do concerned citizens approach transportation issues to ensure the practical needs are met? How do you meet transportation needs while also taking into account environmental concerns? How do you fund the huge transportation needs without pushing the costs on to the next generation? Or how much should this generation have to pay for infrastructure and how much should be pushed to the next generation? How much has the Baby Boomer generation ignored infrastructure issues? What approaches to transportation need to change to ensure the economy continues to grow? Are changes in the technology which drives our cars the real environmental fix or are there other better approaches?

I'll be thinking about these and other transportation questions as I drive to work and try to post them in the future.