[sustran] More Opinions on Santiago Highway

Christopher Zegras chris at mailnet.rdc.cl
Fri Apr 3 07:52:35 JST 1998


Courtesy of Chipnews www.chip.cl
April 2, 1998
COSTANERA NORTE MAKES NO SENSE
Sources: LA EPOCA
Keywords: URBAN ISSUES; ENVIRONMENT
(Ed note: The following op-ed against the controversial
Costanera Norte highway project was written by Marcel
Claude, a former Central Bank economist who now leads
the Terram Foundation. The article originally appeared in La
Epoca). 

It is impossible to comprehend the existence a highway
project like the Costanera Norte, as it will only encourage
the further proliferation of the city's worst polluter, the
automobile. 

Look at the terrible congestion and traffic jams that crowd
Santiago's streets, the great efforts made by highly
developed countries to reduce private automobile use, the
rise in the planet's temperature caused by the burning of
fossil fuels, mostly by the car, the acknowledgment by
authorities that the fundamental cause of Santiago's air
pollution is the private automobile, and the existence of
proven urban transportation alternatives like the Metro. 

But the most disconcerting aspect of the project has been
the attempt by public officials to avoid an evaluation of its
environmental impacts, by quickly putting it up to bid while
the private companies were voluntarily submitting
themselves to the Environmental Impact Evaluation System.

Also worrisome is that the government is participating as
both judge and party to the controversy. It is not only
proposing the project through the Ministry of Public Works
but also participating with the right to vote on its approval or
denial in the National Environmental Council. The
environmental variable is obviously being given no
importance, since the toll charges established don't account
for the costs of pollution or environmental damage, but
rather include only the costs of construction and the profits
for investors. 

The plan calls for the razing of residential, commercial and
tourism areas and the destruction of the flanks of San
Cristobal Hill, while city land-use regulations prohibit the
hill's use for roadworks. 

It doesn't seem important that for the last 30 years the
blatant failure of the current transport model has been
repeated time and time again. After enormous spending for
the construction of new urban highways, these soon
become saturated, resulting in worse congestion of other
roads in the network. Has anyone noticed any difference in
the vehicular flow between the old Irarrazaval Street and the
new one, with one-way traffic in the morning? When English
engineers called for the construction of the M- 25, they
thought it would clear up London's congested access
routes, but it hasn't worked out that way. The same
happened in Paris with its ring road and in California with
most urban highway expansions. 

Given that year after year more and more vehicles flood into
Santiago, and even more will now be able to enter through
the new highway, can anyone claim that the Costanera
Norte will be any different? The project also brings with it a
price tag of US$330 million and a guarantee of profits for
private investors, an increase in Santiago's air pollution and
the irretrievable loss of many neighborhoods and the
Metropolitan Park. 

The Costanera Norte project runs completely contrary to
authentic modernity, which can only exist along with free
and critical thinking, habitable urban spaces, cities for
human beings rather than for automobiles, a creative spirit,
and the desire to reach higher states of moral existence, in
which the development of material considerations doesn't
utweigh that of moral growth and the spiritual strengthening
of humanity. 

Courtesy of Chipnews www.chip.cl
April 2, 1998
 Christopher Zegras       http://www.iiec.org                 /\   /^\
 Instituto Internacional para la Conservacion de Energia /^\ /_o\ /   \
 General Flores 150, Providencia, Santiago, CHILE       /^^^/_\< /^^^^^\
 Tel: (56 2) 236 9232 Fax: 236 9233                    /   (*)/(*)      \



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