[sustran] More Opinions on Santiago Highway

[Dharm Guruswamy]

Glad to see you've persuaded some Chileans to write op-ed pieces.

---
Dharm Guruswamy, Associate, Transportation Environmental Economics,
Apogee/Hagler Bailly (http://www.apogee-us.com)       
4350 East-West Highway, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814

Phone: (301) 657-7546 | Fax: (301) 654-9355 | E-mail:
guruswam at apogee-us.com


	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Christopher Zegras [SMTP:chris at mailnet.rdc.cl]
	Sent:	Thursday, April 02, 1998 5:53 PM
	To:	Charles_Rivasplata at ci.sf.ca.us; alt-transp at flora.org;
sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
	Subject:	[sustran] More Opinions on Santiago Highway

	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                 /\
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