Chapter 5: General conclusions

A question of investment

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The broad message of our report is that there are absolute limits to the amount of traffic that can be accepted in towns, depending upon their size and density, but up to those limits, provided a civilised environment is to be retained or created, the level of vehicular accessibility a town can have depends on its readiness to accept and pay for the physical changes required. The choice is society's. But it will not be sensible, nor indeed for long be possible, for society to go on investing apparently unlimited sums in the purchase and running of motor vehicles without investing equivalent sums in the proper accommodation of the traffic that results. It is true that there are many other claims on material resources, but it is a weak argument to say the needs of traffic cannot be met, seeing that it is a problem we are continuously creating by our extreme readiness to invest in motor vehicles. There seems to be an issue here which society must face, for at present the two investments are getting further and further apart (Figure 247). All the indications are that to deal adequately with traffic in towns will require works and expenditure on a scale not yet contemplated.