[martieg]

Unfortunately not all countries are as lucky as the US to have plenty of space for growth - we complain of traffic problems in many US cities, however these problems pale in comparison with other countries' traffic problems.

Many cities in Latin America and more particularly in Asia are experiencing exponential growth but with that a horrible traffic situation. The poor city planning (or lack of anticipation of the rapid growth) has caused huge traffic problems, to the point that it takes 1 hour or more to drive relatively short distances.

I just visited Singapore and saw a 5 million plus city that has almost no traffic problems. How did they achieve this?

1. Creating an alternative to driving - a super efficient and safe public transportation method: the Rapid Mass Transit system (MRT), which is a subway.

2. Restricting the number of permits for owning a car. These COE's (Certificates of Entitlement) are sort of auctioned making the cost of owning a Toyota Corolla almost $100,000!!

3. Dynamic and advanced toll system that restricts access to heavier traffic areas (i.e. Downtown) at peak times

4. High tech solutions to making traffic easier (i.e. Smart parking, smart traffic lights, etc)

I just read that Beijing will start restricting new cars beginning next year. They have serious traffic and pollution problems there!

Do you have any other examples or solutions for improving traffic in our cities? I'm so lucky to live in a city in the US with wide roads and not so bad traffic, and access to cheap cars and cheap gas (when compared to other countries).