Research in the US is considering the real cost of the requirement to widen roads for new development. The policy and thinking by planners and engineers is that development creates car trips that must be accommodated with more asphalt. This occurs even when traffic numbers don’t suggest it is required now or into the future. The research has indicated that the whole practice of street widenings to ‘accommodate’ new residential development does little to reduce congestion and

REUTERS/Mike Blake The University of California, Berkeley recently surveyed members of the car2go car sharing service to assess whether it has changed their driving habits and car ownership rates. They found that each shared car2go vehicle removed as many as 11 private cars from the road. The study also found that the majority of car2go members walk more frequently and use public transport and taxis less frequently. The authors suggest that car sharing services could be expan