No, really. Who would have thought? More roads, less congestion? But that's Dogmatically Problematic, isn't it? We have all been told to believe that more roads lead to more congestion, because they'll just suck in more traffic... but now... perhaps they were smoking something. Fumes from the tar pit.

What this story is all about is the use of emergency lanes as temporary driving lanes at peak hours, effectively increasing the space available to road users. As anyone outside the Ecologically-Imperial Complex might have expected, having more lanes available reduces the congestion. So the the Dutch government is going to prioritize the building of more of these "peak-lanes" so as to reduce traffic jams.

So far, so good. Traffic minister de Boer says however, that they'll only be adding width to existing roads, not building new ones. "We don't want to become known as a asphalt-cabinet." And why not? The huge increase in mobility that the car has brought to the masses in the second half of the 20th century is a very large part of the quality of life we enjoy. Being able to get from point A to point B quickly, efficiently and comfortably is a great thing to have, and it's not one that public transport can fulfill in many cases. If we want economic growth and increasing living standards, then building more roads is going to have to be a part of it. Unfortunately, the government has fallen back on the eco-dogma that more roads should never be built.