Page 19 - TrafficInfraTech Magazine - July Digital Edition

NEWS FEATURE

maintenance to reduce urged policymakers to focus
bottlenecks and ensure on smart, efficient, and
steady speeds could sustainable transport policies
As the global focus on lead to reduced energy to avoid the environmental
development goals shifts consumption. Prof. and social consequences
Madanat
emphasized
of mass car ownership.
towards sustainability, it is the central role of land- Public-private partnerships,
vital for nations to collaborate, use planning in creating targeted investments in
innovate, and align their sustainable cities, with a public transit, and integrating
particular focus on public
transport planning with
visions for a greener and more transportation and reduced urban development policies
sustainable world. greenhouse gas emissions. are critical for progress.
Prof. Louise Reardon, While acknowledging
concerns about the high hailing from the University the importance of road
cost of construction, which of Birmingham, UK, construction for economic
can divert funds from highlighted the importance development, he also
other crucial sectors. Prof. of transportation in highlighted the need for
Huzayyin stressed that the achieving all the United thoughtful and prioritized
full economic benefits of Nations Sustainable policies to encourage
road construction are often Development Goals. sustainable transportation
realized in the long run. Investing heavily in road practices.

Prof. Samer Madanat, infrastructure in developing There has been a
representing New York economies could consensus on the pressing
University in Abu Dhabi (he inadvertently encourage a need to rethink road
is also an Emeritus Professor culture of car ownership, infrastructure in developing
at University of California leading to a vicious feedback economies through a
Berkeley, USA), provided loop. Instead, she stressed sustainability lens and the
a critical perspective on the need for a clear vision significance of developing
the traditional road-centric and policies that prioritize economies learning from
transportation approach sustainable alternatives. the successes and missteps
taken by developed Prof. Reardon advocated of developed nations
economies. He drew for constructing roads in forging a sustainable
attention to the historical with provisions for cycling future. The discourse at
trajectory of developed lanes, footpaths, and other the 16th WCTR highlights
economies and the lessons pedestrian amenities. Such that this pivotal moment
that developing nations infrastructure should be presents an opportunity
can learn. This approach is targeted not only in affluent for developing economies
not sustainable and a three- areas but also in places to chart their unique
pronged strategy for a where people genuinely paths, emphasizing green
greener future is proposed: need and use them. transport infrastructure,
technology, operations and Dr. Binyam Reja, environmental preservation,
maintenance, and land use representing the World Bank, and equitable development.
planning. Emphasizing USA, brought attention There were participants
the importance of to a critical question: Can from several developed and
electrification of vehicles, the world afford for every developing economies, like
he also noted that clean individual in developing Pakistan, India, Ecuador,
electricity production is a economies to own a car? He Lebanon, African region,
prerequisite for effective emphasized that as income Hong Kong, USA etc.
sustainable transportation. of people rises, aspirations
Additionally, optimizing for car ownership also Report by Research Scholars from IISc
Bangalore, India, Mr. Furqan Bhat
operations and increase. However, he and Ms. Hemnathini Allirani

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