Roads, blame the Romans

A collection of climate stories

How many miles of roads do you think the Romans built when they had an empire? 55,000 miles of them, which does seem quite a lot. 

But then at the height of their power in the 2nd century AD, the empire stretched from the Scottish Highlands in the north to the Sahara Desert in the south and west from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates River in the east; 2 million square miles nearly.

A bit like last week’s letter, I’m concerned that I’m hiding, by implication, that owning an electric vehicle (EV), Tesla Model Y, is a selfless act which supports the environment. It may be better than the fossil fuel alternatives, but you still need a road to drive it on and rare earths like lithium in the battery chemistry.

Recently, I had an alert which popped up on the Tesla app and the over-sized flat screen in the car. A tyre service was required, something I’d never seen before. 

I’d read in a few places that EVs need more frequent tyre changes than their fossil fuel equivalents because they’re heavier. I booked in, especially with the French voyage coming up. 

Unlike other manufacturers, the Tesla technician paid us a home visit several days later. I was already delighted with the convenience and timing before he dispelled the longevity myth and the need to have a special foam filled tyre. A tyre on a Tesla will last 25-30,000 miles if driven sensibly, avoiding the urge for doughnuts, not of the Krispy Kreme variety.

Foam filled tyres were designed by tyre manufacturers like Michelin and Continental, not Tesla. They absorb some of the cavity noise when driving, making it quieter inside. I’d say it definitely works.

Cars are a luxury which we justify because other forms of public transport are less convenient and often more expensive. 

If you want to encourage people to drive less, then make the driving experience really bad or super expensive. There is no better example of this than London where the available transport network of tube, train and bus is still more convenient than congested roads, a daily charge and expensive parking. This despite the regular horror stories of overcrowding, poor timetabling and strikes.

In more rural parts of the UK, the smaller network of roads are absolutely essential if you want to live a normal connected life. 

The UK has 262,000 miles of road today and the government spends £11 billion a year maintaining them and building more. This government thinks like every previous one, more roads are essential. It’s great for moving ever higher volumes of traffic which is good for growth. But is growth good for us?

Their logic extends to EVs where it becomes even more perverse. There is an assumption that more journeys, not less, will be made by road because of climate change. EVs are cheaper to run so we are jolly well going to use them more.

I could certainly be accused of adopting some of this thinking, especially with holidays. 

I’m not going to fly, at least not in Europe. Trains take longer, once you move away from intercity connections and are at least double the price of an airline ticket, often more. The EV is convenient and environmentally a lot less damaging than the plane. It’s also relatively cheap after that initial outlay.

At 62 years old, my life has been entirely dependent on cars and the luxury of cheap air travel. Trains were a novelty which I used for university and when I decided to leave London only to commute back from Bristol. Not my best idea.

Isn’t the government assumption flawed though? The current population of EV drivers are more environmentally aware, otherwise why bother to buy electric when there is a cheaper fossil fuel alternative?

The UK population have also been taking less trips and there is a trend for more young people not to learn to drive. Is this an anomaly because of the recent pandemic or something more long term?

Aside from the belief that older drivers will drive more, ride sharing also leads to more trips apparently. Trip volume is also likely to increase when driverless cars eventually arrive. It provides all the benefits of public transport without all the drawbacks of public transport.

As you might expect there have been objections to the governments Road Investment Strategy 2, (RIS2) from the transport action network (TAN). (RIS3 is also now in the wings). Their focus is sustainable transport in England and Wales, which means fighting cuts to rail and bus services and opposing damaging road schemes. 

Climate change bizarrely, is not a critical issue in any current road scheme assessment. Because of the way that planning policy is worded, carbon emissions are effectively ignored. The only exception is when the carbon emissions from a single road scheme are so big that it undermines the government’s position to meet its carbon budget.

Carbon and new roads is not only about measuring the increased tailpipe emissions. During construction there is land clearance and preparation plus the embodied carbon used in the concrete production and emissions from contractors’ vehicles.

There is also the consequential effect of a new road on settlement and activity patterns. New developments often exacerbate car-dependent lifestyles and the need for ownership. Put simply, new roads create more use.

At least in terms of headlines, there has been a lot more opposition to the development of HS2, the controversial high speed rail link between London and the north of England than any new road. I suspect this is because home county opposition is better organised and funded, even though the resultant rail link will be one of the greenest modes of transport available.

The reality is we are still wedded to our socially acceptable cars, which is why RIS2 will cost £27 billion, paying for 4,000 miles of new road including the Lower Thames Crossing and the Stonehenge tunnel which has also drawn plenty of protest.

All of these developments will ironically require twice the amount of land needed for HS2.

We’re in good hands though. The Highways England boss, Jim O’Sullivan reassuringly said,

In everything we do, we will consider the environment, while also safeguarding and preparing our roads for future generations. 

Thanks Jim.