Personal Transportation vs Public Transportation :: Pollution Environment Argumentative Papers

Personal Transportation vs Public Transportation On my plane trip to the Philippines I had expected Manila to be a beautiful island with nature trails, tropical flowers, white sand and palm trees overflowing with coconuts outlining the border of the beaches. I was taken by surprise when I stepped out of the airport to find enormous skyscrapers; cars backed up bumper to bumper for miles in every direction that I turned my head for as far as I could see and a distinguishable stench of unclean air. My skin felt violated just standing there on the edge of the sidewalk. It felt as if my skin was being penetrated by miniscule pollutant dust particles. The city dwellers rushed around with handkerchiefs pressed against their faces to prevent the harmful chemicals from reaching their lungs. The traffic was so awful that if your license plate ended with an odd number you could only drive on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. If your license plate ended with an even number you could only drive on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. It was mind-boggling. It was like any other large city I had been to, only, more congested and more polluted. Who would’ve thought? This isn’t a single sad tale about an island out in the Pacific Ocean. The truth is the way the population is growing and places are expanding traffic is also greatly increasing. For example, a recent report from the U.S. Department of Transportation in Hosansky’s article on Traffic Congestion estimated that, â€Å"in 1994 governments at the federal, state, and local levels spent $124.5 billion on the nations transportation system. That figure has certainly risen sharply since 1998, when Congress passed the 6-year $217.9 billion Transportation Equity Act†(par.22). In just four years America has spent $93.4 billion dollars to build and repair roads. Citizens in agreement with constructing more roads do not realize that in five years the new roads will be just as congested and land will be even more scarce for further construction. Another negative aspect of constructing new roads is that, once new roads are built, more shopping centers, surplus ho using, food chains, and other sprawling suburbs pop up. These all contribute to more cars, which results in more traffic congestion.