TEXT D Traffic statistics paint a
gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes, some rapidly growing US cities
have simply built more roads. But traffic experts say building more roads is a
quick-fix solution that will not alleviated the
traffic problem in the long run. Soaring land costs, increasing concern over
social and environmental disruptions caused by road building, and the likelihood
that more roads can only lead to more cars and traffic are powerful factors
bearing down on a 1950s-style construction program①.
The goal of smart-highway technology is to make traffic systems work at
optimum efficiency by treating the road and the vehicles traveling on them as an
integral transportation system. Proponents of the advanced technology say
electronic detection systems, closed-circuit television, radio-communication,
ramp metering variable message signing, and other smart-highway technology can
now be used at a reasonable cost to improve communication between drivers and
the people who monitor traffic②. Pathfinder, a Santa
Monica, California-based smart-highway project in which a 14-mile stretch of the
Santa Monica Freeway, making up what is called a "smart corridor," is being
instrumented with buried loops in the pavement. Closed-circuit television
cameras survey the flow of traffic; while communication linked to property
equipped automobiles advise motorists of the least congested routes or
detours. Not all traffic experts, however, look to smart-highway
technology as the ultimate solution to traffic gridlock. Some say the high-tech
approach is limited and can only offer temporary solutions to a serious
problem. "Electronics on the highway addresses just one aspects
of the problem: how to regulate traffic more efficiently," explains Michael
Renner, senior researcher at the world-watch Institute. "It does not deal with
the central problem of too many cars for roads that cannot be built fast enough.
It sends people the wrong message. They start thinking ’yes, there used to be a
traffic congestion problem, but that’s been solved now because we have advanced
high-tech system in place." Larson agrees and adds, "Smart highway is just one
of the tools that we use to deal with our traffic problems. It is not the
solution itself, just pan of package. There are different strategies."
Other traffic problem-solving options being studied and experimented with
include car-pooling, rapid mass-transit systems, staggered or flexible work
hours and road pricing, a system whereby motorists pay a certain amount for the
time they use a highway③. It seems that we need a
new, major thrust to deal with the traffic problems of the next 20 years. There
has to be a big change and a long way to go. Which of the following best describes the organization of the whole passage
A．Two contrasting views of a problem are presented. B．A problem is examined and complementary solutions arc proposed or offered. C．Latest developments are outlined in order of importance. D．An introduction is explained with its importance emphasized.