41)__________. But traffic experts say building more roads is
a quick-fix solution that will not alleviate 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 program. 42) __________. Proponents of this
advanced technology say electronic detection systems, closed-circuit television,
radio communication, ramp metering, variable message singing, and other
smart-highway technology can now be used at a reasonable cost to improve
communication between drivers and the people who monitor traffic.
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
communications linked to properly equipped automobiles advise motorists of the
least congested routes or detours. 43) __________.
"Electronics on the highway addresses just one aspect of the Problem: how
to regulate traffic more efficiently", explains Michael Rennet, senior
researcher at the World watch Institute. "It doesn’t deal with the central
problem of too many cars for roads that can’t 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 an advanced
high-tech system in place. ’" Larson agrees and adds, 44)
"__________". 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 highway. 45)
__________. [A] Smart highways are just one of the tools that we will use to
deal with our traffic problems. It’s not the solution itself, just part of the
package. There are different strategies. [B] 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. [C] It’s taking advantage of the technology you use in
your everyday lives and putting it to work on highways. [D] Traffic
statistics paint a gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes, some
rapidly growing U.S. cities have simply built more roads. [E] 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. [F] Smart highways that will allow a driver to program
a destination on a dashboard computer, then sit back and enjoy the ride. [G]
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.