| Click the map for a large version which will open in a new window |
| Click the map for a large version which will open in a new window |
EXPLANATION OF MAP 2
Every house - yes every house on this map has access to a new RADBURN [a pedestrian path which never crosses a road at the same level.] No pedestrian or cyclist has to go up or down more than a metre in height, except where the natural land level slopes. No gradients are greater than 1 in 12.
The green gardens show the land which has to be purchased. Yet the overall loss of accommodation on this map is less than 1.5%. Britons own more cycles than cars, but many live unsatisfactorily in children's bedrooms. In suburban areas as in the less dense properties on the right of the Map a segregated cycle way, down the back gardens, leads to every house. The upper floors of the purchased houses can become maisonettes or flats from which, many a Juliet can gaze on her cycling Romeo. The extra houses on either side of the RADBURN way provide accommodation for every house on the map to have lock up cycle storage. This extra width helps to provide space for scented rose gardens with seats for the elderly, barbecues and kiddies play areas. This route with its trees, shrubs grass and flowers; will be much more attractive than walking beside parked cars. If a particular path becomes overcrowded with cycling commuters there would be space for widening it.
There are 10 FUNCTIONAL JUNCTIONs. The light blue patches means the road rises 1 metre. Dark blue fading lines means the road goes down 1 m. They are drawn to scale. These provide as many fast lanes as four motorway junctions which would require 80% of the land area of the map. Jay walking across the road should not be illegal, but the pedestrian should have to pay tax for every second the motorist is delayed. For ROADIONICS to work every lamppost must record every car, surely it is simple to extend it to every cyclist and pedestrian. Prince William wears an electronic tag. I believe that everyone will want to wear a tag in order not to get run over by a driverless car. The police say today that opening up back gardens encourages theft. But tagging should stop all serial crime. One will be able to point a zapper at any one suspicious to record their address with the police through one's mobile phone. Dogs fouling the foot-way can be likewise reported.
PARKING. 100% car parking is based on the fact that there are 2.3 Britons per car. Therefore I have multiplied the existing number of cars in the area by 2.3. Nobody appears to think car ownership will reach 100% except me. The U.S. only has one car for every 2 people. So I think there will be enough spaces, after all when ROADIONICS arrives, cars can be parked in 2 or 3 rows behind each other which halves the space required, or the garages could have an extra floor, so I doubt if an error in my approximation could invalidate my belief that there is plenty of room. I agree that because of the depth of underground parks, they must be sited away from existing houses to protect their foundations.
These GREEN FINGERS will run for hundreds of miles all over Britain, never crossing a road, past schools, and playing fields, through squares, communal council flat gardens, church yards, public parks and woods. Some of the ground floors on the route might be let as corner shops, restaurants or Wine bars with permission to use the garden, providing they keep it tidy.
Monorails or tubes would cost much more and take twice as long to build. It is foolish not to plan, but changes must be slow to avoid disruption. Public opinion must be changed, then the politicians will follow. Property on average becomes vacant every 7 years. There should be no difficulty about obtaining it over 30 to 80 years, especially if there was, unused in the background, the possibility of compulsory purchase. There are many alternative routes, trees and blind people need never be moved. Surely in 100 years it could be totally complete.
If I quoted the cost for converting London or England in £ billions; it would be meaningless to most people. The aggregate cost when new of all the cars made in the last decade, which are currently parked on this map, equals the cost of all the functional junctions, the roadionic attachments to the lampposts and the multi storey garages that tare shown on this map. If the building takes 50 years, it only adds one fifth to the capital cost of motoring, while increasing speeds by seven times. The RADBURN can be paid for by the reduction in accidents, and will cost no more than the Victorians spent on water, and main drainage. But all this is more than covered by road taxation.