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About
the coalition : Trees and Smog Coffee Break
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In July, after
the province had completed the last public consultation the 417 expansion,
right before Ottawa City Council votes on temporary alternative uses
in the Alta Vista Corridor, and in the midst of 2005 (Ottawa's worst
ever smog year to date), activists joined together to draw attention
to fact that nobody has ever improved air quality by building more
roads. Yet, this is precisely what some traffic engineers are
claiming for both the Queensway expansion and the Alta Vista Corridor.
Ottawa is poised to repeat the mistakes of Atlanta and Houston (two
cities which boasted in the 1980s that they would build enough roads
to avoid congestion because they were ahead of the game compared to
Los Angeles ... now we can see where that got them). |
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The Sierra
Club once again joined us and Bridgehead kindly provided the coffee. |
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Aside from serving coffee
and goodies to attendees and passers by, we also planted a tree
next to Queensway. Consider the contrast:
- A tree next to the
highway improves the air by producing oxygen, improves aesthetics
and helps buffer the noise.
- An
additional lane will produce more smog, remove trees and increase
the noise pollution too.
Why would anybody want
to spend hundreds millions of dollars on something that will make
more people sick. The Ontario Medical
Association forecasts 290 premature deaths in Ottawa in 2005
due to smog.
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See the Parks
Over Pavement Media Release for more details.
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