With the number of cars continuously growing, more and more city centres encounter a problem of congested roads and traffic jams. It does not only increase the level of pollutants but also causes trouble for many people driving to work every day. One of the ideas of how to prevent such situation is to build ring roads in the suburbs so that traffic is no longer concentrated in the city centre. I believe that despite many advantages of such solution, there is also a lot of drawbacks. I would like to support my opinion by discussing both positive and negative aspects of ring roads building.
To begin, it is clear that building roads in the suburbs is beneficial for the city and its inhabitants. It reduces air pollution and allows people to commute to work or university without worrying about getting stuck in traffic jam. Fluent coordination of vehicles may also positively affect the number of car accidents. All of these factors are ways to relieve people’s stress and help them create a positive attitude to living in a big city.
Nevertheless, we should not forget to mention problems caused by fast ring roads. Very often in order to build them, forests are cut down and environmentally significant landscapes are destroyed. Such areas produce large amount of oxygen and are crucial for our health. By reducing their number, we expose ourselves to much more intoxicated air than before. What is more, fauna an flora is ruined, which very often comprises of unique species of plants and animals.
In addition, the ability to travel faster using ring roads discourages people from using public transport. It is a common knowledge that trams, buses and trains cause far less pollution. Statistically, forty people traveling by one of these means of transport is about thirty cars less on the roads. I believe that building ring roads successfully prevents the promotion of public transport from succeeding. In my opinion, this is a big problem and it should be taken into consideration by city council before making a final decision about building new ring roads.
In conclusion, concentrating traffic on ring roads on the outskirts of the city, can bring many benefits. Yet, in my judgment the number of disadvantages caused by this solution is too big to consider it successful. Despite many positive sides of this idea, it still negatively affects our environment and health. Therefore, it should be the subject of further development so that a better plan is made one day.