Are more roads - public or private - the future? No.

Great column by Neal Peirce in today's Seattle Times. He cites some depressing statistics:

1980, 64.4 percent of us drove to work alone; in 2000 it was 75.7 percent, according to the Transportation Research Board's recent "Commuting in America" survey by Alan Pisarski.

The statistics are disturbing. Carpooling dipped from 19.7 percent to 12.2 percent in the same years. Transit use went from 6.2 percent to 4.6 percent. And walking dropped from 5.6 percent to 2.9 percent, as workplace locations exploded out (along with our waistlines).

He also surveys the trend for private companies to build and operate tollways.

Our take? Even if cars are built green, we still have to deal with the problem that cars help cause - sprawl. Mr. Peirce will be writing more about this issue on Monday.

On a related note, Pierce County environmentalists are suing to prevent the construction of a new freeway.