The Department for Transport in England is promoting the idea that more roads need to be built to accommodate the predicted increase in traffic. However, building more roads is not the solution to tackle climate change. It is incompatible with the government's goal of stabilising and reducing carbon emissions quickly.

Electric vehicles are a step towards reducing emissions but they can't be rolled out quick enough to accompany the predicted increase in traffic. Even if they were, the massive increase in manufacturing emissions would offset any reductions from tailpipe emissions, and we would run out of electricity and suffer power cuts.

The solution then lies in cutting carbon emissions from transport quickly by stabilising and reducing traffic. This would lead to many benefits such as less air and noise pollution, less congestion, healthier and more pleasant communities. According to Lisa Hopkinson, we should view traffic reduction as a positive thing.

The Transport Action Network (TAN) calls for radical changes in the way transport investment decisions in England are made. They recommend a new multi-modal agency to oversee interventions that deliver government priorities, a new national transport policy that aligns with the government's goal of reducing carbon emissions, and a focus on maintaining existing roads instead of building new ones. New infrastructure should focus on small-scale improvements to address safety concerns and improve walking, cycling and public transport connectivity.

The current approach to transport investment has failed to deliver a significant reduction in carbon emissions over the past 30 years, worsened congestion and social exclusion, and failed to provide a solution to the problem of congestion. The upcoming report on strategic road investment will be published in the summer, but in the meantime, individuals can add their voice to TAN's campaign to shift funding from road building to public transport, walking and cycling. It is time to move on from unsuccessful 20th century solutions and explore more efficient and less damaging ways to give people access to the goods and services they need.