Traffic infrastructure: What do we have and what do we need?

Traffic infrastructure is the hardware of human mobility. It is only an apparent contradiction that the basic patterns of the transport network were laid out at a time when human beings began to become sedentary. Nomads have to provide themselves with all vital necessities and are able to accumulate only a small amount of assets and facilities. Sedentary people, on the other hand, produce only a very limited number of different products or provide only a few services themselves; anything else they need is traded for or exchanged. In addition to their daily needs, traded products include tools and luxury goods. Consequently, sedentary people need permanent transportation systems that bring the suppliers and buyers together. The more specialised the work and the greater affluence and prosperity, the greater the volume of trade and therefore the more traffic routes required to carry it out. Unfortunately traffic also generates emissions, causes noise and disturbance and requires space. Our split relationship to mobility then comes to light: on the one hand people wish to live in peace and quiet, and on the other, they want to be mobile at any time. This ambivalence also manifests itself in those responsible for traffic infrastructure planning and development policy. This paper draws attention to the fact that compared with other European countries and the significance it had 30 years ago, the German roads network has suffered a loss of status. We shall examine the income/expenditure balance sheet for the rail and road transport systems. We will identify those factors that make it difficult for a higher share of traffic to be carried by rail. These facts enable us to draw conclusions concerning the extent and layout of a traffic infrastructure for the future.