Millions of cars and trucks are stopped every day in the U.S. alone and are burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of precious non-replaceable fuel. During the fuel blockade in Britain the smog improved dramatically. Cars that are stopped for lights, stop signs and road construction pour out hundreds of thousands of tons of pollution into the atmosphere. There is a direct correlation between the amount of pollution and the incidence of respiratory disease. California passed extremely restrictive anti pollution laws even though it cost billions of dollars because it was shown to be cheaper than the tens of billions of dollars that would be spent in medical costs resulting from polluted air.
Valuable time is lost while sitting in a roadblock.
Business people, truckers, commercial firms all loose valuable working time and this in turn impacts retail prices and the economy. Many thousands lives are lost or ruined because of accidents directly related to stopping traffic not to mention the horrific medical expenses. This should be a binding directive stating that traffic is the most important thing on our highways, not construction or maintenance and nothing should impede that traffic. When construction and maintenance is necessary every effort should be made to provide streamlined detours that are adequate in that they do not impede the traffic. This directive should include funds that would finance research for more modern , overnight, instant, pre-fabricated and streamlined roadway construction.