This weekend I made the trek down from Blacksburg, VA to Atlanta, GA to use a collaborator’s instrument at Georgia Tech. I get to stay with some friends while I am down here, which is nice, but that also means I have to battle Atlanta’s traffic on my way to campus. For those that don’t know, Atlanta is one of the worst cities in America for traffic. Unfortunately, due to the infrastructure of the city, commuters are very reliant on automotive transportation. And perhaps because of that, Atlanta is also one of the most polluted cities in the U.S..
To make things worse, Atlanta and most of the American South is suffering one of their worst droughts in recorded history. They do appear to be making an effort to conserve water though. When I was down last fall, there was a ban on watering lawns. This time, on my way into the city, I noticed a big sign across the highway that was advertising water conservation in Atlanta. It had the website for the Conserve Water Georgia! campaign listed and said something like “find out how you can help.”
I find it encouraging that the city is pushing conservation efforts, but at the same time it reminds me of how rarely action is taken unless it is a response to a crisis or emergency. Maybe the city will learn from the water example to tackle the problem of traffic/pollution?
I was surprised not to see N. VA & D.C. metro mentioned in that traffic story! Talk about terrible traffic, it can take 2 hours to go 30 miles here. My solution is not to bring the metro system 40 miles outside the city, however. For this particular area, I would build a network of telecommuting centers tailored for the special needs of government & military employees (i.e. access to government networks, special storage requirements, etc.) I can’t believe no one has done this already.
I can definitely attest to the traffic in that area too! In regards to your solution, I’ve heard of similar centers for mega-sized corporations (such as Microsoft) but you know how it is, the government is always a few steps behind…