Good luck with that. What if it is your back garden that get tarmacked over?
In the UK we tried this under the Thatcher government. Margaret Thatcher was allergic to trains and wanted to encourage private ownership of cars as much as possible. Vast swathes of South East England were turned to roads so that happy motorists could get around a few minutes quicker.
Ultimately the Conservatives had to give up on the road-building schemes. It was too expensive to do and the roads really were only encouraging motorists.
The crux of your argument has been tried and tested in the UK. Despite the vast resources and ideology that went into it, it was a battle that was lost.
So what now for the UK? Cycling and buses. It is now socially acceptable to cycle and the government are encouraging it as much as they can in London. Soon it will be 20 mph everywhere in London's boroughs (average speed for cars is ~ 10mph though). There is congestion charging to keep cars out of the capital. With only so many roads, for the commuter, cycling is actually pretty quick. You can also get a bike tax-free with payments spread out over a year.
Buses have been quite transformed in London. The night bus service means that people in service sector jobs can get in or out of the capital at odd hours. Years ago night buses were a nightmare. Now they are clean, safe and quite comfortable if you have some phone/book/tablet for entertainment. The cost is not bad either. People that used to not consider a bus will nowadays take them without hesitation. You can check the times online so you never have to wait an aeon.
Even though we have Conservatives in power - the sworn enemies of public transport - transport in the London area is better than it was. There have been 1/2 million extra Londoners arrive in the last decade or so, no new trains and no new roads. People do spend far too long on the commute - two hours each way is common, but, what do you do when a city gets to be huge?
Personally I wish that the cycle routes were more like 'motorways for bikes' with it possible to go ten miles or so from the suburbs to the centre without having to stop for any lights. Such routes would make commutes by bike all the way a lot more viable. For instance, according to the maps I have 13 miles by bike. I could do that in an hour if there was no start/stop + danger. As it is I cycle for 20 minutes to the train and then get a 35 minute train journey. Those figures sound good, however, I also spend some money on the journey (time=money) plus I have a 10 minute walk at the other end and I like to get to the station ten minutes before the train departs. Therefore I actually spend 1 hour 25 minutes door to door, with a little longer on the reverse journey. So that is 5 hours a week that I could save if I wanted to. What stops me? Those crazy idiots that set out every day to add to the congestion they know is on the roads. I have a quiet ride through the park and some quality time with my phone on the train, thereby avoiding the nutters that are in the dark ages of driving everywhere, single-occupancy style.
In the UK we tried this under the Thatcher government. Margaret Thatcher was allergic to trains and wanted to encourage private ownership of cars as much as possible. Vast swathes of South East England were turned to roads so that happy motorists could get around a few minutes quicker.
Ultimately the Conservatives had to give up on the road-building schemes. It was too expensive to do and the roads really were only encouraging motorists.
The crux of your argument has been tried and tested in the UK. Despite the vast resources and ideology that went into it, it was a battle that was lost.
So what now for the UK? Cycling and buses. It is now socially acceptable to cycle and the government are encouraging it as much as they can in London. Soon it will be 20 mph everywhere in London's boroughs (average speed for cars is ~ 10mph though). There is congestion charging to keep cars out of the capital. With only so many roads, for the commuter, cycling is actually pretty quick. You can also get a bike tax-free with payments spread out over a year.
Buses have been quite transformed in London. The night bus service means that people in service sector jobs can get in or out of the capital at odd hours. Years ago night buses were a nightmare. Now they are clean, safe and quite comfortable if you have some phone/book/tablet for entertainment. The cost is not bad either. People that used to not consider a bus will nowadays take them without hesitation. You can check the times online so you never have to wait an aeon.
Even though we have Conservatives in power - the sworn enemies of public transport - transport in the London area is better than it was. There have been 1/2 million extra Londoners arrive in the last decade or so, no new trains and no new roads. People do spend far too long on the commute - two hours each way is common, but, what do you do when a city gets to be huge?
Personally I wish that the cycle routes were more like 'motorways for bikes' with it possible to go ten miles or so from the suburbs to the centre without having to stop for any lights. Such routes would make commutes by bike all the way a lot more viable. For instance, according to the maps I have 13 miles by bike. I could do that in an hour if there was no start/stop + danger. As it is I cycle for 20 minutes to the train and then get a 35 minute train journey. Those figures sound good, however, I also spend some money on the journey (time=money) plus I have a 10 minute walk at the other end and I like to get to the station ten minutes before the train departs. Therefore I actually spend 1 hour 25 minutes door to door, with a little longer on the reverse journey. So that is 5 hours a week that I could save if I wanted to. What stops me? Those crazy idiots that set out every day to add to the congestion they know is on the roads. I have a quiet ride through the park and some quality time with my phone on the train, thereby avoiding the nutters that are in the dark ages of driving everywhere, single-occupancy style.