DearMajor:

　　Asoureconomygrowsatafeverpitch,andmoreandmorepeoplearemovingintothemajorcitiesandindustrialcenters,trafficcongestionBEComestheorderoftheday.

　　Trafficcongestionnotonlycreatesheadachesforcommuters,butalsoreducesproductivitybytakingawayvaluabletimefromwork.Thissicknessthatplaguesourcitiesmustbeatleastputundercontrol,ifnotcured.Somepeopleadvocatethatmoreroadsbebuilttoaccommodatetheincreaseintraffic,othersthinkthatenlargingthecapacityofpublictransitsystems:buses,subway,trains…istheanswer.

　　Buildingmoreroadswouldmeanalotoflandwillbeappropriated—notaverygoodprospectforeconomic,agricultural,andenvironmentalreasons.Ontheotherhand,forcingeveryonetotakepublictransitwillbringinconveniencetothosewhoseuseoftheircarsisessentialtotheirwork.Puttingmorebusesontheroadmayhavetheoppositeeffectasbigbusestendtoclogupnarrowstreets.Buildinganextensivesubwaysystemcanbetheidealanswer,butthatisveryexpensive.

　　Clearly,wecannotgoforonesinglesolution.Acompromisemustbestruckbetweenthedifferentsolutions.Mypersonalviewisthatforcitiesthathaveplentyofunusedland,moreroadsshouldbebuilt.Havingspeciallanesreservedforbicyclesandmotorcyclesshouldencouragemorepeopletousebicyclesandmotorcyclesinsteadofcars.Asalong-termsolution,extensivesubway,orsurfacemonorailsystemsshouldbebuiltforallthemajorcities.

　　Yours,

　　LiHua