What Did This Area Look Like Before Again?

Does anyone really remember what this place looked like before this new highway went up? I mean really remember. Take time to see if you think you could force your brain to remember what this whole establishment looked like prior to this new fancy arrangement we have here. With no traffic lights to stop us (because we all know traffic lights cause traffic). Just the free, easy flow of traffic along the East West and West South and East South corridors. Does that make sense?

I chose this piece because it's amazing how when something changes, and we seem to be pleased with this change, it's almost like this is how it was all along. I remember complaining so much because coming from the East (Mount Hope to be exact) and trying to head West is not the easiest thing to do on this highway. But after a few times and some getting accustomed to the new arrangement, it comes like second nature to me. But this happens to me all the time (especially with highways it would seem). After I have gotten so accustomed to something, I just can't seem to go back to that point in time where it was not anything near to this. I pass there quite often and every single time I pass I am amazed by how much land there is. I always ask myself "Where in heaven's name did these people find all this land to build this new highway? I promise all this was not there before!" And that amazes me. That after something has changed and we've gotten so accustomed to the change, that the before seems to unimportant. 

I will not disclose my secret location where I took these shots, but you can see that the flyover directly in front of us, which is the newest instalment to the whole ordeal, and the long stretch in front of us is heading into Valsayn and then Curepe and it goes just deeper and deeper into the North-East of Trinidad. They did a pretty good job with the lighting huh?

Traditionally, the methods and modes of transportation have not been studied in as much depth as they are being studied today, but scientists are blaming the number of cars on the road and the many impacts that these cars and their exhaust have on the environment for the increase in their importance. The whole concept of mobility is no longer about getting to point A to point B, but is concerned with the many other journeys that are necessary for the day to day living of certain individuals. Mobility shapes cities. Their size and form throughout history and across the world are a reflection of the prevalence of different forms of transport.  The urban sprawl of many contemporary cities reflects, and helps perpetuate, the importance of the private car today but other forms of transport, such as the railway and carriage, have been equally important determinants of the shape and nature of cities. (Hall and Barrett 2013, 283.) 

The modern suburban period began in the 1920's and one of the main reasons for the suburban explosion was the widespread diffusion to the auto-mobile. In 1910 the U.S. has less than 1 million auto-mobiles, but by the early 1930's there was nearly 27 million (one for every five persons.) (Bourne, 1996) Cities have been experiencing new waves of decentralisation, initially of residential land use and later non-residential uses., one of the main reasons for the enhanced personal mobility. (Hall and Barrett 2013, 284). 

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Tim Hall and Heather Barrett, Urban Geography, 4^th ed. (Abingdon: Routledge 2012) 283 - 284