By Bike

A lot gets written about life on the road. Whole books, movies…

Literally speaking though, there is no life on the road. The road is the antithesis to life. The dead zone.

In fact, it’s better if there is no life there. Makes it easier and safer to drive or ride. For some species and many humans, it’s the killing zone. Best to be avoided.

We think of roads as the great connectors. They carry us and our stories. The anticipation or memory of a journey. Roads bring us things, they take things away. Roads are essential to our existence for without them, we would not be.

Roads can be great separators too. I think of how a freeway can divide a once closely connected community. How for many small critters, a road will stop their ability to forage, reach water or find a mate.

I did some rough calculations using data supplied by the good old CIA (I figure they’re a pretty reliable source of information). Their website lists the length of road for each country and, while a lot of the data is dated, it’s possible to come up with a conservative total length of roads worldwide. Assuming an average width of 5 metres (again being conservative), I estimate that we’ve created a road surface globally at least the size of Germany.

This doesn’t include all the other paths, sidewalks, driveways, car parks, tarmacs, playing surfaces etc. that have been paved in concrete or bitumen. Or the roofs of metal, concrete and clay that cover our buildings.

All of these surfaces change the way solar radiation is received and reflected from the earths surface. They change the patterns and dynamics of life for all creatures, not just humans.

When you put it all together, it’s a hell of a big area…