Cable cars vs. bridges for cars

Maybe the solution to the massive expansion of bridges across the Anacostia River, as well as the reconstruction of Klingle Road through Rock Creek Park in NW DC would be cable cars. Apparently one line can move 5,000 people/hour. See "The green way to cross the Thames: by cable car," from the Guardian.

From the article:

An Alpine-style cable car to ferry people across the Thames in east London should replace plans for a £500m six-lane road bridge, say leading transport analysts commissioned by Transport for London. The bridge has been strongly opposed by local people and environment groups.

The new study compares six alternative types of river crossing to the road bridge, which is presently locked in a second public inquiry. They include a rail-only bridge, a river ferry crossing, a walk and cycle-only bridge, and a car bridge which is adapted to take more public transport.

All would be better than the road-only bridge, say the study authors, professors of transport at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University College London, and the University of Wuppertal in Germany. But a cable car across the Thames would be the most sustainable. It would be significantly cheaper than a bridge, and would greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, encourage cycling and walking, and could be erected in time for the Olympics in 2012, they say.

Cologne's cable car first crossed the Rhine in 1957. Photograph: Boris Roessler/EPA