Should governments spend more money on improving roads and highways, or should governments spend more money on improving public transportation? (full score essay)

TOEFL Writing Sample (Full Score) Should governments spend more money on improving roads and highways, or should governments spend more money on improving public transportation (buses, trains, subways)? Why? Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.

An alternative transportation infrastructure could include both of these funding measures simultaneously. I envision a vertical robotic light-rail hover ‘train’ above a roadway for computer-mediated ‘autos’ to be constructed at ground-level. In this way, the dual concepts of innovating roadways and improving forms of public transport could be merged. So, I don’t think it is really an ‘either/or’ matter.

The governments of megacities are already considering alternative means of transport since the roadways are becoming clogged with private vehicles and at the same time many urban metro/subway systems have become congested to an unsafe degree.

The primary issues are safety, reliability and sustainability. The officials who administer highways have the same priorities as metro system supervisors. Most likely this will soon lead to lighter transport vehicle systems and/or railways using autonomic control. One of the metro systems in London is already remotely operated. Of course London is an excellent example of a city that will need to substantially integrate personal and public forms of transport in coming generations.

During recent decades the growth of cities around the world has continued to increase. But it is certainly possible that in the near future more of the global citizenry will prefer to live in rural environments. As work opportunities for remote workers expand in the service sector, a larger segment of the populace may be able to live outside of the cities. Innovative transport methods should be investigated as opposed to expending funds to improve current highway and rail systems.

In any case, I would maintain that building additional roadways for gas-powered vehicles would be speculative; it seems more plausible that automobile manufacturers will conform with environmental realities.

Expanding pre-existing public transport facilities would seem to be the most pressing need in terms of maintaining urban living standards. Also, future highway requirements and transport designs may be impacted by disruptive technologies. [312 words]

Notes:

1. All of the prompts are from former TOEFL exams.
2. The information available online, i.e., Google search results, is either misleading or wrong relative to length: [an organization] states independent essays should be between 280-320 words. More words than needed is equivalent to more opportunities to make a mistake. Students should be informed re: word count, i.e., MORE WORDS does not mean a higher score.
3. Information concerning paragraphs/content available from [a TOEFL training school], etc. is also wrong: the number of paragraphs is irrelevant and the only important issue re: content is to RESPOND DIRECTLY to the prompt, i.e., the raters/software doesn’t care about structure or content except the latter must Make sense and Must directly respond to the prompt [to preclude prepared essays].
4. UK usage/spelling is entirely acceptable.
5. AVOID complex grammar; avoid ‘Chinese English’ usage; 5 tenses: present, past, future, present perfect [have done/has been], and conditional [would go/could do it] are OPTIMAL.
6. Don’t rewrite the prompt in the first paragraph of your essay…it’s okay to paraphrase [use words that mean the same thing].
7. Recent TOEFL change…students found test takes too long, so there are fewer multiple-choice questions, i.e., essays are now more heavily ‘weighted’]