Brent ToderianDec 10, 2022
“We found that there’s this perfect one-to-one relationship. If a city increased its road capacity by 10%, then the amount of driving in that city went up by 10%.” One of the earliest, and still one of the best articles on why building bigger roads just leads to more driving. Call it #InducedDemand, or #JevonsParadox, or the #LawOfCongestion. Via WIRED, it’s worth a read and share.
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/
#cities #transportation #urbanism #city #cars
What's Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse

The concept is called induced demand, which is economist-speak for when increasing the supply of something (like roads) makes people want that thing even more. Though some traffic engineers made note of this phenomenon at least as early as the 1960s, it is only in recent years that social scientists have collected enough data to show how this happens pretty much every time we build new roads.

WIRED
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@BrentToderian Actually, it's my understanding that the traffic goes up *more* than the capacity, leading to increased congestion! :(
Dec 10, 2022 at 5:40pmWeb
Show threadStuart D NeilsonDec 11, 2022
@acm_redfox @BrentToderian Wide motorways collect congestion thinly spread over rural areas and deposit all that concentrated congestion in urban areas.