A major escarpment access in #Hamilton is closing on short notice. Should you be worried about increased congestion because of detours? Surprisingly, probably not!
A thread about "traffic evaporation", the cool cousin of induced demand.
#ONpoli #HamOnt #InducedTravel #InducedDemand
https://globalnews.ca/news/9521904/claremont-access-hamilton-close-downbound/
You may have heard it said that increasing roadway capacity reduces emissions because of reduced congestion. But it's been known for a while that the impact of adding lanes is fleeting because of *induced demand*: if you build it, they (cars) will come.
It turns out that induced demand works both ways: if you *reduce* road capacity, car trips vanish, seemingly into thin air - this is known as "traffic evaporation".
https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/disappearing_traffic_cairns.pdf
This report summarized the traffic impacts of over 70 case studies of road closures and lane reductions, and guess what: in the vast majority of cases, there were LESS car trips in the area after the change. The median reduction in traffic was 11%.
nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/disappearing_traffic_cairns.pdf
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD
Jason Morse