Your area has bad traffic? Just widen the roads! is the standard reaction.
Liberal politicians like this answer because it “creates jobs,” and developers like it subsidizes their housing development. But this latter fact suggests that maybe more lanes doesn’t actually reduce congestion: The developers want to build more houses out in Gainesville, and so they want more lanes. But those new houses in Gainesville — some of which wouldn’t be built without the new lanes — mean more cars, and thus maybe as much congestion, only on more lanes.
Arlington County planner Chris Zimmerman makes a similar argument in this WTOP piece:
Transportation leaders are debating that question as they try to deal with the region’s congestion.
Arlington County Board Chairman and Transportation Planning Board member Chris Zimmerman takes a look at the question, using Interstate 66 as an example.
“All the experience and history tells us, (if you widen a road) you’ll just wind up with a bigger traffic jam. You’ll be right where you were at eight lanes as you were at six lanes,” says Zimmerman.
I agree, and I’ve written as much here and here. But I think Zimmerman and Tuss later on make the same exact logical fallacy they’re correcting in the discussion above. Here’s the claim:
“When you put people in buses, every bus that’s full is taking 40 cars off the street,” says Zimmerman.
Does every bus rider really represent a car off the road? I know that’s not true for metro riders. One thing transit does, like highways, is spur development. Look around the Red Line stops of Tacoma Park, Fort Totten, and Wheaton. Huge housing developments are going up. Is that coincidental to the metro being there? Would the residents of these buildings all drive in if there were no Red Line?
Similarly, the very fact that I work downtown and live in Montgomery Country is due to the Red Line. If there were no Red Line, it’s not as if I would be driving down Georgia Ave every day. No, I would probably live closer to work — or work from home a lot more.
Transportation infrastructure affects housing and business development as well as individuals’ working and living decisions. Increasing capacity doesn’t necessarily alleviate congestion as much as it encourages people to live further away from their work.
