"How do modernist transportation planners recommend handling congestion? By recommending new vehicle lanes. What happens when you build new vehicle lanes to handle traffic congestion? The vehicle lanes fill up with more traffic congestion. As they themselves have said for decades, you cannot build your way out of congestion. But every week you can do a quick internet search to see a bunch of new attempts."
"'Induced demand' I've been hearing planners and engineers say "we can't build our way out of congestion" since the 1990s, when I began my career. The wonky term that describes why adding more lanes doesn't eliminate congestion is "induced demand." Transportation professionals have understood the induced demand phenomenon for decades."
Adding vehicle lanes often creates more driving demand so corridors refill to previous congestion levels. Increased capacity encourages drivers to travel farther and choose different destinations, restoring delays and traffic volumes. Departments of transportation frequently respond by widening corridors again, further encouraging longer trips and greater vehicle use. Transportation professionals have recognized the induced demand effect for decades and note that repeatedly adding lanes fails to solve congestion. Corridor examples show cycles of widening followed by traffic rebound, undermining the goal of reducing travel delays and vehicle congestion.
Read at Fast Company
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