Why Traffic Can't Be Solved With More Highway Lanes

Traffic and congestion has been worsening in American cities for decades. What to do about it divides opinion. Some say cities need more of everything: widened roads, public transit, and better urban design and planning. Some say however that widening roads won't solve traffic. Some economists, for example, argue that congestion pricing is the only way to reduce traffic. The solution is politically controversial though. Though it is implemented in cities like London and Singapore, attempts to implement it in America cities such as New York have incurred a lot of pushback.

Chapters:
1:16 — Intro
1:22 — Chapter 1: The case against road-building
4:48 — Chapter 2: Nuance
7:35 — Chapter 3: New Normal

Produced by: Robert Ferris
Edited by: Nora Rappaport
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Graphics By: Christina Locopo, Jason Reginato

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Why Traffic Can't Be Solved With More Highway Lanes

[Austrolopithe]

I feel like this video glossed over the walkability argument by just saying more walkable infrastructure induces demand there too. Maybe, but especially in dense urban contexts, walking and public transit is fundamentally _much_ more scalable. As the video briefly mentions, 1 person on a train, bus, bike or walking is _much_ smaller than 1 person in a car, and there's no parking required. And that's leaving aside all the other advantages of public transit or walking (health, air pollution, safety...etc). Cars are also expensive to own.

It's utterly insane to talk about congestion being a problem and not devote most of your attention to 'how do we get fewer cars in cities'

[theinquisitor]

Investing in public transit is one of, if not, the best way to get people off the road because they still need to go somewhere whether you charge them or not.

[Kaodusanya]

Imagine, trusting somebody from Texas to tell you if you need more lanes on your highway

[KooShnoo]

Bike lanes and public transit is way more space and cost efficient. Cars are far bigger than individual people and remain mostly empty inside. Bikes are comparatively small and light, causing almost no damage to the road surface and no pollution, noise or otherwise.

Public transportation is really bad here, in other countries it has features making it preferable to driving, it's clean, it's fast, it's comfortable, it's safe, and it's everywhere. We could have that here, but we don't.

[mariusfacktor]

3:02 Building transit and bike lanes are subject to induced demand, but unlike inducing more car traffic, this is a good thing. It is GOOD when more people bike or ride transit because they aren't pushing a 3, 000 lb machine around with them like they would be if they were in a car.

[xxksxx]

I love how america will try anything and conduct any type of study to avoid just working on good public transport. All of europe has got it figured out, can't be that hard of a conclusion

[RedHumbleDragon]

I do think that inducing demand for biking and walking in the city (by building bike lanes and more walkable area's) is definitely a good think! Way more bikes can fit in the same space compared to cars.

[lifeofmike]

To get more people off the road you need to invest in better public transportation and invest in bike paths and maintain them as well! I'd gladly ride my bike to work everyday even if it took me an extra 20 minutes just because it's free and safe! I can't tell you how many times I've almost been hit by other stupid drivers. I really wanna be off the road pedaling to work enjoying fresh air, music and exercise! You also won't be as tempted to stop for coffee and food every morning. Bike paths are so inexpensive compared to roads. If they made more bike paths then people would start using them. It's called the bandwagon effect. Imagine seeing a large group of people riding their bike to work everyday. Suddenly you'd think hmm I can do that too. Bandwagon effect...

[FinancialShinanigan]

If only public transportation lobbyists were stronger than car & oil lobbyists

[davidandrews]

The first way to reduce traffic congestion is changing how cities and towns are zoned. We need to stop the Euclidean zoning policy of everything is segregated and instead switch to more mixed use zoning and transit oriented development. This reduces the number of trips when going to the grocery store is a 10 minute walk and 5 minute bike ride. Over half the trips are less then 3 miles.

[albertlay]

People are on the road because they need to go from A to B. So, bring B closer to A, and offer several alternative modes of transportation, and people will travel less miles. You could, for example, establish small neighborhood shopping centers (with a supermarket and shops that people frequently visit) in the suburbs, so people don't need to drive for miles for a pack of milk. Also, people from the neighborhood will run into each other more often, get in contact with each other and who knows, maybe some sort of small town vibe will grow, despite living in a big city.

[bonniegaither]

The US needs to take a lesson or two from Amsterdam and Japan on how to (better) run public transportation.

[shikamaru]

"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation."

im sure this isnt for the rich-rich but it certainly holds its truth.

[topolojack]

This report sideswept some major information. Yes, increasing capacity of all modes of transportation induces demand. However, public transit and cycling infrastructure work differently than automobile infrastructure. With respect to trains, increased demand and increased capacity go hand in hand. If more people ride the train, there is greater incentive to run the trains at higher frequency, making trains more efficient. Increased bus capacity also increases demand which increases frequency, but buses are typically limited by the flow of surrounding traffic. Reducing auto traffic while increasing bus capacity in the form of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with dedicated bus lanes increases demand for the bus, decreases demand for the car, and makes the bus system more efficient. Onto cycling, bikes are much smaller than cars and travel much more slowly than cars. As a result, you can fit many more people in the same volume on bikes than in cars, and the risk of serious injury caused by collision is substantially decreased. Half of all trips in the US are less than 3 miles, which means that given cycle-safe roads, all other things the same, the effect of induced demand would be decreasing the number of people driving and increasing people cycling by around 50%. Compared to bikes, cars are massive, and they wear roads at a rate that approximately requires a road to be rebuilt every 30 years, which many towns and cities across the US are well aware they cannot afford.

[microproductions]

I think this video really missed out on what actually causes rush-hour traffic, which is the fact that it is the logical result of car-centric suburbanization where a lot of people drive to a region's downtown at the same time. They mentioned building denser walkable cities in this video which is part of the solution, but I think more broadly the best solution I've heard for reducing traffic is what Charles Marohn from Strong Towns said: "Focus on building neighborhoods". In our current transportation system, people from a large region surrounding a city (suburbs) are funneled into a few interstate highways and then eventually to the downtown of that city. When people in the US think of a neighborhood they mostly think of a car-centric residential area. But in most of the world a neighborhood is a place where people live closer to where they work, shop, and live. We used to have fully-functional neighborhoods in the US, but we demolished or abandoned them in favor of spreading out over a large residential-only area. And we designated the major cities as a place only to work, and not to live. That is the fundamental reason for congestion in every US city and other cities around the world, and as long as we rely on the suburban commuter model that will not change.

[Lafoka]

Honestly if you look to Europe and other devolope economies that had this problem. The only awnser is less cars. I like cars, but I think they shouldn't be a requirement in order to achieve transportation. Bike lanes, public transit and most importantly walkable spaces are the real awnser. Not only they save time and money but also make people more active and healthier. And on top of all that these solutions solve the traffic issue but also helps with people's mental and physical health by making commuting more enjoyable. Just imagine a world without road rage.

[dvdragon]

"Come on man just give me one more lane. I promise I will get you back." - Traffic addict.

[anime]

JUST ONE MORE LANE BRO JUST ONE MORE LANE BRO JUST ONE MORE LANE BRO JUST ONE MORE LANE BRO I SWEAR BRO JUST ONE MORE, I SWEAR

[KailuaChick]

Stop pushing remote workers to return if their job role functions well remotely. It might only be a small portion of workers but every little bit helps.

[gemelwalters]

When was it ever complicated? If you have a container with water dripping through a single point. It doesn't matter how much bigger the container gets, there's only one point of exit. The simple solution is less cars on the road. Not only would it solve the traffic problem but it would save ppl a lot of money that they could use to better their lives.