No one likes traffic. It’s an everyday inconvenience that wastes time. So, what can we do about it?
You may think that expanding our highways to have more lanes will solve the problem, and while this has been happening to many highways in the US, it’s not the solution. Surprisingly, it makes traffic worse.
Problems With Expanding
In theory, adding more lanes reduces road congestion. Since there are more lanes, there will also be more space for cars to use.
There is one thing that isn’t accounted for, though. That would be induced demand.
Let’s say a particular road has traffic issues, and the local government adds two more lanes to fix it. Once the changes are made, traffic disappears.
The catch is that this decrease in traffic is temporary. Someone who uses other means of transportation, such as trains, buses, bikes, or walking, will notice the decreased traffic and decide that using a car would be faster. So, that person switches.
Unfortunately, this switch doesn’t happen to a single person. It happens to enough people that the road returns to its original state—a lot of traffic. Simply put, more lanes mean more cars. This is induced demand.
The Solutions
Instead of adding more lanes, we can reverse the process. Similar to how more lanes mean more cars, fewer lanes mean fewer cars. The closed lanes can then be repurposed for other transportation systems. This will encourage more people to use public transportation instead of cars, reducing traffic. This is known as a road diet.
It’s also important that public transit is improved or reworked to ensure people will use it. Countries like Japan have extremely efficient public transit. On the other hand, the US has a particularly big problem with public transportation as it has historically focused on cars.
Tolls may seem like a strange solution, but they can help. If they’re placed in a particularly congested area, they can reduce traffic in two ways. First, they encourage people to switch to alternative transportation to avoid the toll. Second, they can divert cars to other roads that avoid the toll. Both of these reduce the number of cars.
Getting Started
Reading this isn’t going to fix traffic. What can fix traffic, however, is your local government. You can speak out to your planning department, raise your concerns in public forums, participate in protests, etc. Here’s an example of this. If your community is on your side, chances are that you can make a change.
It’s up to you to make the choice.
RELATED STORIES:
What’s the Quickest Way to Solve a City’s Traffic Congestion? – Streetlight Data
How to Fix Congestion – Transportation Policy Research
How We Can Fix Can Wec Forever? – Traffic Safety Store
How to Reduce Traffic Congestion in Cities – Smart City
TAKE ACTION:
- Reduce traffic on highways: Road Diet – Take Action on Change.org
- Learn ways to fight lane widening: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/06/10/a-petition-a-website-and-a-t-shirt-ann-arbor-advocates-share-tips-for-canceling-highway-expansions
