It just struck me that the whole reason that induced demand always ends up at congested roads, is basic supply and demand: the less something costs, the more people will buy it. Demand grows until supply can't handle the demand and the price goes up. But a trip by car, when you already have a car and the road is already there, seems to cost nothing. Nothing, except time. So demand will go up, and the road will fill up, until the only meaningful personal cost, which is time, gets too high. And that happens when congestion slows your travel time to an unreasonable (frustrating and anger inducing) degree.

There are two possible solutions: one is to add another cost: make everything toll roads. The other is alternative modes of transportation, because then roads won't fill up until they're fully congested, they fill up until car travel time takes longer than the alternatives. Which happens way before congestion (if those alternatives are actually good and not themselves frustrating and anger inducing). And that's why even car travel in Netherland is so much better than in the US.

I knew this was the case of course, but now I really grok the economic logic behind it. And that's why more lanes on their own, without alternatives, can never solve congestion. It's a logical impossibility.

#traffic #urbanism #NotJustBikes @Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱