Public-Private Partnerships Will Not Save U.S. Infrastructure

StreetsBlog USA ^ | May 17, 2017 | Stephen Miller

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Additional number of highway lanes fail because it creates incentive to build tall apartment buildings, clogging the new highway. Now instead of 4 clogged lanes you have 8.

There's a phenomenon known to highway planners (and economists) as "induced demand," also known as "if you build it they will come." Add capacity and more drivers will use it, wiping out any gains. Or to use another phrase of road planners, "Curing traffic by adding capacity is like curing obesity by loosening your belt." In Los Angeles, they spent 1.6 billion dollars to widen the 405. When it was done, average commute times were exactly the same. There were just more cars making the slow crawl.

Good article from Wired about induced demand here: What’s Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse