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Transpo wonks call this "induced demand" - the component of transportation demand caused by people reacting to the availability of transportation. Every infrast
by rdiddly 9y ago
Transpo wonks call this "induced demand" - the component of transportation demand caused by people reacting to the availability of transportation. Every infrastructure improvement induces a certain amount of demand, including incremental ones like adding lanes to roads. It's the reason new lane additions always seem to reach a point of being congested, faster than anticipated.
In this way transportation spending is both the purported cure and the cause of congestion, and fits the definition of an addiction. See my comment from a few days ago:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14850885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14850885
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y agoIt's 100% observable. I used to work for a regional transportation council that made high level decisions for where to alleviate congestion. There were many hundred-million dollar projects that counterintuitively increased congestion, because the increased availability created by the infrastructure caused even more people to move to the area. After the original project was completed, decreased congestion would be observed, but 2-3 years later it would be even more congested than before the project began.