Monday, May 21, 2012

Do More Roads Have Less Traffic?

Vehicle miles travelled on US roads 
Vehicle miles travelled on US roads (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

Edward Glaeser’s Triumph of the City (Grush Hour, Apr. 11, 2012) 


Today, we review a book by Edward Glaeser (with a nod of appreciation to Bern Grush’s blog) on cities and some highly quotable quotes about the need to price peak demand for road use in order to make roads more usable for all and cities more friendly for their citizens.  

Key Quotes: 

“Too much trash turns city streets into a health hazard; too many drivers turn city streets into a parking lot” 

“For decades, we’ve tried to solve the problem of too many cars on too few lanes by building more roads, but each new highway or bridge then attracts more traffic…vehicle miles traveled increases essentially one-to-one with the number of miles of new highway” 

“When we drive, we consider the private costs to ourselves of the time, gas, and automobile depreciation, but we don’t usually consider the costs—the lost time—we impose on every other driver. We don’t consider the congestion we create” 

“the gap between what is known about congestion management among transport economists, urbanologists and traffic managers vs what is understood and accepted by politicians, journalists and drivers keeps a solution at bay”
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