If you read last week’s blog, then you read a little bit about Interstate 405 (in Los Angeles) has some of the worst congestion in the country. If you look up how I-405 could be improved, you'd find numerous articles and blog posts written with possible solutions. However, traffic isn’t only an issue for Californians -- it's an issue all over the world. Traffic causes more wear and tear on our roadways, increases pollution, and is harder on our vehicles. Let's look at some ways others have tried to fix the traffic problem.
WIDENING LANES
A common argument is to increase the amount of lanes on a highway but this isn’t actually a good method. Historically, every time highways have been widened to accommodate traffic, more commuters get into their cars and only cause more traffic issues. In the 1930’s, “induced demand” was first noticed, then called “traffic generation” or “latent demand.” Latent demand was defined as demand that exists, but for a number of reasons (one being human psychology) is unable to be suppressed. An executive from the electric railway company told the Transportation Survey Commission then that widening streets would only lead to more traffic congestion. Between the 1930’s and 1940’s, city planners watched as bridges and highways were opened or widened to meet demand, only to see traffic congestion increase rather than decrease.
Nowadays we call this "Induced Demand." When induced traffic means increased traffic in the short-run demand curve, induced demand means increased traffic in the long-run, meaning more overall regular commuters and travelers along a road that is supposed to be faster and instead only sees more traffic.
INDUCED DEMAND IN ACTION
Though there are examples of induced demand and the failures of widened highways or newly opened bridges, the biggest one is in Katy, Texas. This freeway was first built in 1960 and started out with six lanes. In the 1980’s and 90’s, Houston and its surrounding areas continued to grow, making the Katy freeway one of the worst congested highways in 2004. In 2011, Texas spent $28 billion to try and fix what has been clocked as wasting, “25 million hours a year of commuter time.” The solution was to widen this six lane stretch of I-10, not by two or three lanes, but to 26 lanes total at its widest point, including parallel roads.
City Observatory noted by 2014, "the morning commute [had] increased by 25 minutes (or 30 percent) and the afternoon commute [had] increased by 23 minutes (or 55 percent)".
This served as a real life and much more recent study that proved Induced Demand is an issue and currently exists. This study found, "for every 1% increase in freeway lane miles, traffic increases by 0.9% in the long term."
SUCCESSFUL TRAFFIC DECREASE
We can, instead, look to see what has worked elsewhere to try and find solutions to the growing traffic problem. Seoul, South Korea removed a major freeway and put a river and recreation space in its spot. The results were no increase to current traffic issues, but an actual improvement in other areas. This phenomenon is called “disappearing traffic.” London, England started charging for congestion. There is a toll for driving in the city center, which decreased the use of cars and increased the use of bike lanes and public transport.
Amsterdam is one of the most famous locations known for having little-to-no traffic in its busiest areas. After WW2, the increase of private cars became a problem. City planning saw that in order to widen the streets, they would need to demolish a number of homes. After decades, the plan to widen lanes was started, but once it started, people realized several things: first, it was unpleasant to be in a street with noisy and large fast-moving traffic. Secondly, the feel of the city was changing, which led to thirdly, communities realized their affinity for their historic places. However, they still needed a solution since in 1970, the number of traffic casualties rose 3,300 deaths in 1971, over 400 of those deaths were children.
In 1970, the old plan was tossed out to instead implement the opposite. Through traffic was gradually banned from the city centers. Large pedestrian areas were created. Large parking areas were built outside of the city center, so people could park and easily get to where they wanted to on foot. Bike lanes increased, so much so that now the Netherlands has 22, 000 miles of bike paths. Whereas the UK has 2% of trips made by bicycle, Amsterstam has 38%, and Groningen has 59%. Needless to say, these countries do not have to worry about traffic.
WHAT CAN WE DO
If widening the lanes and adding bridges only increases traffic--as we've seen time and time again, what are actual solutions? Having a good public transportation system and offering bike lanes have been proven to be successful. The more alternate forms of transport that exist for busy areas, the less people will opt to travel by car. The most congested areas can be turned into car-free zones with parking made available close by, keeping busy areas walkable, and/or able to be reached via a light rail system. We can encourage people to take alternate routes by implementing tolls for driving in highly congested areas. Finally, keep traffic flowing in high traffic times and areas utilizing technology for our traffic lights.
Sometimes widening lanes can be beneficial, sometimes even necessary. However, we have a decade's worth of examples from around the world that when this is done to decrease traffic, it often fails. These alternate solutions offer ways to not only improve traffic issues, but to improve a city. Whether you're taking an alternate route, looking for parking signs, or are stuck in traffic on an interstate, just remember that Interstate Signways made the signs that marked the way!
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