Traffic Congestion in New York City
New York City, “The City that Never Sleeps,” is a grid of busy, intersecting streets. Whether walking, driving, or biking, people almost always encounter a significant amount of traffic in New York City. It takes people much more time to go only 10 blocks (approximately one mile) in this city than it would on any ordinary suburban road. 42nd Street, home to Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building, The United Nations, and Times Square, is one of the city’s most congested cross streets. Not only does it attract many tourists, but it also attracts the locals since the MTA Bus transit system runs across its length. Due to the massive amounts of people using this cross street at all hours of the day, it is no surprise that it is known as one of the busiest streets in the city.
One might wonder how people would function without 42nd street? On Earth day in 1990, New York City’s Transportation Commissioner actually decided to close 42nd street. People expected that with the closing down of this busy street, traffic would spill onto surrounding streets, creating even more traffic jams elsewhere. However, this was not the case. Much to everyone’s surprise there were no significant traffic build-ups on surrounding streets. In fact, traffic flow actually improved when this street was closed. This Earth Day scenario is an example of Braess’ Paradox, which says that adding a new transportation network can sometimes hurt performance at equilibrium. When constructing the city, people believed that having a certain number of cross streets would benefit everyone and create an equilibrium situation in which everyone would take the route best suited for where they needed to go and would have no desire to change routes due to the lack of any better option. The closing of 42nd Street illustrates Braess’ paradox because removing the street from the traffic network actually benefited the city’s traffic flow. People had to alter their ordinary routes to avoid driving down one-way streets that intersect 42nd Street. Thus, this eased traffic congestion on these streets.
New York City is currently constructing a 3rd Avenue Subway line in an attempt to relieve subway traffic and provide New Yorkers with a new, more efficient transportation system. Will Braess’ Paradox hold here? In theory, the 3rd Avenue line should improve pedestrian traffic on the underground Subway system, but it will take time to figure out if this is actually the case.
– Anonymous
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/25/health/what-if-they-closed-42d-street-and-nobody-noticed.html