More Complex Traffic
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article81344977.html
This article was particularly interesting to me, since the area that it discusses is my hometown. I live off exit 32 of interstate 77 in North Carolina, outside of Charlotte. For over ten years now, I’ve watched traffic get worse and worse on this part of the highway until it took me over half an hour to get a half a mile. At this point citizens wanted a change: an expansion in the highway. Since North Carolina has such a backup of resources for infrastructure projects, the state decided that it should be a toll road.
The article above shows the displeasure that North Carolinians have with such a thing as “tolls”. As a student in Networks, I don’t understand. All of our problems could be solved by this toll road. Sure, it creates a socioeconomic discrepancy between those who can take the extra lane and those who can’t. But every car that fits into the higher socioeconomic category and takes the toll road is another car that isn’t traversing the road as it is – thus (generally) leading to a higher benefit for every other citizen. What doesn’t make sense to me is why they oppose it.
Now, I understand that citizens might be perturbed by the perceived “have” versus “have not” mentality that is enforced by these tolls. But at the end of the day, if we all get to work faster, aren’t we all winning? It seems like every citizen who opposes this toll road should take networks, or at least learn the general principals behind traffic optimization and how they are really getting helped in the end.