Curing Congestion, the Truth Behind Traffic
http://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/5323723-151/guest-column-wider-roads-wont-solve-congestion-problem
“Guest column: Wider roads wont solve congestion problems” begins with the simple line “Build it and they will come” which manages to capture the essence of the entire piece. The article employs a two step method to analyzing the problem of traffic congestion in Oregon. Frazier begins with an examination of the effects of traffic on, the health of the surrounding communities as well surrounding businesses and the environment. The poor retention of businesses stems from traffic because the opportunity cost of time spent on the road is too high. Health and environmental factors are even greater with a reported 4000 deaths in 2000 and $31 billion in health care costs in 2010.
After addressing the effects of traffic the papers focuses switches to examining ways to alleviate traffic congestion and its problems. Before doing this Frazier debunks the common misconception that adding lanes to the freeway will reduce the problem of traffic. A University of Toronto Study shows that increasing the number of people on the freeway is correlated with increasing the traffic. Due to this, the ways to affectively alleviate traffic are suggested by Frazier as being taken before drivers hit the streets. Imposing a toll on drivers entering heavily packed areas is a popular solution to the traffic problem this ensures drivers will only take to the streets when it is necessary and worth the cost of the toll. This has proven in places such as London and Singapore to have a healthy impact on the environment and the surrounding communities.
The article provides a unique perspective when analyzing the lecture material of the traffic lecture covered in networks. The traffic lecture discusses equilibrium, nash equilibria and strategies for selecting routes from point a to b. It is interesting to observe the occurrence when a path is added in a driving route. Similarly to the article the lecture material demonstrates why it is not ideal to simply add lanes to alleviate traffic. When a lane is added in a route from point A to B, the new nash equilibria includes the lane because it is the new sought after route of transportation. The shift to this new lane demonstrates that the time is not reduced by increasing lanes and they simply create a shift in the routes taken by drivers. With the knowledge from the article it is known that this may even entice drivers to joining this route and creating even more traffic. In the end all evidence points towards stopping traffic before drivers hit the streets.