The US Highway and it’s Network for Travel
Humans have created different methods of transport – planes, trains, and cars, for example, to use them efficiently to find the fastest route of travel(the highest payoff). In the specific perspective of driving, what planning goes into the creation of highways to maximize the payoff of the players in the game? Is it possible to avoid the problem of Braess’ paradox when building more roads, isn’t more always better? Can Braess’ paradox be observed in real-life scenarios? The paradox introduces the concept of selfish individuals that produce worse payoffs for all players because they do what they think is best for themselves? Just because there is a new highway built in the middle of town does not mean that it will make travel times better for all users on average.
Based upon modern real-world traffic network data from navigation apps that are used to both route drivers to the destinations and get them there in the most timely manner, Braess’ Paradox does exist in live situations. It is a proven fact that new technology has allowed for overall quicker times than in the past before this was invented. Nonetheless, Braess’ Paradox becomes a part of the case when additional routes are added to a current path, this was noted and recorded in the data collected. This proves that not only that the Braess Paradox is plausible but proven on a larger scale.
What this then brings us to is the question from earlier, how do we avoid making more paradoxes in real-life travel. The goal is to cut down travel time to the bare minimum it can but does making another road help with that? The article does not elaborate to what is the best way to go about finding that answer. In my opinion, looking at simulated cases of traffic from similar examples or games, we can determine what a rational selfish individual would do, and act upon that to make bypass going into these problems.
Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437121001011