Expanding roads = urban laxatives

 image from heapsgood.wordpress.com

I just came across this ingenious analogy from local urban thinker Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute and had to share it. This is a different and very good introductory way of presenting a 'radical' transportation strategy which I've been meaning to discuss:

Recent publications argue that expanding urban highways is a cost effective and desirable way to reduce traffic congestion. They claim that highway expansion provides congestion relief, a seductive term since congestion is stressful and costly. People understandably want relief. But this may be an example of a misguided solution that exacerbates the problem it was intended to solve and has undesirable unintended consequences.

As an analogy, consider the role laxatives should play relieving constipation. Laxatives are sometimes appropriate, but it is generally best to address constipation by changing diet (more fiber and liquids) and exercise (take a walk), because laxatives’ effectiveness declines with frequent use, they can hide more severe diseases, and they can exacerbate other medical problems. A physician who prescribes laxatives without investigating why the patient is constipated or considering other solutions is guilty of malpractice.

Similarly, chronic traffic congestion is often a symptom of more fundamental problems, such as inadequate mobility options that force people to drive for every trip, and dispersed land use patterns that increase travel distances. Where this is true, expanding roads may reduce symptoms in the short term but exacerbate problems over the long term.

You can download the entire pdf article, Smart Congestion Reductions: Reevaluating the Role of Highway Expansion for Improving Urban Transportation, here.

 image from blog.lib.umn.edu/ulric085/architecture/

Related: 

Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles: Wisdom of Jane Jacobs