More Lanes = More Traffic

There is no shortage of hard data. A recent University of California at Berkeley study covering thirty California counties between 1973 and 1990 found that, for every 10 percent increase in roadway capacity, traffic increased 9 percent within four years’ time.3 For anecdotal evidence, one need only look at commuting patterns in those cities with expensive new highway systems. USA Today published the following report on Atlanta: “For years, Atlanta tried to ward off traffic problems by building more miles of highways per capita than any other urban area except Kansas City…As a result of the area’s sprawl, Atlantans now drive an average of 35 miles a day, more than residents of any other city.”· This phenomenon, which is now well known to those members of the transportation industry who wish to acknowledge it, has come to be called induced traffic.

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/01/06/4000000-fewer-vehicles-on-us-roads-in-2009/#comment-123067

“Americans bought 10 million vehicles and sent 14 million to the scrapyard in 2009. This is unheard of for a country known for its “love affair with the car” and its many car-oriented cities.”