Quote:
Originally Posted by MARTAisSmarta
This seems pretty straightforward. You absolutely should not be widening roads to try to reduce congestion.
So we can continue to be anti-roads and parking so that we can continue to promote growth and development! ![Smilie](images/smilies/smile.gif)
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I admit I did not read the article, but I agree with the general quotation of the article above, which implies that congestion is a necessary evil. I consider myself a very pro-transit individual who prefers living and working in walk able areas, and I generally consider aggressive drivers (esp New Jersey drivers, which I have to deal with where I live now) hostile to the pedestrian environment. I do not own a car.
I'm a bit of a pessimist of the human condition, however, where I believe *most* Americans are inherently lazy and do not enjoy walking and prefer driving, especially when performing daily errands or other tasks like commuting. This seems especially true when the weather is very hot or cold. The majority of people in my life (friends, family) own a car and use one on a regular basis, mostly because it is convenient and more comfortable.
With that said, I believe *most* people (think Trump voters) for the majority of trips would rather drive than walk, if it were more convenient or cost effective. We see this in the MARTA ridership numbers, which fluctuate based on the cost of gas and congestion levels (referring specifically to the I-85 bridge incident).
Unfortunately, I think in most cases, congestion is one of the few incentives for most people to ride transit for people, with the exception of low income people, who rely on transit regardless of congestion. I cannot think of any other US cities where congestion is not a factor in transit use, and I believe congestion plays a similar but less direct role in density of cities as well.
Of course there are ways to reduce congestion while still promoting transit. The best way is to limit vehicle access to dense areas, such as timing traffic lights, reducing street width, or limiting road access to certain areas. This is a marginally effective technique as sometimes congestion might be pushed elsewhere, or even businesses may choose to leave an area if it is not convenient enough to all their employees and customers, so this technique is not heavily used in many cities.