How To Solve Houston's Mobility Problems?

23 September 2002 - 1:00pm

Polly Ledvina and David Crossley argue that there are better ways to solve traffic problems than investing $1.5 billion to double the size of the Katy Freeway.

"The ineffectiveness of highway expansion as a sole strategy to combat congestion is the result of a well-documented phenomenon known as "induced demand." As highways are expanded, more people depend on them to make more and longer trips, negating the purpose of reducing congestion. Cities that build fewer roads have been shown to suffer no more (and sometimes less) congestion, travel delay and reduction in travel rates than cities that aggressively pursue road construction."

Full Story: Dumb and dumber
Source: The Houston Chronicle, September 20, 2002
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Its very unsuitability for an urban center justifies its current usage as a suburban or ex-urban pattern.