A massive freeway expansion only led to longer drive times, showing that building more lanes won't solve congestion.
A $3 billion freeway expansion in Houston highlights the impact of induced demand, showing that even expanding Interstate 10 to 26 lanes didn't speed up traffic.
In fact, writes Daniel Moran in Space Daily, after dropping initially, travel times on the Katy Freeway got longer. The drive on one stretch of the freeway took up to 51% longer after the widening. "What the data shows is that the gains evaporated within a few years of opening and then kept heading the wrong way," Moran adds.
Yet Houston continues to expand its freeways. "The agency’s own construction announcement describes a $13 billion effort to expand roadway capacity and reduce congestion, and quotes the chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission on getting Texans out of traffic faster."
Too Big for Texas? Houston's 23-Lane Freeway
After a $2.3 billion widening project, traffic once again chokes the Katy Freeway's 23 lanes. For road spending critics who are also taxpayers, this I-told-you-so moment is bittersweet.
Report Criticizes El Paso Interstate Expansion Plan
An independent review of TxDOT's proposed expansion of I-10 through downtown El Paso highlights several flaws and a price tag close to $800 million.
If You Build It, Cars Will Come: the Common-Sense Logic of 'Induced Demand'
Highway expansion has been shown, time and again, to increase traffic and congestion. Cities are finally getting the message.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
Colorado’s Largest Data Center Could Rise Next to Homes — Without a Public Hearing
The proposed campus would consume 11 times the power of Denver International Airport; as it has across the country, opposition mounts.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association