More Roads Equals Safer America

As a highway becomes increasingly congested, planners and elected officials often begin to consider options to widen the road or add additional highways to ease traffic problems. Some argue that "if you build it, they will come." That is, adding capacity to roadways only encourages existing drives to drive more and those not currently driving to hit the roads, causing worse traffic congestion that before. Now transportation officials have a new arguement for spending on new roads - security. More lanes on such major thoroughfares as I-66 around Washington would allow for faster and safer evacuation of people in the case of a terrorist attack or other emergency. Some think this justification is quite a stretch. "You can stretch homeland security purposes to the extent that it may be a rationalization rather than a reason," said U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). The security arguement has been used before to build such major projects as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.

Thanks to Peter Buryk