TIL The Katy Freeway in Houston, TX was expanded in 2008 to 26 lanes (one of the widest in the world) and 5 years later had longer peak travel times than before the expansion - eviltoast
Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It?
www.nytimes.com
With billions of dollars available to improve transportation infrastructure, states have a chance to try new strategies for addressing congestion. But some habits are hard to break.

For critics of widening projects, the prime example of induced demand is the Katy Freeway in Houston, one of the widest highways in the world with 26 lanes.

Immediately after Katy’s last expansion, in 2008, the project was hailed as a success. But within five years, peak hour travel times on the freeway were longer than before the expansion.

Matt Turner, an economics professor at Brown University and co-author of the 2009 study on congestion, said adding lanes is a fine solution if the goal is to get more cars on the road. But most highway expansion projects, including those in progress in Texas, cite reducing traffic as a primary goal.

“If you keep adding lanes because you want to reduce traffic congestion, you have to be really determined not to learn from history,” Dr. Turner said.

    • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      I don’t necessarily disagree that it costs more, I have no idea but it seems logical to me that it would. However, even if it is cheaper, public transit solutions also have maintenance.

      • CeeBee@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        1 year ago

        Far less maintenance, and it’s generally directly supported by rider fares instead of petitioning for government tax money.

        Also the density of passengers on transit justifies the costs. 90%+ of all cars have a single person, whereas transit is on average magnitudes more. On that basis alone transit is far far cheaper.

        • funchords@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          and it’s generally directly supported by rider fares instead of petitioning for government tax money.

          Fares alone do not pay the bills. Buses are always subsidized (which is totally fine IMO. Every fine metro area has a good transit system, and it should be affordable to all who would want to use it.)

          • CeeBee@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            True enough. But my point still stands that there are fares that are collected that help offset operational and maintenance costs.

            It’s still cheaper than maintaining huge roadways.