A Change in Approach to CongestionThe cancellation of the Route 710 expansion came after California learned the hard way about the principle of “induced demand.”
In 2015, a $1 billion project to widen a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 405 through Los Angeles was completed. For a period, “congestion was relieved,” said Tony Tavares, the director of Caltrans, California’s Department of Transportation.
But that relief did not last. Rush hour traffic soon rebounded, he said.
When a congested road is widened, travel times go down — at first. But then people change their behaviors. After hearing a highway is less busy, commuters might switch from transit to driving or change the route they take to work. Some may even choose to move farther away.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/widen-highways-traffic.html
