Rex passes along the following link from yesterday’s NY Times Magazine: The Way We Live Now: Speed Bump
While talking about tolling as the increasing preferred approach to deal with congestion, it suggests this newly emerging perspective:
The overarching new credo is that gridlock shouldn’t be conceived of as a problem or a mark of social failure. According to authorities like Anthony Downs at the Brookings Institution, the author of “Stuck in Traffic” and “Still Stuck in Traffic,” a bumper-to-bumper crop of cars is a byproduct of the very prosperity, mobility and individual flexibility modern citizens value: where traffic is at a standstill, it generally means business is humming. The best we can do is try to keep the traffic jams from growing exponentially worse, and give those who are in a real hurry the chance to buy out of them.
3 responses to “Congestion = Prosperity?”
Hmmm. “The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor” comes to mind. Then again, Americans still appear to have this idea that wealth means a better quality of life, and goverenment subsidized segregation like this certainly reiterates this ideal. Does anyone else get this feeling?
The biggest transportation decision we make is where we live and where we work.
Based on 2000 census data analyzed by UrbanTrans for Metro’s RTO (Regional Travel Options) Rideshare study, people appear to be making good decisions in this regard…clustering in the general area where they work. Most people who work in Hillsboro (read Intel) live in Washington county…only a few in Clark… and so on.
You can find this analysis at Metro’s web site; go to the Regional Travel Options page, Rideshare study.
People chose to congest by where they chose to live, work and how they chose to get from one to the other. I don’t think we should spend limited public resources to remedy poor choices people make (living in Washougal and working in Hillsboro).
Then again, Americans still appear to have this idea that wealth means a better quality of life, and goverenment subsidized segregation like this certainly reiterates this ideal. Does anyone else get this feeling?
Well yes. Its fairly clear when you go to the airport. The long government security check lines can be bypassed if you are willing to pay your airline for that privilege. The extra costs to provide the express line are paid for not by those using it, but by all of us as tax payers.
Toll roads work in a similar fashion. Although, unlike at the airport, the money paid in tolls usually is used to pay part of the cost for the tolled facility, most of the cost is paid for with general taxes paid by everyone whether they use it or not.
The argument is made that the toll facility provides some relief even for people who continue to use the non-tolled congested road. There isn’t any real evidence that is true. It appears that the level of congestion on adjacent un-tolled roads is the same or even worse. Rather than avoid low value trips or use alternatives, people drive their autos and use the toll as a safety valve for unexpected congestion. Essentially the toll only works so long as you maintain a sufficient level of congestion on the free facility.
It would make a lot more sense to determine what high value traffic is being delayed that can’t be served by alternatives and build new facilities to serve that traffic.
So on the I-5 crossing for instance, if there is a need for better freight and transit movement you would add freight lanes that directly serve that need.
The current approach is to try to free up general purpose lanes by adding capacity to serve Clark County’s suburban commuters. Of course, the number of commuters will expand to fill the capacity and we will be right back where we started. Probably before the facility is even finished.