Croker Sack

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." — Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

More road capacity relieves traffic congestion, so build it

This Seattle Times editorial makes a lot of sense, but will the editors be treated as heretics for having included this statement in it?

Seattle may deny this, but the surest way to reduce congestion on roads is to build more lanes. So says a report issued by State Auditor Brian Sonntag last week, and so says human experience.

People who worship public transit services never acknowledge the obvious fact that more road capacity is the obvious solution to intolerable traffic congestion in all but the most densely populated urban areas.

The recent completion of a new bridge over the Tacoma Narrows demonstrated it for those who are too young to have seen the effects of road and highway construction in the past -- and it has been a long time since any significant road construction has been done to relieve traffic congestion.

The Seattle Times editors have seen the light, so there may be hope for us yet.