Reply to Hogan(R) wants to expand highways, selling out to for-profit cos. Does he know about induced demand?

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Reply to "Hogan(R) wants to expand highways, selling out to for-profit cos. Does he know about induced demand?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The induced demand may take 20-30 years. If it was such a big thing, where adding lanes make traffic worse, then why don't we reduce lanes? Let's make the beltway only one lane each way!

Look at the ICC. It opened about 10 years ago, and it's not a parking lot like 270 at rush hour. It has a steady flow of traffic, has a toll charge, and is useful. Who knows, maybe in 15 more years, it'll get backed up too, but that means it will have served a useful purpose for 25 years.

All the people complaining about the proposed expansion seem to have no alternative solutions. The county population has exploded in upcounty like Germantown and Clarksburg. Those people need to get around, and people need to get to there. How else do we solve it? Making MARC trains run all day (the only proposal I've heard) is a good idea, but we need more than that.[/quote]

Induced demand doesn't mean what you think it means.  Tolled lanes will always have fewer cars than non-tolled lanes since not everyone can afford to use them.  Induced demand means that more lanes makes the drive easier and since the drive is easier and faster, more people drive instead of taking the bus or train since they can get to work faster.  It also gets more people to move further out where land is cheaper since the drive isn't as bad.  As this all happens, the road clogs back up.  We need more density around Metro stations but Montgomery County has this moratorium system where they won't build new housing because the schools are full (real solution is building new schools!).[/quote]

How about we do both? The county is growing population-wise, and people need somewhere to live. The "live near a Metro" only works in some parts of the county. Downcounty is just about all built up, which is why you see so many tear-downs in places like Bethesda -- there's no vacant land.

So any way you slice it, people will need to live in Clarksburg, Germantown, etc. We already have bus and train service there, but not everyone will live walking distance from that. People will need to drive. The county is not dense enough upcounty to do it any other way.[/quote]

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