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]https://ggwash.org/view/71994/beltway-270-toll-lane-widening-vote-been-rescheduled-larry-hogan-maryland

https://ggwash.org/view/71262/maryland-is-moving-ahead-with-its-plan-to-widen-highways-and-add-more-tolls

[quote]Maryland has proposed a Traffic Relief Plan to reduce congestion and travel times on some major state highways and improve residents' quality of life. The hitch? The only options on the table would make all of those things worse.

Part of Governor Larry Hogan's plan includes the I-495 & I-270 P3 Program, a public-private partnership ostensibly created to address congestion and slow travel times on those highways. Initially, the Maryland Department of Transportation (DOT) State Highway Administration (SHA) put forward a fairly wide range of potential changes, including transit options like heavy rail (similar to Metro Rail), light rail (like the Purple Line), and various dedicated bus network options.

Recently, these alternatives were narrowed down. A no-build option is still there, but the remainder of possible changes boil down to simply widening these highways by adding new lanes with a variety of toll, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV), or reversible travel lane options.

Study after study after study has shown that when jurisdictions build new roads or widen existing ones, this simply causes more drivers to use them and congestion quickly returns back to previous levels—and sometimes even worsens, since there are more people on the road. Los Angeles is a prime example of this.
[/quote]

I feel like the whole Republican Party is living in the 1980s.

In the past few decades we’ve learned:
- Privatizing roadways ends up with citizens being screwed.  See: Chicago red light cameras.
- You can’t build your way out of traffic.  Building more roads increases car traffic.  Atlanta and LA have enormous amounts of highways and also some of the worst commutes.

Where do they get these politicians?  Can we send them back to school or make them read some legitimate news sources?

[/quote]

Your philosophy has prevailed in Montgomery County for the last 25 years.  Despite all attempts at making drivers so miserable that they run screaming for Metro, some people still have to commute (heck the last time gas prices went over $4, Metro was so packed it couldn't handle the crowds anyway), or go to church or to a friend's house.  We happen to live near 270, and our local trips are ruined by the fact that we have a lame bottleneck all of the way to VA.  There is no induced demand; there is already demand from the VA line all the way to PA.  If you are so worried about traffic, try limiting population growth.[/quote]

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