Last year I had the privilege of travelling in the Netherlands and seeing firsthand what a city that is not dominated by cars and traffic looks and feels like. The Dutch would never want to go back to their previous noisy, polluted and dangerous streets. The reason most people in North America chose to drive as their main mode of travel is because it is engineered to be the most convenient. It’s also the most expensive especially if you factor in embedded costs such as climate change, crashes, pollution and health impacts.
Trying to solve traffic congestion by making it easier to drive is self defeating because when congestion is reduced more people chose to drive creating more traffic in the long run. It’s a well researched phenomenon called induced demand.
Instead of building a tunnel under the 401 and banning bike lanes let’s invest in improving alternatives to driving. It’s the only viable solution.
Last year I had the privilege of travelling in the Netherlands and seeing firsthand what a city that is not dominated by cars and traffic looks and feels like. The Dutch would never want to go back to their previous noisy, polluted and dangerous streets. The reason most people in North America chose to drive as their main mode of travel is because it is engineered to be the most convenient. It’s also the most expensive especially if you factor in embedded costs such as climate change, crashes, pollution and health impacts.
Trying to solve traffic congestion by making it easier to drive is self defeating because when congestion is reduced more people chose to drive creating more traffic in the long run. It’s a well researched phenomenon called induced demand.
Instead of building a tunnel under the 401 and banning bike lanes let’s invest in improving alternatives to driving. It’s the only viable solution.